Mark your calendars and get on the list for our fall Synod small groups
Over the course of six weeks this fall, we will join parishes across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in holding a small group series centered on the three focus areas Archbishop Bernard Hebda has chosen for the 2022 Archdiocesan Synod.
Archbishop Hebda has asked parishes to hold the six-week small group series between mid-September and mid-November and suspend other adult faith formation events to focus on the Synod small groups. Sacramental preparation, Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), confirmation, as well as children’s formation, will continue without interruption during this time.
We are planning to hold our Synod small groups on Tuesday evenings beginning on September 19, 2021 for six weeks. As fall draws near, we will share more regarding specific timing for the small groups – and if additional days or times will be added.
At the two-hour sessions each week for six weeks, participants will be guided by trained facilitators via videos and through prayer and teaching before discussion around the Synod’s three focus areas:
Forming parishes that are in the service of evangelization
Forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’ love and respond to his call
Forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young.
The focus areas were discerned following 30 Prayer and Listening Events throughout the archdiocese in fall 2019 and winter 2020. More than 8,000 people attended, sharing more than 35,000 comments.
“These are the topics that your neighbors and parishes chose as being the most important things facing our local Catholic Church today,” states Jean Stolpestad, the archdiocese’s director of Marriage, Family, and Life.
The small group discussions will help shape the Synod and a resulting pastoral plan for the archdiocese’s immediate future in 2023 and beyond.
“This is your opportunity to come in and be part of the solution — to enliven your Catholic faith and address those things that you’re worried about as well as those things you’re excited about,” says Stolpestad. “This isn’t just about learning. This isn’t just a catechesis lesson. This is an opportunity for you to bring your Catholic faith to the mat … to live it with intentionality and impact.”
Ready to be a part of this historic time in our local Catholic Church? Send an email to synod@stpetersnsp.org and we will put you on our Synod small group list now.