synod
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception hosted a local discernment session Feb. 23.
‘COME, HOLY SPIRIT’: D I S C E R N M E N T A N D SY N O DA L I T Y By Megan Marley
S
ynod — what does this word mean? In the history of the Catholic Church, it’s an assembly called by the Church to discuss matters of impor-
tance for the Church. The Greek root words syn and hodos literally translated mean “together, journey.”
While recent synods have examined themes such as the New Evangelization, the family, young people and the Amazon, the synod currently being prepared focuses on “synodality” — how the people of God walk together in listening to the Holy Spirit. The world’s bishops will collectively meet in 2023 to discern what the Holy Spirit is speaking, but there are also gatherings at the continental, national and diocesan-wide levels to inform that synod.
Beginning in Advent, parishes, schools and other groups in our diocese hosted listening and discernment sessions focused on 10 themes proposed for the synod. The themes aim to encourage listening to the Holy Spirit and fostering discernment, participation and co-responsibility for the Church’s mission in the world at all levels of the Church. “The Holy Father has challenged us to engage communities whose voices are not often heard, individuals we see on the margins of society … we also want to reach out those who have maybe fallen away from the practice of their faith,” Bishop Johnston said in a video introducing the synod. Reports summarizing local sessions are being compiled by the diocese for creating a diocesan-wide report to go up to the national level. This local report will be made available on the diocesan website, kcsjcatholic.org. Below are some experiences of the local synod process. St. Patrick School, Kansas City St. Patrick School in northern Kansas City held not one, but two synod sessions: one for teachers and staff, another for middle-schoolers. First-grade teacher Hannah Duran was present at the teachers and staff meeting held Jan. 26. Principal Kaci Monaghan sent out the 10 topics several days in advance for them to think and pray about what was speaking to them and submit their top three. Duran appreciated the openness of the process. “When she asked us to choose, it gave us ownership of the topics and made us be more involved and invest in the conversation,” she said. “Listening,” “Sharing Responsibility for Our Common Mission” and “Ecumenism” were the three they discussed. “The one that really stood out to me was one I voted for, which was ‘Listening.’ We talked a lot about how we can be better in our school,
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Catholic Key • April/May 2022 • catholickey.org
