At an October 2021 opening Mass launching local participation in the two-year process leading up to the 2023 Synod of Bishops, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory invoked the guidance of the Holy Spirit, saying, “We should be inspired to speak honestly with one another and to listen sincerely. We must not be afraid to hear the voices of those who may feel distant from the Church, or who have grown frustrated or scandalized by our past.”
The Synod’s theme was “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission.” In the months following the Mass at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, listening sessions were held at parishes, and local Catholics also participated in an online survey. Diocesan-level Synod reports were compiled nationally and shared with the Vatican, which received Synod reports from around the world.
As the local process started, Jeannine Marino, the Secretary for Pastoral Ministry and Social Concerns for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, explained that the Synod’s goal was “to talk, to engage in dialogue and listening across parishes, across dioceses and across the globe. It is about walking together on this journey of faith.”
The last of four Regional Synod Listening Sessions was held in May 2022, and that summer, the archdiocese issued its synthesis report for the Synod, which underscored the importance of listening to fellow Catholics. Other key themes in that report included a desire to include youth and young adults more in the life of parishes; seeing the archdiocese’s multicultural communities as a sign of unity in the Church; and recognizing the need to welcome people in marginalized communities and also those who raised challenges to aspects of the Church in the Synod process.
Cardinal Gregory was among U.S. cardinals and bishops appointed by Pope Francis to participate in the 2023 Synod of Bishops on Synodality. After returning from the first portion of the general assembly of the Synod, Cardinal Gregory in a talk at The Catholic University of America, said the synodal approach also can help heal societal challenges.
In his talk at Catholic University, Cardinal Gregory said some distort Pope Francis’s vision of a synodal Church, “and instead are substituting their ideas of the Church. Some want to use synodality as a way to advocate extensive rewriting of our Catholic doctrine to bring the Church into the future; while others want to use synodality to fossilize Catholic beliefs so that the Church remains the Church that they envision from past years.”
In a February 2024 talk to the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, Cardinal Gregory spoke about how the Synod unfolded at the Vatican. “One of the many wonderful aspects of this Synod was meeting the people who represent the global faithful. We spoke different languages, were different ages, and came from various communities and cultures, but we are one Catholic family,” the cardinal said. He explained that participants sat at round tables in their language groups with the same tablemates for a week, with Pope Francis participating in the same manner.
Noting that some people have described the Synod on Synodality as “a meeting about meetings,” the cardinal said it is primarily a process for becoming a better Church, and discerning how Catholics can live out the mission of the Church by “more fully and authentically focusing on Christ and His love and mercy for every person.”
That same month, Cardinal Gregory participated in a “Jesuitical” podcast from America Media on the topic, “A Listening Church in a Divided Nation,” and he said, “Whenever I’ve experienced the Church in true dialogue and open conversation, that’s synodality. Whenever the Church gathers and everyone feels respected and can open their hearts, that’s synodality.”
After participating in the final session of the Synod on Synodality in Rome in October 2024, Cardinal Gregory returned home to the Washington area and held a dialogue with permanent deacons and their wives and discussed key themes from the Synod.
“The very name Synod means that we walk together. We are in union with each other… The spirit of the Synod calls us to help bridge the differences we have,” the cardinal said. He noted that since apostolic times, bishops have been called together and sought the guidance of the Holy Spirit to surface needs, “to help guide, focus and inform the Church,” and to propose solutions.
Synods, the cardinal explained, “focus on the needs, the possibilities, the hopes, the dreams and the difficulties” facing people in the Church and those whom they serve.
Cardinal Gregory said key themes in the Synod’s final document include the need for transparency and accountability and more lay participation in the Church.
After the findings of the synodal process in the Archdiocese of Washington, Cardinal Gregory announced the issuance of “Walking Together in Hope: A Pastoral Planning Process for Evangelization” at parishes.
In a letter announcing that evangelization effort, Cardinal Gregory said, “This ongoing local synodal process is rooted in prayer, discernment, and guided listening sessions with the goal of revitalizing our parishes.” The process, he said, is designed to invite “our people back to vibrant parish life.”
More information on the synodal efforts in the Archdiocese of Washington can be found at adw.org/synod.
