Archbishop Signs and Releases Synod 2020 Concluding Report at Synod Closing Mass

Story by Shelley Wolf

WALLINGFORD – Catholics united on Aug. 13 at the Toyota Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford for the Synod 2020 Closing Mass, the final event in a multiyear, archdiocesan synod process that is dedicated to renewing the life and mission of the Archdiocese of Hartford.

The Synod Closing Mass drew about 3,200 invited priests, men and women religious, deacons, seminarians and lay representatives from every parish to celebrate the conclusion of Synod 2020. With its theme “Grow + Go,” the synod focused on deepening personal faith and evangelizing the Catholic faith in today’s world.

As part of the historic event, Archbishop Leonard P. Blair signed the Synod 2020 Concluding Report, born from the input of numerous parish listening sessions and from the work of more than 300 synod delegates since the process began in 2017. The document, titled “Archdiocese of Hartford Synod 2020: Grow + Go Concluding Report,” affirms 25 propositions organized along four themes under the larger umbrella theme, “Synod 2020: Grow as a Disciple of Jesus and Go Make Disciples!”

Just a few of these propositions in the concluding synod report call for more faith formation opportunities for adults, greater parish collaboration, addressing a lack of support for vocations within families and reaching out to those with no religious affiliation.

‘Transform’ the Archdiocese

As the primary celebrant of the Synod Closing Mass, Archbishop Blair was accompanied onstage by Auxiliary Bishops Juan Miguel Betancourt and Peter Rosazza. Also participating were 125 priests, who concelebrated the Mass from onstage and from front rows of the theater. “If the synod is to bear fruit that will last, then it cannot simply take the form of a document on a shelf,” Archbishop Blair said in his homily during the closing Mass. “The archdiocese, and I, have a leadership role to play. But ultimately, the synod will be as fruitful or not as it is taken to heart by all of us, by the clergy, religious and laity of the Archdiocese of Hartford.”

Archbishop Blair further recalled his initial charge to the synod delegates, saying of the synod itself, “My principal hope is that it would help transform us from an archdiocese that is managing the decline – represented by fewer practicing Catholics, fewer priests, fewer sisters, fewer parishes and fewer schools – into an archdiocese that is disrupting this pattern of decline, disrupting it with a view to the next 10 or 20 years.”

As part of the synod process, all participants took an unflinching look at the current decline in Mass attendance, priestly and religious vocations, youth participation and other areas, in an effort to assist the archbishop in reawakening the Catholic faith in the archdiocese.

Citing the words of Pope St. John Paul II, the archbishop urged Catholics to “go out into the deep. … These are the words of Jesus to the apostles when he appointed them to be fishers of men,” the archbishop explained.

Reflecting on the words of Pope Francis, the archbishop said each Catholic must “be a missionary disciple of Christ” and “go out to what the pope calls the ‘peripheries of life’ with the witness of your faith and the Good News of the Gospel, rather than preserving the way that things are.”

“We have to stop looking at all those empty pews and Catholic school desks and seminary rosters and rouse ourselves spiritually, administratively and collectively to effect a transformation with God’s help,” Archbishop Blair said.

“The work of the synod is just beginning today,” he added, stressing that it is now the work of all Catholics in the archdiocese – including individuals, families and parishes – to bring the many synod recommendations to fruition by facilitating a deeper personal faith and sharing that faith with others. He asked lay leaders and synod delegates to share the synod results and take them to heart in their parish communities.

Praise for the Synod Process

Priests, religious and laity alike were involved in the synod process, and many more were invited to represent their parish or other community at the Synod Closing Mass, arriving in cars and buses to the event venue.

St. Andrew Dũng-Lac Parish, the Vietnamese community that worships at St. Mark the Evangelist Church in West Hartford, was the first parish to respond to the invitation. “We’re so excited, so we’re the very first,” said Father Andy Mai, the pastor, who stood outdoors in a long line with 30 of his parishioners, including members of the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement, all waiting to gain entrance to the event.

Sister Barbara Thomas, provincial superior of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Hamden, attended with a group of her fellow sisters as a way of supporting the work of the archdiocese. “It’s important that they know their clergy and religious are behind them and support them,” she said. “And our goal in education is so important to the future adults of the Church that we educate. It’s joining them in our ministry, leading more people to know and love our Church.” The Apostles run Sacred Heart Academy in Hamden.

Standing in the lobby, Nancy Vivar-Ramos was accompanied by a group from María Reina de la Paz Parish in Hartford, who were all wearing matching shirts with the slogan “Remando Mar Adentro” or “Into the Deep.” Vivar-Ramos, who attended a synod parish listening session with the archbishop, said members of her parish were at the closing Mass because, “We want to hear the Good News.”

Alex Soucy, 30, executive director of Crossroads 4 Christ, a young adult group from Manchester, described the closing Mass as “beautiful.” Reflecting on his work as a delegate at the Synod Meeting Weekend in October 2019 at the former Hartford Marriott Farmington, he said, “I was excited to give our feedback in small groups; I want to see the final document; and, more importantly, I’m ready to see it come to life. I have great hope.”

Griselle Cirio of Christ the Bread of Life Parish in Hamden, accompanied by her husband, Oscar, said she was a delegate and recalled working on the synod propositions. “It was a huge event where we discussed so many things for the Church. But hopefully, we were heard. It’s an opening to the Church changes ahead,” she said.

After the Mass, Debbie Sousa, 41, a youth minister from St. Stanislaus Parish in Bristol who sat on the Synod Preparatory Commission and was one of the lectors for the closing Mass, said that with the release of the concluding report, “Catholics in Connecticut will now see what we’ve been working on for so long.”

Celebrating Blessed McGivney

The Synod Closing Mass was intentionally held on Aug. 13, the inaugural liturgical Memorial of Blessed Michael J. McGivney in the Archdiocese of Hartford, and approved liturgical texts for the Blessed were used. The feast day, declared by Pope Francis, allows local Catholics to begin venerating the former archdiocesan priest and founder of the Knights of Columbus who is on his way to sainthood.

During the opening procession of the Mass, the Knights of Columbus Honor Guard helped lead the procession into the theater. A relic of Blessed McGivney, in a cross-shaped reliquary resembling the cross above the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, was also present during the liturgy. Special Blessed McGivney synod prayer cards with his canonization prayer were handed out to attendees.

According to Archbishop Blair, Blessed McGivney is still available through his “intercession for us in the Communion of Saints” and “alive in the organization he founded, the Knights of Columbus.”

‘Evangelization of Today’s World’

Originally planned for May 31, 2020, the Synod Closing Mass was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Synod 2020 is only the third synod called by an archbishop in the Archdiocese of Hartford, with previous synods held in 1959 and 1996.

The current synod process, which began June 27, 2017, was convoked by Archbishop Blair in his Decree of Convocation in 2017 “to consider the future of this local Church from the perspective of the New Evangelization, as presented in the magisterium of the popes from the time of the Second Vatican Council, including the challenge articulated by Pope Francis.”

That challenge can be found in Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Joy of the Gospel, in which the pope wrote: “I dream of a ‘missionary option,’ that is, a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation.”

Read the Synod 2020 Concluding Report and watch the Synod Closing Mass.