2024 Synod in Action Update
We are called to journey together. • Estamos llamados a caminar juntos.
In light of that call, Pope Francis has invited the world into a Synod process over the next two years. The entire people of God will be challenged to share their experience with the Catholic Church and listen to one another as we discern how the Holy Spirit is at work in the world today.
A la luz de ese llamado, el Papa Francisco ha invitado al mundo a un proceso de Sínodo durante los próximos dos años. Todo el pueblo de Dios es desafiado a compartir su experiencia con la Iglesia Católica y a escucharnos unos a otros mientras discernimos cómo el Espíritu Santo está obrando en el mundo de hoy.
St. Thomas More Listening Session Reports
In 2021, the Vatican announced a world-wide “Synod on Synodality” – a multi-year listening session of voices from parishioners to church leadership. As Pope Francis stated “A church that teaches must first listen.”
At St Thomas More, the call for participants to our Synod resulted in the voices of over 225 parishioners being recorded in a series of five listening sessions (Spanish language in-person and Zoom, English language in-person and Zoom, and a youth listening session). The sessions were painful, joyful, contentious and cooperative, as we took time to encounter the Lord and one another.
Questions asked during these listening sessions included the following:
The next step in the process calls for our parish report to be sent to the Diocese of Raleigh. From parish reports, the Dioceses create a Bishop’s report, summarizing everything they have heard. The Bishops then create a North American report for the “Continental phase”. These reports then go to the Vatican, which creates a final report following the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. This Assembly will be dedicated to the theme “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission,” and will be held at the Vatican in October 2023.
Below you will find links to summaries of our Synod on Synodality, including a presentation of our listening session results, notes from a joint Synod discussion session of the Pastoral Council and Equipo Pastoral, and our report to the Diocese of Raleigh.