Strengths, challenges highlighted in small group conversations
In March 2022, the Diocese of Richmond concluded the local synodal process outlined by Pope Francis when he opened the World Synod of Bishops on Oct. 10, 2021. The Holy Father expressed that the purpose of the synod is for all Catholics to listen to one another and reflect upon how, as disciples, Catholics journey together to be in communion with the Lord.
The local process was overseen by the Diocesan Evangelization Commission, composed of laypeople who serve throughout the diocese. Father Jonathan Goertz, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes, Henrico, and Andrew Waring, director of the Office for Evangelization, led the effort.
According to Father Goertz and Waring, the Vatican supplied dioceses with documents about how to carry out the synodal process. From those documents, the Evangelization Commission created local guidelines.
“We used resources that the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) and the leadership roundtable put out to help guide us,” Waring explained, “but really utilized it to fit what we thought would work best for us as a diocese.”
While some dioceses used individual questionnaires or online surveys to generate responses, the commission invited parishes in the Diocese of Richmond to participate in prayerful, small group conversations that explored themes of communion, discussion and dialogue, and participation and mission.
“It was suggested, and Bishop Knestout highlighted this from the beginning, that in an important way, the journey is the destination. The fact that folks are gathering and having conversations about the life of the Church, maybe that’s the point altogether,” Father Goertz said.
“We tried in our diocese to focus on the encounter,” he continued, “which is what we think Pope Francis was emphasizing in this – the people actually getting together and listening to one another. That was such a critical part of what the principle of synodality meant.”
Flexibility leads to strong participation
The commission received 123 responses from 119 parishes and four consultative bodies, which includes groups supported by Catholic Charities and the Office of Safe Environment.
“The fact that we had such a strong participation with so many parishes, I mean, we were delighted,” Father Goertz said.
Waring said he thought that the flexibility to adapt the synodal discussions to fit the needs of individual parishes – such as incorporating it into a parish anniversary or other pastoral planning time – helped facilitate a high response rate.
“Bishop (Knestout) put it out there as ‘We want everybody to do this,’ and we put it out as ‘Here is a way to do this,’” Waring said. “I think the other thing is that many of our smaller parishes felt like it was a great opportunity to really have their voices heard.”
After the response window closed at the end of March, the commission summarized the parish submissions into one report that would be sent to the USCCB.
“That was very intimidating,” Father Goertz said, “but it was encouraging as we read through the different parish summaries that there were definitely some prominent themes that kept coming to the surface that we would be able to reflect on in that final summary.”
Reaching people in the margins – inactive Catholics or those who have left the Church altogether – was a common challenge for parishes.
“This isn’t to me that necessarily surprising, I don’t think for anyone who worked on the document either, but a big push was to get the people on the margins to participate, and it felt like we did not get those people to participate. And I don’t think very many people did as we worked with other dioceses,” Waring said.
Struggles with catechesis, evangelization
While he felt the responses were “very authentic,” the responses should be looked at from the perspective of those who did participate, meaning many responses were from active Catholics who were sharing their thoughts on why people have left the Church rather than fallen- away Catholics speaking for themselves.
Some parishes also reported that they had difficulty reaching Hispanic parishioners.
Waring said that some parishes with large Hispanic populations “tried in a number of different ways to have even Spanish-speaking consultation sessions, and they just weren’t attended as well as they had hoped or as they planned for.”
He noted that the lack of numbers from that group was “a little surprising” because demographics indicate that the Church’s Hispanic population is increasing, so there was “hope to have that voice heard” in local discussions.
Other trends that stood out to Waring were that “almost every parish said that they were welcoming” and that “it was so clear that parishes are struggling with catechesis and evangelization.” He explained that adults often don’t understand the faith well enough to share it with others.
The other “big one” that Waring said he “kind of anticipated” based on statistical data is that young people “between the ages of really 13 and 25” are leaving the Church.
“People are aware of that in the pews, and they’re very worried about it – on a personal level because it’s their (family), or on a bigger Church level.”
Process helpful to parishes, diocese
Father Goertz identified “divisiveness” seen “in both the content and the process” from some parishes as a challenge and said that “often it was along sort of conservative/liberal, traditional/progressive labels.” He added that there was also mention of “disappointment in the divisiveness that is often reflected from Church leaders at different levels… on teachings or matters of practice or discipline.”
He made it clear that the hope for this process is that parishes will take their discussions to heart.
“We still are encouraging parishes: ‘Use your own local synodal report as continued food for reflection in the months and years ahead. Don’t let this be just an exercise that you wrote a report, you gave it to the diocese, now we’re going to abandon it. Let’s keep using this and keep reflecting on it,’” Father Goertz said, noting that based on the responses, some parishes are already implementing changes and have mentioned a desire to continue having those types of conversations.
Waring said the process was helpful at the diocesan level as well.
“When you work for the diocese, you see things at a lot of different parishes, but you’re also not hearing from the people in the pews all the time; you’re hearing from staff members or priests,” he said. “So this, I think and I hope, gave the Pastoral Center and directors of different offices the opportunity to hear directly from people and to hear, ‘Okay, this is what people are saying. This has to be an emphasis for our office moving forward…’ And I think that’s helpful because we can respond and say, ‘OK, you asked for this’ or ‘We heard that people need this, and we’re going to support you in this.’”
Editor’s note: The entire synthesis from the Diocesan Evangelization Commission can be found online in English and Spanish at www.richmonddiocese.org.