More than 400 laypeople, clergy and men and women in consecrated life participated in the Archdiocesan Synod 2025: You Will Be My Witnesses Assembly June 7 at Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul. Archbishop Bernard Hebda and assembly organizers extend their gratitude to participants for the many hours spent in preparation and discernment. Organizers compiled participants’ names, parishes and affiliations to publish in the following list:
Prayerful listening and idea sharing were highlights of the Archdiocesan Synod 2025: Be My Witnesses Assembly afternoon session, as members of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis sought to assist Archbishop Bernard Hebda in discerning the archdiocese’s trajectory in upcoming years.
During a Nov. 29 meeting at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said trust in the Holy Spirit’s help will aid members of the new Blue Ribbon Commission on Parents as Primary Educators.
Prayer, presentations and discussion. Catholics who have participated in any part of the three-year 2022 Archdiocesan Synod process are unlikely to be surprised by the core elements of the Synod Assembly, scheduled for Pentecost weekend, June 3-5, at Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul.
Dean Rademacher participated in not one, but two Parish Synod Leadership Team meetings — one at St. Joseph in New Hope, where he works as the parish director, and the other at his home parish, Guardian Angels in Oakdale. The consultations were the final step in the 2022 Archdiocesan Synod process before the three-day Synod Assembly in June.
In June, about 500 participants in a Pentecost weekend Archdiocesan Synod Assembly will make final recommendations on the Synod’s three focus areas to Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who will then discern a pastoral letter and action plan for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
In a column in the Aug. 8, 2019, issue of The Catholic Spirit, Bishop Andrew Cozzens, then serving the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, described the first group involved in the Archdiocesan Synod as “a group of dedicated prayers.”
What can participants expect when they arrive at their parishes for the Synod small groups? A carefully crafted process, for starters. That’s because this part of the Synod process is critical, said Jean Stolpestad, the archdiocese’s director of Marriage, Family and Life and a member of the Synod Executive Committee who has been co-leading small group trainings since February.
When Archbishop Bernard Hebda launched the Archdiocesan Synod in 2019, he asked Catholics to reflect on the local Church’s strengths and challenges through 30 Prayer and Listening Events held across the 12-county area. More than 8,000 Catholics attended, providing more than 35,000 comments.
