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Preparing for the Synod
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January 11, 2024One year ago, our diocesan family took an important step in preparation for the Third Synod of the Diocese of Fargo. For several months we held a series of regional listening sessions around the diocese that allowed all the faithful to gather in prayer, listening, and conversation about the life of the Church in our diocese. At that time I explained our need to prayerfully reflect on the state of our diocese and the mission that Jesus has entrusted to his Church, a mission to live the Gospel and to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19). I also explained that this is not a task only for the bishop, or only for priests and religious. It is a calling and a responsibility of all the faithful, and we all have a part to play in the work of the Church in the Diocese of Fargo.
We held seventeen regional listening sessions in various parishes and additional listening sessions with the permanent deacons and the priests of the diocese. After a time of Scripture reflection and prayer before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, as a faith community we discussed a few key questions: What are the top three things that are working well at your parish/diocese? What are the top three challenges to address in your parish/diocese? What is one step I might be called to take to respond? The discussions were lively and the responses were as many and varied as you can imagine.
Now we have arrived at yet another stage of preparation for our diocesan synod. After the listening sessions were completed, we gathered the many responses together and organized them into three key areas: Encounter, Formation, and Mission. Based on this consultation process, and with your assistance, I have formulated the significant issues and questions that should guide the ongoing preparation for our synod.
Focus Area I: Encounter: How can we encounter Christ, especially in the Eucharist, and foster communion with him and with each other in the Church?
Focus Area II: Formation: How are we formed in our identity as missionary disciples so that we may be prepared to live, witness, and hand on the gift of faith?
Focus Area III: Mission: As individual believers and Catholic communities, how can we fulfill our mission to proclaim Christ to others in all circumstances and to all people throughout the Diocese of Fargo?
Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the preparation for our synod will continue with a time of further reflection and consultation, education, and discussions among clergy and lay leaders in our diocese. We enter into this time with prayer and a spirit of hope that through these efforts, we might come to know Jesus more fully as his disciples did on the road to Emmaus: “in the breaking of the bread.” We pray also that we will have a clearer sense of the direction our Lord is laying before us as a diocesan Church.
The following focus areas and questions draw from the listening sessions and personal review surveys that involved more than 2400 faithful in the Diocese of Fargo. These focus areas include questions that are intended to foster reflection and conversations, but the questions are not exhaustive. The goal is that they will help generate proposals for discussion at the Synod Assembly to be held on April 11-13, 2024.
Focus Area I: Encounter: How can we encounter Christ, especially in the Eucharist, and foster communion with him and each other in the Church?
Some Questions for Consideration- How can we meet Jesus and grow in an ongoing relationship with him?
- How can our devotional and spiritual practices help us encounter Jesus?
- How can we deepen baptismal faith in Christ through our prayer, liturgies, and Eucharistic life?
- How can we grow as a Church that shows reverence for Christ’s presence both in the Eucharist and in the community?
- How can we foster a healthy liturgical life in our parishes and respond to liturgical differences?
- How can we instill in the faithful a greater understanding and love for Scripture?
- How can we encourage a greater understanding and celebration of the sacrament of Penance, which restores our relationship with Christ and each other?
- How can we build our parish communities and foster unity?
- How can we evaluate the vitality of our parishes?
- How can we support both rural and urban parishes?
- How can we encourage and support family involvement in parish life?
- How can we vary engagement opportunities for different personalities, capabilities, and gifts?
- What practices help us to grow in communion with Jesus and with each other?
Some Questions for Consideration- How can we effectively hand on the faith and lead our children to an encounter with Jesus?
- How can the time and place of First Communion and Confirmation most effectively form our children?
- How can we effectively hand on the faith and lead people of every age to an encounter with Jesus?
- How can we form the faithful in an understanding and joyful living of the Christian moral life?
- How can we activate the gifts of the Holy Spirit, strengthened in Confirmation?
- How does the Eucharist form our identity as missionary disciples?
- How can we foster a healthy discernment and support of all Christian vocations?
- How can we foster vocations to the priesthood?
- How can we communicate the meaning and support the vocation of marriage and family life?
- How can we increase our understanding of being sent and on mission as individuals and as a Church?
Some Questions for Consideration- How can we bring people to Christ, and his Church?
- How can we bring people back to the Church?
- How can we provide better outreach ministry to men, women, young adults, and children?
- How can we provide better, more realistic, and more coordinated outreach to the poor, divorced, widowed, and those on the peripheries?
- How can we live the missionary mandate of the Church as individuals, families, groups, parishes, and as a diocese?
- How can we overcome busy-ness, loneliness, and isolation to connect people, prioritize relationships, and proclaim the Gospel?
- How can we proclaim Christ in a secularized, materialistic, pluralistic, and post-Christian culture?
- How can we act as missionaries to those beyond the Diocese of Fargo?
- How can we improve communication of information, events, and ideas?
