“I sometimes wish the Lord would say, ‘This my commandment, be part of the Archdiocesan Synod,’” Archbishop Bernard Hebda said while smiling during his homily at a May 14 evening of reflection preparing for a June 7 Archdiocesan Synod Assembly.
“But he doesn’t say that. He says, ‘love one another,’” the archbishop said, quoting from the Gospel for the day’s Mass, John 15:9-17. “As we prepare for the Synod, let’s do so in the context of that call.”
The archbishop’s homily set a tone for quiet reflection during the three-hour gathering at Holy Name of Jesus in Medina, which drew nearly 100 people.
The evening began with opportunities for confession, then Mass, and it closed with time for private prayer after talks from Deacon Joseph Michalak, pastoral letter and formation adviser in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Discipleship and Evangelization, and Mary Shaffer, a spiritual and retreat director in addition to her work as co-founder and artistic director of Missed the Boat Theatre in St. Paul.
Three similar gatherings for reflection were held at geographically strategic sites across the archdiocese in the months leading up to the June 7 event, titled Be My Witnesses Assembly.
Synod planners also released 13 videos detailing 12 propositions to be discussed in preparation for the assembly as the archbishop seeks pastoral priorities for the years ahead. In addition, planners offered four optional, online gatherings for further reflection on the propositions. Participants expected at the upcoming Synod — nearly 500 people — also were encouraged to engage in service projects, such as serving meals to people experiencing homelessness.
In his talk, Deacon Michalak asked participants to step away from the temptation to concentrate solely on what’s next for the archdiocese and to remember that the Lord most desires everyone to be close to him and to one another.
“He simply wants you,” Deacon Michalak said. “We are to abide in him.”
Shaffer encouraged those gathered to view their role as helping form the Church in the image of the bride of Christ. “Every good and holy act we do as Christians is being woven into the wedding dress,” Shaffer said. “She is the pilgrim bride of Christ. She is moving toward who she is supposed to be at the wedding feast of the Lamb.”
The Archdiocesan Synod process is bearing fruit in action. All 12 propositions to be discussed June 7 were top vote-getters at Archdiocesan Synod Assembly 2022 and were noted in Archbishop Hebda’s post-synodal pastoral letter, “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent From the Upper Room.” The propositions can be found at archspm.org/synodpropositions.
Four of the propositions are already being implemented: Parishioners are forming small groups, particularly under a model called Parish Evangelization Cells System, while archdiocesan officials, parishes and schools are educating people on the beauty, form and meaning of the Mass and encouraging more active participation in it. Action is being taken now to help form and inspire parents to fulfill their responsibility as the first teachers of their children in ways of the faith.
In his pastoral letter, the archbishop expressed a desire to hold Archdiocesan Synod 2025 to continue fostering unity, renewal and evangelization in the archdiocese by listening, discerning and adapting.
At the May 14 gathering, Gigi DesLauriers-Knop, 55, of Holy Name in Minneapolis, said the archbishop’s vision is working. She participated in the first Synod and looks forward to the June 7 assembly. Prayerful preparations for Archdiocesan Synod 2025 will foster fruitful dialogue, she said.
“It’s been a really great experience,” DesLauriers-Knop said, even better than the preparations for Synod 2022. “I will be more fully prepared to participate,” she said.
Adam Eberhard, 28, of Transfiguration in Oakdale, said the June 7 Be My Witnesses Assembly will be his first Synod. Preparing for it has inspired him to hope “that God can and wants to do something with us,” he said.
In his homily, Archbishop Hebda said he has confidence in the Holy Spirit.
“It is very significant that Pope Leo XIV has talked about his commitment to walking with one another,” the archbishop said of the pope who was elected May 8 to follow in the footsteps of the late Pope Francis.
“We can hope we are in the heart of the Church, that we are following Pope Leo,” Archbishop Hebda said. “We can be active participants, to give the Lord all that we have, not out of any strategic process, but out of love for one another and the knowledge of the love that God has for each one of us.”
