Archbishop Hebda finalizing pastoral letter to be issued next month

Celebration of the Nov. 20 feast of Christ the King will mark the release date of Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s pastoral letter following a three-year Archdiocesan Synod process. And with the letter will come the need to start putting plans into action.  

Deacon Joe Michalak, director of the archdiocesan Office of Synod Evangelization, recently joined “Practicing Catholic” host Patrick Conley to provide insight on the letter.  

Archbishop Hedba continues to finalize the letter, but Deacon Michalak said the faithful can expect it to include a review of the three-year Synod process, next steps and “some very practical pointers.” The archbishop has been praying with and in conversation with “a group of us” about the propositions that emerged from the Synod weekend in June and what comes next, Deacon Michalak said.  

“The key to the letter is really going to be that prayerful lens of interpreting that which we’ve heard,” Deacon Michalak said. “And this is what the archbishop, it’s so close to his heart. … We want to see more evangelization with our youth. We want to learn how to be better parents and pass on the faith in our families, and we want to be a parish more alive and welcoming and serving the poor.” 

Those beautiful goals will be part of it, Deacon Michalak said, “but … what’s the cry of the heart behind those goals? … And that’s what the archbishop has been listening for and what he wants to articulate. So I think we can anticipate that, at the heart of the letter … is going to be sort of a spiritual walking with us or inviting us to walk … into an understanding of just what Pentecost means in our day, and how God is coming to be richly amongst us and to send us forth as his missionary disciples.” 

Pastors are in the final stages of discerning and selecting each parish’s Synod evangelization team, Deacon Michalak said, a change in name from “implementation team” to emphasize the missionary focus. About 12 members will be on each team, reflecting the 12 Apostles, but the number will vary by parish, he said. The members will serve “sort of like a little engine, a little catalyst,” Deacon Michalak said. But the propositions from the Synod “almost necessitate everybody becoming involved,” he said.  

“The laity are the front lines of evangelization and mission in a parish,” he said, the ones who “provide the welcome” into a parish and carry out the apostolate of the works of charity and mercy. Clergy and staff serve and help animate that mission and provide some vision and the role of sacramental grace, “but it’s really all of us in the day-to-day world,” he said. 

To learn more details about the letter, the Office of Synod Evangelization and parish evangelization teams — and to hear the full interview, listen to this episode of the “Practicing Catholic” show at 9 p.m. Oct. 28, which repeats at 1 p.m. Oct. 29 and 2 p.m. Oct. 30 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. 

Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Allison Spies, archives program manager for the archdiocese, who describes training for responding in an emergency, such as a fire or flood, to help salvage special heritage collections; and Archbishop Hebda, who describes a recent pilgrimage to Italy with a group of people involved in organizing the Archdiocesan Synod, who were able to meet Pope Francis. 

Listen to interviews after they have aired at?PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at anchor.fm/practicing-catholic-show.