On June 8, Catholics from around the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will gather at St. Peter in Mendota to pray with a particular intention in mind: to invite the Holy Spirit’s guidance throughout an archdiocesan synod process starting this year.

With the 7 p.m. Vigil Mass for Pentecost, our local Church will officially mark the beginning of the two-year process of prayer and consultation that will culminate in the archdiocesan synod — the first the archdiocese has held since 1939.

The process is designed for Catholics to have ample opportunities to share their views on the pastoral needs of the local Church, beginning this fall with prayer-infused listening sessions.

Scheduled for Pentecost weekend 2021, the synod assembly will gather delegates representing all facets of the local Church to help Archbishop Bernard Hebda discern and shape pastoral priorities for the following five to 10 years.

Archbishop Hebda: Moving forward together

Synod process aims to be collaborative, wide-reaching and led by Holy Spirit

Synod executive committee members

Synod 101

Prayer and listening events

Twenty prayer and listening events are scheduled around the archdiocese in fall 2019 and winter 2020. The three-hour events will include prayer, a presentation or reflection, and discussion. Archbishop Hebda or Bishop Cozzens plan to attend each event, along with members of the synod’s consultative teams. The prayer and listening events will inform the themes chosen for the synod assembly in 2021.

1 Tuesday, Sept. 24, 6–9 p.m.
St. Victoria
8228 Victoria Drive, St. Victoria

2 Saturday, Sept. 28, 9 a.m.–noon
St. Michael
11300 Frankfort Parkway NE, St. Michael

3 Friday, Oct. 11, 6–9 p.m.
Guardian Angels
8260 Fourth St. N., Oakdale

4 Saturday, Oct. 12, 9 a.m.–noon
Our Lady of Guadalupe
401 Concord St., St. Paul
Bilingual (English and Spanish)

5 Saturday, Oct. 26, 9 a.m.–noon
St. Peter
1250 South Shore Drive, Forest Lake

6 Tuesday, Oct. 29, 6–9 p.m.
Divine Mercy
139 Mercy Drive, Faribault

7 Thursday, Nov. 7, 6–9 p.m.
St. Wenceslaus
215 Main St. E., New Prague

8 Friday, Nov. 15, 6–9 p.m.
All Saints
19795 Holyoke Ave., Lakeville

9 Sunday, Nov. 17, 1–4 p.m.
St. Anne-St. Joseph Hien
2627 Queen Ave. N., Minneapolis
Bilingual (English and Vietnamese)

10 Sunday, Jan. 5, 1–4 p.m.
Holy Cross
1621 University Ave. NE, Minneapolis
(ASL Interpreted)

11 Saturday, Jan. 25, 9 a.m.–noon
St. Peter Claver
369 Oxford St. N., St. Paul

12 Tuesday, Jan. 28, 6–9 p.m.
Pax Christi
12100 Pioneer Trail, Eden Prairie

13 Saturday, Feb. 1, 9 a.m.–noon
St. Stephen
2211 Clinton Ave. S., Minneapolis
Bilingual (English and Spanish)

14 Tuesday, Feb. 11, 6–9 p.m.
Providence Academy
15100 Schmidt Lake Road, Plymouth

15 Saturday, Feb. 15, 9 a.m.–noon
Lumen Christi
2055 Bohland Ave., St. Paul

16 Tuesday, Feb. 18, 6–9 p.m.
St. Stephen
525 Jackson St., Anoka

17 Thursday, Feb. 27, 6–9 p.m.
Our Lady of Grace
5071 Eden Ave., Edina

18 Saturday, Feb. 29, 9 a.m.–noon
St. Pius V
410 Colvill St. W., Cannon Falls

19 Saturday, March 7, 9 a.m.–noon
Transfiguration
6133 15th St. N., Oakdale

20 Saturday, March 14, 9 a.m.–noon
St. Alphonsus
7025 Halifax Ave. N., Brooklyn Center
Bilingual (English and Spanish)

Eleven other prayer and listening events will be held for particular focus groups: priests, retired priests, deacons, consecrated religious, archdiocesan staff, parish staff, Catholic school principals, youth, college students, the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women, and seniors at various retirement and assisted living facilities.

Synods around the United States

In the Archdiocese of Detroit, parishes and schools may no longer schedule Sunday sports games or practices, according to a policy Archbishop Allen Vigneron recently established to encourage Catholics to reclaim Sunday as a day of holiness, rest and family. The policy is a direct response to questions about living the sabbath that arose during that archdiocese’s synod, held over three days in November 2016.

The policy illustrates how tangible directives that come of out diocesan synods can be, said Amy Tadlock, a canon lawyer and member of the synod’s executive committee.

“That’s a concrete result of that process of consultation — listening to the people saying ‘this is something that’s important to us,’ and a bishop taking action and hearing that … and putting something in place to support it,” she said.

In the past decade, several U.S. dioceses have held diocesan synods. In addition to Detroit, others include Bridgeport, Connecticut; Burlington, Vermont; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; San Diego, California; and Washington, D.C.