This Lent, local faithful are invited to share their vision for the future of the Church with their fellow Catholics during three interim phase listening sessions to be held in the diocese — part of the broader Church’s Synod on Synodality process, which will conclude at the Vatican in October.
In 2021, Pope Francis initiated the Synod on Synodality. This process enables the universal Church and local dioceses to collaborate in charting a path in the modern era, emphasizing listening, discernment, and mission. The synodal journey is a spiritual process of listening to one another to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Like dioceses worldwide, Paterson is holding listening sessions, which will take place in each of its counties. There, faithful will offer their ideas and reflections on how to grow as a Church, especially as a diocese, by suggesting “which priorities it should pursue and how to put them into practice,” said Father Paul Manning, diocesan vicar for evangelization. He chairs the Diocesan Synod Committee with Maria Moncaleano, director of diocesan Hispanic Ministry.
Listening sessions will be held on Wednesday, March 13, at Reverend Brown Memorial School in Sparta, from 7 to 9 p.m.; Monday, March 18, at Pope John Paul II Pastoral Center in Clifton, from 7 to 9 p.m.; and Saturday, March 23, at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. All faithful are welcome to attend any session and can participate in English or Spanish.
Priests who serve the diocese will attend a separate session.
“The purpose of this interim phase is to promote deeper reflection on how to grow as a synodal Church universally and to broaden the experience of listening and discerning together at the local level,” said Father Manning and Moncaleano.
The results will be compiled for the second meeting of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican from Oct. 4 to 29. It will feature 363 voting members — including laymen and women for the first time — who will advise the pope on the theme: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission.” The assembly first met in Rome last October.
The first gathering of the assembly compiled results from earlier listening sessions, including from Paterson in 2022. Upwards of 8,000 people in the diocese participated. The diocese sent the results to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Among the rich and varied feedback from participants were concerns that “The Church needs to recommit herself to forming missionary disciples and lay leaders and to evangelization and the new evangelization,” according to the report, available at https://rcdop.org/synod-2023.
During episode 28 of the Beyond The Beacon podcast in October about the Synod, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney expressed hope that the Synod “will bear fruit for the universal Church and the diocese.”
Click here to register for any of the three listening sessions.