Archbishop Leonard P. Blair
I have been asked occasionally about the synod which Pope Francis has announced, and about our participation in it. A synod is an official Church assembly called to consider matters pertaining to the life of the Church and her doctrine and practice. Pope Francis has asked every diocese in the world to undertake a synodal consultation that can then be collated in each country and forwarded to Rome by 2023. This will be in preparation for the Synod of Bishops that takes place in Rome at regular intervals. The next one, the pope says, will be a “Synod on Syno-dality.” The goal of the process is for the Church worldwide and at every level to be engaged in discerning how the Holy Spirit is calling us to fulfill our mission these simple questions get to the heart of what Pope Francis is now asking the whole Church to consider.
In 2019, delegates were identified and appointed from each parish, and from other groups as well, all of whom met in the spring and summer in preparation for the convening of the Synod itself from Oct. 25 to 27, 2019. This proved to be a very lively, joyful, positive and inspiring event. The discussion of the propositions that had emerged from the listening sessions centered around four themes: “Encountering Christ,” “Ongoing Conversion,” “Becoming Missionary Disciples” and “Sent on a Mission.” Unfortunately, a closing Synod Mass for the whole archdiocese had to be postponed because of the pandemic, but the delay had a happy outcome. The Mass finally took place on Aug. 13, 2021, which was the first time that the feast day of Blessed Michael McGivney appeared on the liturgical calendar, he being a priest of our archdiocese and founder of the Knights of Columbus.Readers of the Transcript will recall that the entire October 2021 edition was devoted to our archdiocesan Synod, and it is precisely this documentation that will form the basis of our contribution to what our country presents to the Holy See.
To conclude, I want to repeat what I said by way of a preamble to our assembly in 2019, that whether it is our archdiocesan synod or a synod of bishops in Rome rep-resenting all the world’s continents: “As members of the Church, we must hold fast to the truths that the Church believes and teaches, while, at the same time seeking, in the words of Pope Francis, to ‘accompany’ those whose situations are not in accord with that teaching. Love without truth, and truth without love, are both distortions that degenerate into ideologies. Love and truth are at the heart of the Profession of Faith, and they are inseparably the only way forward.”
Let us pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide, inspire and enliven the Church in pursuit of the worthy goals of our synod and the synod to take place in Rome. to evangelize in the world today. I can say without boasting that our archdiocese will have contributed to this consultation more thoroughly than most dioceses, simply because we had already been working at it since 2017, our 175th anniver-sary year, when I announced a synod for the Hartford Arch-diocese. It was to be the third in our long history. My announcement in 2017 led to the creation of a Syn-od Preparatory Commission of clergy, religious and laity. 2018 was devoted to listening sessions with representation from parishes at the Deanery and Vicariate levels, at which clergy, religious and laity were heard. The basic questions asked of everyone were these: What are we as a local Church doing well? What are we doing not so well? What are we not doing that we should be doing? I believe that these simple questions get to the heart of what Pope Francis is now asking the whole Church to consider.
In 2019, delegates were identified and appointed from each parish, and from other groups as well, all of whom met in the spring and summer in preparation for the convening of the Synod itself from Oct. 25 to 27, 2019. This proved to be a very lively, joyful, positive and inspiring event. The discussion of the propositions that had emerged from the listening sessions centered around four themes: “Encountering Christ,” “Ongoing Conversion,” “Becoming Missionary Disciples” and “Sent on a Mission.” Unfortunately, a closing Synod Mass for the whole archdiocese had to be postponed because of the pandemic, but the delay had a happy outcome. The Mass finally took place on Aug. 13, 2021, which was the first time that the feast day of Blessed Michael McGivney appeared on the liturgical calendar, he being a priest of our archdiocese and founder of the Knights of Columbus.
Readers of the Transcript will recall that the entire October 2021 edition was devoted to our archdiocesan Synod, and it is precisely this documentation that will form the basis of our contribution to what our country presents to the Holy See.
To conclude, I want to repeat what I said by way of a preamble to our assembly in 2019, that whether it is our archdiocesan synod or a synod of bishops in Rome rep-resenting all the world’s continents: “As members of the Church, we must hold fast to the truths that the Church believes and teaches, while, at the same time seeking, in the words of Pope Francis, to ‘accompany’ those whose situations are not in accord with that teaching. Love without truth, and truth without love, are both distortions that degenerate into ideologies. Love and truth are at the heart of the Profession of Faith, and they are inseparably the only way forward.”Let us pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide, inspire and enliven the Church in pursuit of the worthy goals of our synod and the synod to take place in Rom