Synod: Listening to the people

Above: Father Colm Cahill, executive director of strategic planning and the director of vocations for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, explains the process the archdiocese is using to respond to Pope Francis’ call for Catholics across the globe to provide input on how the church is fulfilling its mission. (Photo by Beth Donze, Clarion Herald)

By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald

Responding to Pope Francis’ call for Catholics and all of God’s people to articulate their experience of their local Catholic church, lay representatives from the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ 10 deaneries gathered at Notre Dame Seminary recently to answer two overarching questions posed by the Holy Father:

• How are you, your parish and your diocese “journeying together” as a church family?

• What steps is the Holy Spirit asking you to take to help your local church grow in that journey?

The answers, which will be compiled into a report to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, are part of the ongoing “local phase” of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis’ endeavor to gauge the state of Catholicism and discern ways to help it thrive into the next millennium.

Climax will be 2023 in Rome

The synod’s work will culminate in October 2023, when the Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will meet in Rome to summarize the input from every Catholic diocese in the world on how God is calling them to “be church” in the coming years.

“We’re listening; we’re hearing your voice – your hopes, your dreams, your concerns, your criticisms, your accolades – whatever you want to offer,” said Father Colm Cahill, executive director of strategic planning, director of vocations and the synod liaison for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, thanking the lay representatives for their willingness to candidly offer their observations.

“This isn’t necessarily a focus group to fix all the local problems, but rather, a place for us to speak openly, with respect, with trust,” Father Cahill. He noted that walking together, as church, is “a challenging endeavor the Holy Father has put before us – to actually sit and listen to something that I may agree with, or that may be completely obtuse to what I think and feel.”

Mass participation woes

While various groups of clergy and religious already have begun weighing in on the pope’s two questions, the Jan. 8 gathering marked the first synod listening session for laity of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Many of those in attendance expressed concerns about how their “journeying together” had been negatively impacted by the pandemic, with some observing that Mass attendance has noticeably declined, even as in-person liturgies have resumed.

“People were in the habit of going to Mass, and all of a sudden, we don’t have to go to Mass. When you break a habit, it’s hard to go back to doing it,” one of the lay people said.

Yet, even before the pandemic, parishioner disengagement was putting a pall over parish life, many of the lay representatives said. Their observations as to why this was happening – and steps for inspiring more participation and unity among Catholic faith communities – included the following:

• Inspiring participation at Mass and in parish life “starts at the pulpit.” Lamenting that her parish church was once packed on Sundays and boasted significant numbers of First Communion and confirmation candidates, one lay representative suggested it was because her pastor was not connecting with his young and young-adult congregants. She said it is up to active parishioners to inform their pastors of these disconnects and to suggest solutions, such as inviting young people to take up the collection.

“Those kids need to be doing something besides just sitting in the pew. If they’re not participating, then they’re like ‘Why am I sitting here?’” she said, adding that the disengagement is not limited to young congregants; many adults also are distracted at Mass, “playing on their cell phones.”

• Clergy and parishioners alike need to rediscover the art of simply listening. One lay leader observed that less active or non-observant parishioners “have a longing” to journey together with a faith community, but fear clergy and more devout members of the flock don’t want to hear why they are faltering in their journey and would rather “correct them, condemn them or try to teach at them.” Regular listening sessions, such as the ones proposed by Pope Francis, would be “very healing” for those who are lapsed, disagree with church teachings or who just “go through the motions” at Mass, they said.

“I think we do a good job of engaging those who want to be engaged or who know how to reach out, but there are a ton of people out there who want to be engaged but don’t feel worthy or don’t know the path to take, but who would jump at the opportunity (to serve), if someone just asked them,” one offered. “I think we (Catholics) get into this zone where we only reach out to those that we know and who are engaged. It’s the ‘easy button,’ and we ask the same people (to participate).”

• When it comes to building a more participatory and unified church family, nothing beats receiving a personal invitation from the priest. One lay representative shared that being asked to take on a liturgical ministry “was the greatest joy for me.” Announcements at the end of Mass or putting requests for help in the parish bulletin are not as effective as a one-on-one invitation, they said.

• Student-leaders from the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ numerous high schools and youth groups could be more actively encouraged to invite their non-participatory and unchurched peers to be helpers in parish projects.

• Observant parents who have one or more adult children who are away from the faith could be asked to “bring their children into the conversation” on why they left the church.

• Always seeing the same small fraction of parishioners volunteering in ministry – and the “clique” perception that this plants in the minds of the inactive – are age-old problems in Catholic parish life, the group said.

• Parishes should be more welcoming to new faces and remove stigmas related to their members going to more than one parish to satisfy their fellowship, programming, formation and sacramental needs.

“Just because you’re in one parish doesn’t mean you can’t go to another,” one lay representative said, noting that if a neighboring parish is doing something well, such as youth group, a family should not feel any reluctance to check it out. This led some of the lay representatives to admit they often do not know what is offered at other parishes and wonder if there could be more collaboration among parishes. 

Short of creating better mechanisms among parishes to share their best practices on a regular basis, “some things we could do cooperatively – parishes could come together, because we’re all trying to reinvent the wheel,” one attendee said. “All these parishes are struggling with the same things, and sometimes there are things we could do cooperatively as a deanery.”

• One lay person said the best way to help people find their way back to parish life is to “absolutely walk with everybody.”

“I see mercy from God, thank goodness, because I wouldn’t be here today,” he said. “We’ve got to be walking with people – those in addiction, the homeless, LGBTQ – Jesus walked with everybody.”

“There are a lot of ways you can walk with people when they’re doing things, but still speak the truth. The more we do that, I think the more people will come back to the church,” he added, noting that rebuilding the church starts in the family. “We have to encourage more families to stay together,” he said. “That will help education, that will help violence, that will help most of the problems we’re suffering through.”

• Another lay person touted the value of praying for – and speaking from the pulpit to – not only the devout, but marginalized groups such as the poor and homeless.

“What would Jesus do? Jesus would love those people and want to pray for them,” he said. As an example, he pointed to adoptees as a group which sometimes feels “abandoned” in church settings. They, too, could be embraced more regularly from the pulpit, and the topic of adoption could more easily be broached as “an antidote to abortion” among congregants.

“How about we pray for people who are adopted?” he wondered, noting that the divorced, survivors of clergy sex abuse and those who have left the church might also be mentioned more often in church. “When congregations hear their leaders praying for (disenfranchised groups), it goes home to Sunday dinner,” he said.

• One lay representative observed that we pray “Our Family Prayer” at every Mass, but little is said about what congregants are doing – or not doing – to combat “violence, murder and racism.”

“We have to figure out how to incorporate all of those things into action and not just say the words,” she said.

Likewise, parish-based pro-life ministries that confine their outreach to an annual baby bottle drive might also devise ways parishioners can give more continuous support to parents who choose to have their children.

• Most agreed that technology generally has helped people along in their faith journeys. Electronic parish giving, social media blasts on parish events and televised Masses were touted as effective means of engaging Catholics.

• A new “in-person” offering was praised for its effectiveness in bringing people together, especially during the pandemic: The archdiocese’s series of “True Presence” adoration nights was credited for sparking many people’s return to in-person Masses.

Archdiocese ahead of curve

Archbishop Gregory Aymond, who listened attentively throughout the meeting, said the local archdiocese has a leg up on Pope Francis’ call, having completed its own introspections on local church vitality in the Ninth General Synod, a two-year process that concluded in 2016.

More than 25 listening sessions were attended by thousands of participants who weighed in on three questions: What is the Archdiocese of New Orleans doing well? What could it be doing better or more frequently? What is not happening that should be happening?

“That’s highly unusual for a diocese to do,” said the archbishop of the Ninth General Synod, which spawned concrete steps the local church is taking in five priority areas: forming welcoming communities that celebrate our unity and diversity; embracing Christ in every family, parish and ministry; ministering to families, youth and young adults; preparing servant-leaders for the church (including lay leaders); and being a voice and witness for Catholic Social Teaching.

The archbishop said he was proud of how far the archdiocese had come in the implementation phase of that synod, but expressed regret that the pandemic had put some of the parish and diocesan efforts, such as last year’s March for Life, on hold.

“Nonetheless, I think that we need to give ourselves credit for having the synod, for completing the synod in 2016, and I can see efforts both on the diocesan level and on the parish level that are picking up from what was interrupted,” he said.

Archbishop Aymond noted that while insights and action steps gleaned by the Ninth General Synod inevitably will overlap with those collected by the Synod on Synodality, the latter is more about authentically listening together to what God is saying to his people and discerning steps to deeper communion, fuller participation and greater openness to fulfilling the church’s mission in the world. It is not “goal-oriented,” but rather about “How do we walk together?” he said.

“We have to ask people to participate,” Archbishop Aymond said. “We don’t want and we don’t need just a church that is lax, but rather we want and need a church where we have people who are participating and who are living their faith and calling others to live their faith.”

Whenever he is asked to define the church’s mission, Archbishop Aymond’s answer is simple yet challenging: to foster God’s kingdom among us – as Jesus did.

“What did Jesus do on this earth? He taught, he preached, he prayed with people, he healed people, he forgave people – whatever he did is what the church is supposed to be doing today,” he said. “We now are the Body of Christ; we are the visible Body of Christ.”

All feedback welcome

In addition to hearing the voices of active Catholics, the local phase of the Synod on Synodality will hold small-group listening sessions through its September deadline to gather the voices of those on the “periphery” of Catholic life: lapsed Catholics, those of other faiths, no faith, the poor and other marginalized groups.

The next scheduled listening session on April 23 will host individuals who are either estranged or disenfranchised from the church. These people were identified and invited by local Catholics to participate in the synod.

Additional next-step strategies to ascertain local input include:

• Listening sessions for youth of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, including homeschooled, public-schooled and Catholic-schooled young people through Teen CROSS.

• Organizing separate gatherings for those who are assisted by the church’s social outreach efforts.

• Listening sessions for groups such as college-age Catholics, lapsed Catholics and those who claim no church affiliation.

Local Catholics and other members of the public need not attend a gathering to answer questions related to the Synod on Synodality. To participate, email specialprojects@arch-no.org. The anonymity of participants will be maintained. A website has been set up for the Synod on Synodality at https://nolacatholic.org/synod2021.

bdonze@clarionherald.org