Focus Areas Announced
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Based on the information already gathered in the Prayer and Listening Events, as well as the information gathered for the Ad Limina visit with Pope Francis in January, and the results of the Disciple Marker Index, Archbishop Hebda has discerned the initial set of focus areas for the Archdiocesan Synod. Those areas will set the parameters for discussions at the deanery and parish levels:
- Forming parishes that are in the service of evangelization
- Forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’s love and respond to his call
- Forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young
See details below, and read more in Archbishop’s August 13, 2020 article in The Catholic Spirit.
Questions? Comments? Contact us at synod@archspm.org or fill out our contact form.
More on the Focus Areas
Archbishop Hebda is particularly looking forward to hearing responses to the following questions.
Forming parishes that are in the service of evangelization.
- Welcoming parishes
What can we do to make parishes more welcoming and accessible? Are there those who feel excluded from parish life? How can we address them? What have we learned from livestreaming parish events to build inclusion?
- Collaboration in parish ministry
How can we promote a greater sense of ownership of parish activities? How do we call forth the gifts that God has given us to strengthen our parishes? How should parishioners be involved in setting a vision for the parish? How does a parish regularly assess its performance? How can a community provide for continuity when clergy and staff regularly change?
- Liturgy and the Sunday experience
What needs to happen for Sunday liturgies to more completely satisfy spiritual needs and send us forth for service? How should we address the needs of multicultural, multilingual communities at Mass? Are there ways to create an Archdiocesan liturgical identity so that we feel at home in any one of our parishes? What would be important components of that identity?
- Parishes at “central driving force” of evangelization
How do we foster the “pastoral conversion” of parishes to more fully serve the Church’s evangelizing mission? How can parishes train parishioners to be evangelizers, especially in homes and neighborhoods? What are parish practices that have worked in bringing Catholics back to the Church or in attracting new members?
- Bringing the Implications of the Gospel into our communities
How can parishes be instruments of Christ’s healing? How do we transform parishes to be attentive to the needs of others and to engage in the work of justice and racial equality?
Forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’ love and respond to his call.
- Encountering Jesus
What resources and experiences facilitate the personal encounter with Christ that is at the heart of missionary discipleship? What are concrete ways that our Church can credibly proclaim the core message of our faith (the “kerygma”) in ways that lead to real conversion?
- Tools to foster discipleship
How can we offer meaningful life-long formation for discipleship? What are useful resources and experiences for learning how to pray, especially with sacred Scripture? What retreat experiences have borne fruit? How can we encourage faith-sharing in small groups? How can we encourage mentoring in the life of virtue and accompaniment at difficult moments?
- Enhancing adult formation
How can we promote a deepening in our understanding of the content of our faith? How can we more effectively meet the need for adult faith formation?
- Fostering the universal call to holiness
How do we deepen our understanding of the family as the domestic Church and our appreciation of marriage as a path for life-long sanctification? How can the Church better accompany couples in living out their vocation throughout their marriage? How can we be more responsive to the spiritual needs of those who are single, separated or divorced, or widowed?
- Joyful service as a Gospel imperative
How do we strengthen the tie between discipleship, love for neighbor and joyful service? How can we encourage individuals to manifest their faith in their works? How can we promote a greater sensitivity and response to the needs of others?
Forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young.
- Supporting parents as primary educators
How can we better assist parents in forming children as disciples who know and love Jesus and his Church?
- Helping the young encounter Jesus
How do we give pre-teens a personal encounter with Jesus that fosters spiritual growth? How about teenagers? How should we teach them to pray or help them grow in virtue?
- Education at the service of encountering Christ
How can Catholic schools and religious education programs more effectively facilitate a relationship with Jesus? Do our sacramental preparation programs open young hearts to God’s grace and call?
- Ministry to millennials
How can we minister more effectively to college-age Catholics and single young adults? How about young married couples and young families?
- Rethinking structures of young adult ministry
What should be the role of peer ministry and young adult leadership in this apostolate? Is there a need for a more regionalized approach? What are avenues for developing young leadership and opening Church structures to the insights of young adults? How can we better use social media to nourish young adults?