First-ever diocesan Synod on Priestly Life and Ministry underway

The Catholic faith has been an important aspect of the life of southwest Michigan for a long time — from Chief Pokagon walking to Detroit to beg for the spiritual needs of the region and requesting a priest to be stationed here, to Msgr. O’Brien establishing Borgess Hospital and bringing the Sisters of St. Joseph to the region. Every day and age has had its own challenges and needs. The Church consistently desires to meet those needs. Today is no different.

We are entering a time where there are more people with no religion than those who profess Christianity, let alone Catholicism. Our diocese is challenged with fewer priests serving the same number of parishes and with our priests often needing to celebrate multiple Masses on a weekend and trying to administer to multiple parishes. In society, our faithful are oftentimes confronted by an increasingly antagonistic view of the faith and an increasing challenge to raising their children with the values of Christ. More and more people think they have an experience of who Jesus is and have formed their own thoughts about Jesus and the Christian faith without witnessing the great love and peace that He truly offers.

So the Church asks, how are we to engage this world? How can priests minister in this world? What are the needs, expectations, wants and assumptions of the priests? What are the needs, expectations, wants, and assumptions of the lay faithful for their priests? How can the priesthood be the face of Jesus for the people of southwest Michigan today? These are all questions we need to be able to answer and use to formulate our pastoral ministry.

As a result of listening during the Universal Synod on Synodality over this last year, Bishop Paul Bradley has discerned it is appropriate to call for the first-ever local diocesan synod [see related article Southwest Michigan Catholic, Fall edition 2022].

While we as a diocese participated in the consultative phase of the universal synod, this local diocesan synod will offer the diocese both the consultative phase (similar to what we experienced) but also the synodal phase. During the synodal phase, delegates (selected members of the lay faithful and the clergy) will come together to review and discuss synthesized comments from the consultative phase. They will then have an opportunity to make recommendations to the bishop on pastoral and legislative norms that might come from those discussions. The bishop will listen and review the recommendations and eventually promulgate a document that will give a vision and direction for the future of the diocese.

Bishop Bradley has decided that the topic for this diocesan synod is “Priestly Life and Ministry.” Due to the topic, every active priest will be a delegate. There will also be delegates appointed from the diaconate, the religious of our diocese, and lay members of the Faithful.

Every Catholic is impacted by the life and ministry of a priest. So while this topic seems to be very directed at the priests, this synod will have an impact on all of our parishes and our own lives. You are encouraged to participate in any listening sessions at your parish or to fill out a survey on our diocesan website diokzoo.org/diocesan-synod, where there are two options: a 5-10 minute checkbox/short answer, or a 20-30 minute essay survey.

More than anything else you can contribute by praying for the Holy Spirit to be alive and visible during the synod, and continue to pray for your priests during this Year of Priestly Spiritual Renewal and Prayer for Vocations.