Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Happy Feast Day!
While the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul is January 25, our parish celebrates its patronal feast this weekend so that as many people as possible can be present to thank God for our patron, our parish, and all parishioners who continue to fulfill our mission of Forming Disciples in Christ in Community and Proclaiming the Gospel!  To honor our feast day and also show our devotion to the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, we will have adoration and Solemn Benediction following all Masses this weekend.  To further honor our feast, this year we have something new - a St. Paul Parish Novena.  Yes, a person has “custom made” a novena for our parish.  She wrote it in a spirit of prayer and discernment.  It follows the traditional structure of a novena.  Pray the prayers for nine days starting on January 25.  It ends on February 2, which is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.  I encourage you to pray emphasizing the theme of light during this time.  It was the light of Christ that blinded St. Paul, but also enlightened him to Faith.  That same light is celebrated on February 2 as we hear Simeon declare “a light to reveal you to the nations.”  Due to sin our intellects are darkened, our wills are cold and weak.  We need the light and warmth that emanates from Christ. 
Pamphlets with the novena will be distributed at the Masses this weekend.  I invite all parishioners to pray the novena in their households and/or with friends.  May these prayers help us embrace the graces God offers during these tough times.

Synod on Synodality: Communion, Participation, Mission
The pope has called for a Synod on Synodality.  I have briefly written of this before.  If you want some more details on it check out these sources.
https://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/synod
https://www.usccb.org/synod

My bulletin column over the next few weeks will delve into how the synod “listening sessions” will take place here at St. Paul’s.

Preparation for Parish Listening Sessions
What’s the big picture?
In all honesty I am still trying to wrap my mind around exactly what Pope Francis’ goal is with this synod.  He wants the whole Church to be more “synodal,” but it is tough to pin down exactly what that looks like.  Even so, we will do our best, and I will do my best to contextualize the process and keep us focused.  On the macro level, this is a two-year process for the whole church; this is only the first phase, the “listening” phase.  There will be dialogue and listening at the end of which summaries will be sent to our bishop, and then, with other summaries, up to the USCCB, then to Rome for the pope and bishops to use in the actual Synod itself in 2023.  
I believe part of my difficulty has been thinking too broadly about the process which will not be complete for a long time, so I’ve decided the big picture is not worth trying to “figure out.”  Our focus will be on our part, as small as it may seem to be.  Furthermore, this local focus has potential to bear spiritual fruit here regardless of how the “higher ups” treat our reflections.  

What this process is not?
Our listening sessions are not a deliberative decision-making body.  This is not a democratic vote with politics or agendas.  Also, this is not a time to simply voice complaints or muse on unrealistic expectations in the church.  While there is an element of sharing one’s faith, this is not mere “faith sharing” or merely talking about individuals’ feelings.

So, what is it then?
Our listening sessions will be an exercise in “communal discernment.”  I will describe more about that later.  Think of this process like a father calling a family meeting.  In this meeting, dad gives some basic guidelines but says, “I want you to go and reflect on this and come up with ideas and resolutions that will help the family.  Afterward I’ll give some comments and directives, but I want to hear how you discern God is calling our family forward.”  Another analogy could be a football team.  There are coaches in the booth watching from on high, but rather than dictating the plays, they allow the team to huddle and design some new plays based on their experience and the conditions on the ground.  The huddle breaks and executes the plays to see how they work.
Everyone is given an opportunity to share in this communal discernment. We are the ones “on the ground” and the Holy Spirit gives His gifts according to His will to everyone throughout the church.  These gifts are meant to build up the communion of the Church, thus they must be ordered accordingly in their communal dimension.

Missionary context 
While each session has time dedicated to listening to the Holy Spirit, there is also time to think locally in order to identify practical steps to help fulfill the mission to which the Spirit calls us. To what actions are we called personally, as a parish, as a diocese?  These are the questions we will pray on and discern.  

When are the listening sessions?
The actual dates have yet to be scheduled but we are planning for mid-February through March.

Hopefully this gets us started to implement what the pope and bishops are asking us to do.  Next week I will give more information on discernment and how it will be practiced in our sessions. Any questions you think I should address, let me know and I can include them in the next weeks as we continue preparing for our meetings.  

God bless! And Happy St. Paul Feast Day!
Fr. Pfr