Parishes throughout The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington this month and into February and March will host listening sessions as the most local part of the 2021-2023 Synod of Bishops, titled “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission.”
With the busy Advent and Christmas season now in the past, parishes in the Washington Archdiocese are moving forward with events intended to stir discussion and listen to each other’s “joys and hopes, and griefs and anxieties,” as the participants’ guide for the Synod describes it. People who have already participated in listening sessions offered tips to others, including the observation that “as funny as it sounds, that’s exactly what this is, a time to listen,” as Cheryl McLaughlin of Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Washington put it. “It’s not set up to criticize or influence the Church to do one thing. It’s to listen.”
Launched by Pope Francis in October 2021, parishes and religious communities throughout the world are being asked to spend time in listening sessions with their members before reporting to their dioceses and archdioceses about the concerns raised there. After diocesan reports are compiled later this year and submitted by the bishops’ conferences of each country, the Vatican will host a gathering of bishops and other delegates to consider the information in October 2023.
The guide goes on to say that “Listening and speaking within the Church always involves prayer. We are listening, dialoguing and praying together so that we can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. The ‘goal’ of this journeying together is not to create a new vision or pastoral plan with objectives. Rather, the goal of our journeying together is to be present with one another, to listen and learn with each other and to grow closer to the Lord and His Church.”
Father David Beaubien, pastor of St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parish in Leonardtown, Maryland, one of two archdiocesan delegates for the Synod, told the Catholic Standard that his parish held two listening sessions before Thanksgiving, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. The parish’s summary report to the archdiocese has already been submitted, he added.
Father Beaubien said participants in one session were fairly critical of the archdiocese and the Vatican, while the other group discussion was quite positive. Among issues raised in the sessions were, he said, a perception that sometimes there are “mixed messages” from the church leadership on some matters and concern about how to draw into Church life those who have been marginalized in some way.
He said that group might include “the people you meet in the hardware store or in the school parking lot.” In reporting on that concern in his summary to the archdiocese, Father Beaubien said outreach to marginalized people happens on an ongoing basis, such as through the ministry of the St. Vincent de Paul Society to the poor “and all the people who are in need and on the margins of society.”
He added, “There is always ongoing outreach to people on the margins. It just doesn’t look like evangelization.”
Jeannine Marino, archdiocesan Secretary for Pastoral Ministry and Social Concerns, and the other local contact for the global Synod, said feedback about the parish listening sessions has been that parishioners are getting engaged in the process and that dialogues are generally productive.
Cardinal Wilton Gregory hosted a listening session in December for the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council. Some of the helpful feedback from the session included comments on the value of starting and finishing the session with prayer, Marino said.
McLaughlin of Holy Name Parish in Northeast Washington, D.C., is a member of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council and was a part of December session. She said everyone who participated “was really invested in it.” She described the group as “very down-to-earth people,” who were frank about their hopes for what the Synod might produce in new approaches for listening to each other in the Church.
She acknowledged that going into the gathering, “I wasn’t sure what to expect.” But she was pleasantly surprised at how productive it was, particularly as an exercise following the dramatic effects of the last two years of pandemic. “We did discuss the need to have people come back to church and how to make that happen.”
McLaughlin said a few families moved out of Holy Name over the last two years. At the same time, “We had a resurgence of people interested in marriage preparation and Baptism. It’s been harder to get people to come to church, but they are coming for different reasons.”
A major takeaway from the Pastoral Council session for McLaughlin was the emphasis on making a concerted effort to encourage parishioners to come back to the Church after pandemic-forced distancing. That might mean phoning parishioners or reaching out in other ways, “letting them know we want them to feel comfortable coming back.”
James Gant from St. Joseph Parish in Largo, Maryland, another Pastoral Council member, said he also was pleasantly surprised to see that the session “was truly a place where the listening part mattered.”
In thinking about how a session might play out at St. Joseph, he said, “The questions provoked a lot of thought.” Like McLaughlin, he said discussion of parish life post-pandemic seemed most relevant. “How will we reinvigorate and get people back?” he asked.
Gant said that participants at the Pastoral Council session “were instructed to listen and not respond,” which he found to be valuable guidance. He described a more typical town hall-type session where people take turns speaking but others are waiting to argue or rebut those who take the floor. Synod sessions take a different approach.
“Synod meetings are to truly listen and let people have their say,” he said.
(People in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese who are not able to participate in parish listening sessions for the Synod are invited to take an online survey.)
