On Saturday October 16th five members of our Parish were commissioned as the delegates to represent St. Luke's in the Synodal Journey in preparation for the 2023 Synod of Bishops. A synod (pronounced sin-nid) is a process of the coming together of the people of God to share collective wisdom about where the church should go and how it should be responding to the needs and signs of the times. At this time, Pope Francis is asking all of us to take this Journey Together under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The hope is that the experience of the Synodal Process will bring about a new springtime for listening, discernment, dialogue, and decision making, so that the whole People of God can better journey together with one another and the entire human family. It is also important to note what the Synodal Journey is not; it is not to decide issues of faith, it is not a Congress of people but it is the opportunity to listen to one another and to walk forward together, guided by the Holy Spirit.
The current synod is unique in that this is the first time the Vatican is inviting each and every local parish to conduct a listening process. The Vatican wants to hear the concerns of the community so the Bishops and Pope can better understand "Who we are as a church." The Pope has also expressed his hope that by expanding the synod to every parish this will inspire trust, deepen our unity as a catholic community and begin healing the broken part of our catholic family. Simply put, the Vatican is trying to create bridges, so we can Journey Together in our faith! Our own Deacon Steve Hodson is leading the whole Synodal process for the Diocese of Bridgeport and is actively involved with the planning at our parish level. His inspiring presentation on the day of the commissioning helped us to feel confident in the process and in his leadership. You will be hearing more in the coming weeks about how you can participate. In the meantime, if you have any questions please feel free to contact one of our parish's Synod delegates: Anupam Martins anupam.martins@gmail.com Josh Auxier jauxierjd@gmail.com Bob Clair bobclair@kpmg.com Maria O’Kelly mokelly@optonline.net Jeanne Stewart jeannestewart423@gmail.com