SYNOD ON SYNODALITY: Communion, Participation, Mission
As you may have seen in the bulletin, read in the Star Herald or heard our team members speak about, Pope Francis opened a unique Synod meeting initiative on October 10th of this year which will conclude with a Synod of Bishops meeting in October 2023.
The word “synod” comes from two Greek words meaning “travelling together” or “coming together” and for this particular Synod, the Holy Father has asked that all People of God come together to participate in this Synod topic which will address the co-responsibility all lay people, clergy, bishops in communion together and through the participation of all direct the mission of the Church according to God’s plan at this time in history.
The Pope’s vision has deemed this initial period of this Synod meeting to be “a time of great listening” to the people. Over the next several weeks, guided by the Holy Spirit, we have been invited to speak up and to have our voices heard regarding what is good about our Church, what is not so good about it and in what ways we can all work together to have our Faith community truly be the Light of Christ to all peoples, in all circumstances, in all places and in all times.
At Our Lady of Hope Parish, the Synod team members began their role of listening with our first open listening session held on Thursday, November 4th. It was an evening where the Spirit’s Presence was clearly felt as those who attended shared their stories, their concerns and their prayerful hopes for the Church of Christ called to love God and to love neighbor. We invite everyone to be active participants in this call to Synod from the Holy Father by joining us at either our second listening session gathering at 7 PM in St. Agnes Church on Tuesday, November 9th or our final session to be held on Thursday, November 18th. Pope Frances wants to hear from everyone (!) including those who regularly attend Mass to those who have strayed from the Faith to those who feel separated from the Faith community or society for one reason or another. Come, and let the Holy Spirit guide you as to share YOUR story, YOUR concerns, and YOUR prayerful hopes for our Church.
Although we’d love to hear from you face-to-face, we understand that it may be difficult for some people to join us for one of the live experiences. As keeping with our goal to hear from as many people as possible over the next few weeks, we are offering this option of completing a questionnaire online. Your responses WILL BE anonymous.
Please click the Synod logo below to access the anonymous online questionnaire
If you have difficulty submitting electronically, please print the questionnaire by clicking this link:
SYNOD GENERAL PARISH QUESTIONNAIRE
You may return it by either mailing it to the parish office (Our Lady of Hope Parish, 701 Little Gloucester Rd, Blackwood, NJ 08012), by dropping it to the Parish office or by placing it in the designated box in the gathering space of the Church. Be sure to mark “ATTENTION SYNOD TEAM” on your envelope.
Thank you and we pray that God abundantly blesses you and your families.
Synod Team Members,
Theresa Colaizzo, Christine Kimler, Jim Lanahan, Paschal Nwoka
