Archdiocesan Synod draws questions — and answers

Given the creation of parishbased Synod Evangelization Teams across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and the related May 20 Activated Disciple Seminar that drew more than 1,500 people to Minneapolis, I’m running into a good number of the faithful who are seeking to better understand what’s going on.

The questions are arising not only during men’s ministry activities, but from fellow parishioners. A recent Sunday Gospel verse is a reminder of the mission — a mission we’re all on, whether we are part of a parish evangelization team or not: “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few; so, ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

The three-year Archdiocesan Synod culminated in a June 2022 Synod Assembly that drew 500 people and led to Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s pastoral letter released in November 2022, “You Will Be My Witnesses, Gathered and Sent from the Upper Room.” The Synod and the letter call for forming parishes that are in the service of evangelization, forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’ love and respond to his call, and forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young.

This mission of evangelization, this pursuit, this responsibility as Christians, applies to all of us, not just with the evangelization teams of 12, which will soon increase with the formation of more activated disciples through parish small groups.

We need to keep it going at the parish level. So, pray to the master, just like Jesus did in the “ask” of his first disciples. He chose his disciples, pointed out to them that there are plenty of people who need healing — spiritually and physically — and then sent them on their first mission.

First and foremost, these apostles were to pray that God would raise up workers for his kingdom. Our Lord told them that they — his first disciples — were going to help multiply his efforts to shepherd the lost sheep.

GUEST