Local faithful offer their visions of the future of the Church at listening sessions for Synod

Six Catholics at a table agreed they love their faith, priests, and parishes. However, they want the Church to get better at following Jesus’ lead and become more open to all people, including those on society’s margins.

This was the experience of those sitting at one table.

On the evening of March 13, this group of older laypeople of the Paterson Diocese offered their vision for the Church’s future at the first of three interim phase listening sessions — part of the broader Church’s Synod on Synodality process.

They were joined by about 75 local laity, religious, and priests. Participants were divided into small groups to share their visions of the Church during the session at Reverend George A. Brown Memorial School in Sparta. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney and other diocesan officials participated.

Today, it’s especially critical to attract young people, who have been leaving the Church at an alarming rate, the six said. They discussed various reasons why this might be.

“We must figure out how to get young people back to the Church. I don’t know where things are going, but the Church is talking. That’s change,” said David Goddeyne of Good Shepherd Parish in Andover. “It was important to have Bishop Sweeney here.”

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.

Like dioceses worldwide, Paterson are holding three listening sessions, which will take place in each of its counties. Faithful offered 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. The results will be compiled for the second meeting of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which will conclude the Synod in October at the Vatican. Priests and teenagers in the diocese participated in separate listening sessions.

“Tonight, we listened to one another. There is a lot of work to do, but all things are possible through the Lord,” Bishop Sweeney said at the March 13 session.

Participants selected priorities for the Church. They included fostering relations between the Roman Catholic Church and other denominations and focusing on the Churches’ responsibility to mission. They also spoke positively about their parishes, including their faith-filled priests with enriching homilies and dynamic parish social-justice ministries.

Carolina Marca, 21, of Our Lady Queen of Peace in Branchville, said Hispanic Catholics in Sussex County don’t have a “home base” parish that offers frequent Masses in Spanish.

“I felt heard. People were receptive to what I was saying,” said Marca, who has trained altar servers. “I love the Mass. It’s an hour with no distractions. The homilies affect my life. I love the family you can create in a church group. I also want to teach the next generation to continue the Church.”