With the point of synodality being that different charisms in the wider parish community, will become manifest, it can't be anything but an ongoing process by default. Even the problems cited for lack of participation can be resolved by having someone with the gift of organization around. I've got a friend who can organize large gatherings of people at the drop of the hat. People just want to be involved when she approaches them. I don't know if it is a charism, but when I was still working, whenever there was a charity drive in the office, I was always asked to be the collection person because for whatever reason, people couldn't say no to me. :) Looking for and recognizing peoples gifts for 'the building up of the Church' will need to be a permanent new way.
Anyone reading this article who was invited to participate in a listening session, please comment about how you were actually invited. I don’t know a single person who even knew any sessions were taking place across multiple dioceses.
I do not recall any invitations to anything live. We were encouraged to fill out an online form that was very oriented to racial equity and other demographics. The form did not appear to have been set up to address religious issues of any kind.
In our parish it was mentioned once from the pulpit and once in parish bulletin. A coordinator was appointed and small group discussion happened. Parish of 36,000 parishoners. 68 folks attended sessions. No preparation or enthusiasm for the process.
Here in Pittsburgh I’m very attentive to the possibility of participating in anything like this and I never heard anything about it. I did get a request in our parish bulletin to participate in the synod on the family some six years ago and responded to that. Nothing like that came through that I was aware of this time. Then again, my parish is one of the poorest parishes in the diocese and I and my family are outside the demographic that they seem to be managing to target. That is, wealthy people over the age of 50.
Just read the comments here and I know how important social media and communications infrastructure is for getting this kind of thing to happen. If my parish in Pittsburgh is anything to go on, that kind of infrastructure is very rare indeed. I could see that happening at the wealthier parishes in the north and south hills but there’s nothing like that going on in the vast majority of Pittsburgh parishes. And even if there’s somebody with that particular charism, The vast majority of the parishioners are not themselves going to be signing up for the email lists or the new apps that share information. In fact, our parish got one of those new apps several months ago and I signed up and I have yet to hear a single thing from it. There’s just a big communication gap here and you can say all you want about the movements of the Holy Spirit but it seems to me that the idea of synodality necessarily requires a good number of voices and it’s really hard to get those at any time in history. Maybe we are another several decades away from that kind of communication infrastructure worldwide that would make this possible. Seems like a lot of going through the motions at this point.
With the point of synodality being that different charisms in the wider parish community, will become manifest, it can't be anything but an ongoing process by default. Even the problems cited for lack of participation can be resolved by having someone with the gift of organization around. I've got a friend who can organize large gatherings of people at the drop of the hat. People just want to be involved when she approaches them. I don't know if it is a charism, but when I was still working, whenever there was a charity drive in the office, I was always asked to be the collection person because for whatever reason, people couldn't say no to me. :) Looking for and recognizing peoples gifts for 'the building up of the Church' will need to be a permanent new way.
Anyone reading this article who was invited to participate in a listening session, please comment about how you were actually invited. I don’t know a single person who even knew any sessions were taking place across multiple dioceses.
I do not recall any invitations to anything live. We were encouraged to fill out an online form that was very oriented to racial equity and other demographics. The form did not appear to have been set up to address religious issues of any kind.
In our parish it was mentioned once from the pulpit and once in parish bulletin. A coordinator was appointed and small group discussion happened. Parish of 36,000 parishoners. 68 folks attended sessions. No preparation or enthusiasm for the process.
Here in Pittsburgh I’m very attentive to the possibility of participating in anything like this and I never heard anything about it. I did get a request in our parish bulletin to participate in the synod on the family some six years ago and responded to that. Nothing like that came through that I was aware of this time. Then again, my parish is one of the poorest parishes in the diocese and I and my family are outside the demographic that they seem to be managing to target. That is, wealthy people over the age of 50.
Just read the comments here and I know how important social media and communications infrastructure is for getting this kind of thing to happen. If my parish in Pittsburgh is anything to go on, that kind of infrastructure is very rare indeed. I could see that happening at the wealthier parishes in the north and south hills but there’s nothing like that going on in the vast majority of Pittsburgh parishes. And even if there’s somebody with that particular charism, The vast majority of the parishioners are not themselves going to be signing up for the email lists or the new apps that share information. In fact, our parish got one of those new apps several months ago and I signed up and I have yet to hear a single thing from it. There’s just a big communication gap here and you can say all you want about the movements of the Holy Spirit but it seems to me that the idea of synodality necessarily requires a good number of voices and it’s really hard to get those at any time in history. Maybe we are another several decades away from that kind of communication infrastructure worldwide that would make this possible. Seems like a lot of going through the motions at this point.