After the first session of the Vatican’s Synod on Synodality — which we as a Church prepared for in our parishes, nationally, and internationally — concluded in October 2023, there are many questions that the Church needs to focus on as we prepare for the second session of the Synod on Synodality, which will be held in October 2024 at the Vatican.

Pope Francis wishes our Church to be “more listening” and to take into serious consideration the experience and the needs of the Church universal, spread throughout the world. The first session of the Synod on Synodality, which comically can be seen as a meeting about how to have meetings, has borne great fruit.

However, one thing quickly became apparent at the 2023 Synod: not all voices were heard. Simply put, not every Catholic who had something to say participated. In our diocese many Catholics participated in sessions that were held by vicariates.

Led by Bishop Robert Brennan, Father Joseph Gibino, and Sister Mary Ann Seton Lopiccolo, so many voices, so many concerns, so many hopes, indeed, so many dreams were heard. Now, during the holy season of Lent 2024, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is asking each diocese to hold an additional two to three “listening sessions” so that every voice might be heard.

Feedback will then be added to the notes of all the other dioceses in the U.S., and eventually to the symphony of truth that is the Church when the Synod resumes in October 2024. The bishops who are in charge of the synod have asked us the following questions:
1. Where have I seen or experienced successes — and distresses — within the Church’s structure(s)/organization/leadership/life that encourage or hinder the mission?
2. How can the structures and organization of the Church help all the baptized to respond to the call to proclaim the Gospel and to live as a community of love and mercy
in Christ?

For a moment, let’s break down these questions. To assist us with this, we have asked Father John Cush, a professor of dogmatic theology at our seminary, St. Joseph’s in Dunwoodie, for some guidance.
1. The Church is, ultimately, the mystical body of Christ. Jesus Christ is the head of the body and we are the members.
2. We are, as Vatican II’s “Lumen Gentium” (the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church) says, the people of God, the “Quahal YHWH.”
3. We need to remember that each baptized individual in the Church shares in Christ as priest, prophet, and king. Every baptized individual has the right and duty to help lead and guide the Church.
4. The Church, as established by her Lord and true founder, Jesus Christ, has established a hierarchical body. The bishops possess the fullness of the priesthood and they have the responsibility of guarding the Church in terms of their “munera,” namely to teach, to administer, and to sanctify.
5. The priests of the Church, as cooperators with their bishop in whom they draw their sacramental authority, act “in persona Christi,” and serve in their pastoral assignments to bring the sacraments of the Church to the local communities.
6. The deacons of the Church, ordained to Christ the servant, have a unique role in the larger diocesan community and, specifically in their local dioceses and parishes, to serve in the role of Christ, the servant of all.
7. The religious brothers and sisters, those who are consecrated to the Lord in vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, serve to show all of us in the Church that we need to focus on that which truly matters, our eschatological hope.
8. Thus, every voice — clerical, religious, and lay — needs to be heard.
9. We need not hear only problems, but also successes. The whole idea of the synod is how we can grow. We need to know about both the problems and the successes. So, with this in mind, who has not let the Diocese of Brooklyn know their thoughts?
All are welcome to make their voices heard. You need to be heard! And you need to hear that you are heard. So please participate in the work of the synod.