Archbishop Hebda, Bishop Williams reflect on the pastoral letter

Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Williams sat down with The Catholic Spirit to discuss the archbishop’s post-synodal pastoral letter, “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent from the Upper Room,” that grew out of the Archdiocesan Synod.

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Q Archbishop Hebda, Bishop Williams, thank you for joining us today in this momentous time for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul in Minneapolis. Under your leadership, the archdiocese has held its first synod in roughly 80 years. The fruit of what became a three-year process is now in our hands, in the form of your pastoral letter, Archbishop Hebda, released on the weekend of the feast of Christ the King. Thank you. Archbishop, the letter spells out your priorities for the coming years. We will get into details, but what might you say about this pastoral letter in what some people might call an elevator speech?

Archbishop Hebda Yes. So, it really is an opportunity for us to translate our experience over these last three years, the movements of the Holy Spirit, in a way that leads our archdiocese forward. It’s very much a request of our pastors and our parishes, so it’s very much parish based. There’s going to be a lot of support that comes from the archdiocese. But ultimately, the pastoral letter is our response to the movement of the Holy Spirit over these past three years. That’s a long elevator speech, I know.

Q Not at all. The letter is no elevator speech. I think about the three years of meetings, of gathering information, sifting through it, and the scholarly research that really backs up the pastoral letter. Yet the letter itself is disarming and inspiring in its beauty and simplicity. I can feel the Holy Spirit in its pages. And I was able to read it in one sitting. What was it like to write it?

Archbishop Hebda Thanks, Joe, for your kind comments about the letter, too. That’s certainly the response that we’re hoping is that people will be able to experience the power of the Holy Spirit. In terms of writing, we tried really to also model that synodal approach, and so I was really blessed to work with a great team of both scholars and practical intellects, as well as some great writers, that would help me to translate what I had experienced in the Synod onto the written page in a way that would be of significance for the faithful of this local Church.

And I found in particular that as we were working together, it was really an experience for me of reliving the Synod and just having so many memories of the way in which the Holy Spirit was present in the comments that we received, in the way in which people related to one another. So, in my mind, it was an incredibly positive experience.

I think that we were all very conscious, though, of the importance of what we were doing as we strive to really offer a faithful translation of our experience that’s going to inspire all of us as we move forward.

Q Well, now that it is available, Archbishop Hebda, can you share ways that it might most fruitfully be prayed over, pondered? Move people to action?

Archbishop Hebda I’m hoping, Joe, that some people will have the same experience that you did, of being able to read it, cover to cover, in one sitting.

But we also know it’s long, so even if people can take section by section, we think that could be effective. We’ve tried to divide it into paragraphs as well, with headings that give us some orientation. There’s a lot of Scripture and quotations from our Holy Fathers and the Church’s catechism. I think all of those things could be bite-sized pieces for prayer and reflection as well, especially going to the Scripture texts. You know, we’re using three powerful images about what happened in the Upper Room, the experience that the Apostles had at that point. And those texts, most especially, I think, will be very fruitful for the prayer of our faithful and our priests as well.

Q Bishop Williams, you came into the archdiocese and the Synod process full bore with your ordination and appointment as auxiliary bishop in January of this year, as Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens was appointed bishop of Crookston. Prior to that, you were pastor at St. Stephen and Holy Rosary in Minneapolis. Please describe your experience of the Synod as a pastor and now as bishop.

Bishop Williams Well, Joe, I have to agree with you, it feels like a momentous time, what we’re living now. And God’s providence and the Spirit is all over this. Even as a pastor, I felt affirmed, I would say that, first of all, by the Synod process, by the archbishop’s inspiration, but not just the Synod as a call from the Holy Spirit, but the priorities that he discerned from all of those listening sessions (more than 30 Prayer and Listening Events in 2019-2020, parish consultations in 2021 and the Archdiocesan Synod Assembly last June) that you mentioned.

He talked about, you know, a Church of parishes that evangelize, creating missionary disciples, emphasizing youth and young adult ministry for a Church that’s always young. These were the things we had done in South Minneapolis for four years. So, I thought, this is the same Spirit. This is the same Spirit at work. So, then welcoming these things that would come from the archdiocese, there seemed to be a kind of complementarity of the small groups, for example. Bringing that to prayer and realizing the Spirit is moving and it’s enriching the parishes, that was a gift of God, no doubt about it. And then becoming a bishop. You know, the archbishop mentioned timing. That’s God’s timing, in part because Bishop Cozzens was so uniquely gifted in the faith that led to this moment, with his great gift of teaching and theology.

It was kind of a hinge moment for the Synod, I think, when I was ordained, moving from the prayer and listening toward the implementation. And now I feel this is when God wants me to give a testimony, if you will, and to bring the witness of a parish where these Synod priorities had come alive. I think that’s a gift that God wants me to give to the local Church. And I think it really is the fruit of our archbishop’s prayer.

Q Archbishop Hebda, the pastoral letter invites people to continue to walk together, as they had in the archdiocese during the Synod, in what the Church calls synodality. Why is this important and how can we continue to do that?

Archbishop Hebda Yes, there are two things, really, that are significant for me. The first is that we’re obviously trying to imitate Jesus in the model that he used for spreading the good news that he wanted to share with all of humanity. And so, we see how it is that Jesus called people together. So, we have the 12 Apostles, we have the 72, those close disciples.

We read about the women who traveled with Jesus as well. We know that Jesus was a community builder as he was sharing. So, he’s not just an intellect, not just somebody operating on the theoretical plane, but rather that he’s gathering a community together to have an experience, and in a way that then would enliven them to go forward once they had received the Holy Spirit to share that message.

So, first of all, it is an imitation of the method that Jesus had adopted in the course of his public ministry. And then secondly is that we have a really powerful example from Pope Francis, who has really looked at synodality as being one of the most important themes of his pontificate. And as he looks to the Church in the world, the universal Church, he sees how important it is that we would kind of go back to some of those synodal structures that helped the Church in the past to be that credible witness to the Gospel.

You mentioned the word walking together or journeying together. It’s a way in which we in English try to translate the concept that was conveyed with the word synod in Greek, it’s that idea of a people who are journeying together. One of the things that Pope Francis has talked about is how important it is that on that journey together that we prayerfully listen to one another and recognize that everybody in the Church has a gift that God has given to them for the building up of the Church.

We can never get to that point where it’s just the pope or just the bishops or just the priests or just the religious. But really recognizing that all of us have gifts. And the only way we’re going to manifest the strength of the Church is if those gifts are being used. And we do that as we journey together, as we listen to one another, as we have that opportunity to hear of others’ experiences. Our faith is very incarnational, because Jesus took on human flesh.

And so, in the very way in which we continue to proclaim what Jesus proclaimed, we have to be able to do it in a way that really is relevant to the concrete situation that we find ourselves in, in 2022 or 2023. And that requires that we really be listening to people and allowing them in, in a prayerful way, to share their experience of life, of the Church and where the Holy Spirit is moving them.

Q A powerful image in the pastoral letter is the Upper Room. I wonder if Bishop Williams might walk us through that, with how the apostles came to be there and what they learned from Jesus in that room and how that applies to us now in this pastoral effort.

Bishop Williams The Upper Room is a place in southwest Jerusalem where Jesus, we know, instituted the holy Eucharist. He celebrated his Last Supper in the Upper Room. We also know the Apostles were waiting for the Holy Spirit in that same Upper Room. They were told to pray there. According to an ancient tradition, the spirit of Pentecost fell in that same room. It’s one of the holiest places in the world for Christians. And I had the privilege in 2016 to make a sabbatical, a privilege given by the archbishop. I spent a semester at the Ecole Biblique, a French biblical school just outside the Old City. And part of the reason I had gone, what drew me to the Holy Land, was that room, believe it or not.

And you’re processing, you’re asking questions, you know, ‘How is it we have such a holy Church?’ The Catholic Church is a holy Catholic church, but we’ve largely lost our capacity to witness to Jesus Christ. So, we’re seeing decline in so many parts of the Church, especially in the Western world, and maybe in particular in these United States.

And there seemed to be a key in the Upper Room. The phrase that had come to mind was what God had joined in that Upper Room, the Church has divided. What did he join there? The mystery of the holy Eucharist with the mystery of Pentecost, both according to a very ancient tradition happening in that place.

The holy Eucharist is the sacrament of charity. It does lead us to holiness, but it’s not necessarily the sacrament of witness. Jesus himself said, ‘Stay here and you’ll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you.’ And what is that power? ‘And you will be my witnesses.’ The power to witness comes from the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of fire.

And it turns out the archbishop has this same intuition. The Catholic Church needs more Holy Spirit, and the more we receive from that Holy Spirit, the more we can renew and even reclaim that culture of witness. It was beautiful to see how that image of the Upper Room came to help both of us. And then, once we had this massive inspired data, after all of the voting, how do we make sense of it?

The Upper Room seemed to give us an interpretive key or a lens through which we can say that the data could be interpreted with these mysteries, in a way that helps our local Church be as fruitful as the Upper Room. That was part of the archbishop’s inspiration, and I think it’s crystallized, as you’ve now read, in the pastoral letter.

Archbishop Hebda Bishop Williams, I’ve heard you speak on other occasions about a kiss to Sleeping Beauty. Can you talk about that? Because I think it’s a powerful image about the Holy Spirit.

Bishop Williams You know, we’ve used it in our evangelization curricula at St. Stephen and Holy Rosary in South Minneapolis. Latinos love it. I think our Holy Father loves vivid metaphors, and there’s a sense that our Church is really the sleeping beauty of Jesus. She’s beautiful because she’s been embellished, you might say, by the blood of Jesus. As Paul says, it’s his Paschal Mystery that has made her without stain or wrinkle or anything of the sort.

But she’s asleep. How is she asleep? She’s asleep fundamentally. Or with respect to her basic vocation, which is to evangelize. The Church exists to evangelize. If she’s not doing that, you might say we have a Sleeping Beauty on our hands. And how does she wake up?

It really is only the kiss of the Spirit that can do that. That can bring her out of that slumber and into an awareness of her fundamental call, which is to evangelize.

This is what I was confirmed for, so that we see the Sleeping Beauty waking up. When it does, it brings joy to her and to those who have the privilege of being called into the Church.

Q I think people hearing this will look forward to meeting their Synod Evangelization Team.

Archbishop Hebda Yes, I hope so.

Q And it’s the name of the pastoral letter. Please share the name of the letter, Archbishop Hebda.

Archbishop Hebda Well, it really begins with you will be witnesses, right? Because that’s where we see that fundamental call that we’ve been given. And as Bishop Williams has detailed already, that we’re given that gift of the Holy Spirit precisely so that we can be witnesses — and they don’t want to be that Sleeping Beauty. We want to be that witness to the Resurrection and witness to what Jesus has done in our life and in the life of the Church.

And so ultimately, what we’re about as Church is being witnesses. That’s what really took the emphasis in the title of the letter, and then also using the reference to the Upper Room, because we see it’s so significant in the life of the Church. And then it gives us that framework for looking at what it is that we need to do in the next years.

Q “Gathered and Sent from the Upper Room.”

Archbishop Hebda Yes.

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IMPLEMENTING PRIORITIES OF ARCHDIOCESAN SYNOD

‘HOW’

Synod Evangelization Teams: Each pastor or parochial minister has been asked to form parish-based teams of 12 (some teams won’t be as many as 12) to help carry out the Synod priorities that were discerned through the process. In Year 1 (2023-24) the priority is small groups. In Year 2 it is the Mass. In Year 3 it is parents as primary educators.

School of Discipleship: Members of the parish Synod Evangelization Teams are asked to share in a seven-week experience on missionary discipleship called School of Discipleship from the Archbishop Flynn Catechetical Institute.

Office of Synod Evangelization: led by Deacon Joe Michalak, director, and Father Joseph Bambenek, assistant director, the office will help implement evangelistic priorities of the pastoral letter and yearly implementation plans.

Vicars of Evangelization: Archbishop Bernard Hebda has appointed seven, each responsible for two geographical deaneries. In the archbishop’s name, they will visit and encourage pastors and their Synod Evangelization Teams and share with the archbishop their lived experience of implementing the Synod. Vicars generally are appointed by a bishop to assist him in a specific part of a diocese, with certain groups in a diocese or with certain areas of Church affairs.

Vicar of Charisms: Father Michael Becker, pastor of Sts. Joachim and Anne in Shakopee. This appointee will help “keep the fire of Pentecost at the heart of all our prayer, planning and projects to implement the Synod evangelization,” the pastoral letter states. He also “leads those who feel a deeper call to life in the Spirit,” in part by encouraging participation in the Catechetical Institute’s School of the Holy Spirit, which will “give those who participate the confidence to pray and exercise charisms,” according to the letter.

Office of Youth and Young Adults: Help parents find and show Christ’s love to their children by assisting various youth and young adult ministry groups as they “walk together” in evangelization. The office will also work to promote greater regional alignment and parish cooperation in these critical ministry areas.

Seven Vicars of Evangelization:

• Deaneries 1 and 4: Father Chad VanHoose, pastor of St. Jude of the Lake, Mahtomedi.
• Deaneries 2 and 3: Father Marc Paveglio, pastor of St. Rose of Lima, Roseville.
• — Fathers Van Hoose and Paveglio also are adjunct spiritual directors at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul.
• Deaneries 5 and 6: Father Michael Creagan, pastor of St. Joseph, West St. Paul, and a chaplain for the Army National Guard.
• Deaneries 7 and 8: Father Tony O’Neill, pastor of St. John Neumann, Eagan, and canonical administrator at Faithful Shepherd Catholic School in Eagan.
• Deaneries 9, 14 and 15: Father Kevin Finnegan, pastor of Our Lady of Grace, Edina, and canonical administrator of St. John Paul II Catholic School in Minneapolis.
• Deaneries 10 and 11: Father Leonard Andrie, pastor of St. Therese, Deephaven.
• Deaneries 12 and 13: Father Spencer Howe, pastor of Holy Cross, Minneapolis.

‘WHAT’

INSPIRED BY THE UPPER ROOM

Washing of the feet: Live radical hospitality, serve others and experience God’s love directly, as expressed through fellow sisters and brothers in Christ. Small groups organized by Synod Evangelization Teams will be one way to serve and experience one another. Also: Help families remain rooted and united in Jesus, help youth and young adults grow in their faith and act with Jesus’ humility, expressed in service, to meet others’ spiritual and bodily needs.

Breaking of the bread: Grow in profound appreciation for the Eucharist — the source and summit of the faith — through the Sunday liturgy of the Mass in each parish. Priests are encouraged, in collaboration with deacons and parishioners, to promote the beauty, form and meaning of the Mass. The faithful are encouraged to participate in activities of the U.S. bishops’ National Eucharistic Revival from 2022 to 2025.

Coming of the Holy Spirit: Go forth to bear witness to Jesus. It doesn’t have to be hard. Archbishop Hebda writes in his pastoral letter: “We need only to have experienced God’s saving love and then begin sharing that love with others according to our talents and gifts. Can you imagine if every woman, man, young adult and youth accepted these words and embraced this simple calling?”