Synod Online Listening Session Set for May 4

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During Lent, more than 2,000 people representing the 12 deaneries of the archdiocese gathered in person with fellow parishioners to pray and provide Synodal input at the Synod listening sessions. There was one in-person session per deanery.

Those who were not able to attend the sessions in the respective deaneries have an opportunity to participate in the online listening session Wednesday, May 4, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. via the Zoom video conferencing platform.

Each person attending the online listening session, offered in English and Spanish, will need to register through a form accessible at https://archny.org/onlinesession/

The listening sessions, which feature discussion and reflection, are an opportunity for Catholics to participate in small groups led by facilitators, who have taken training to lead such discussions. As part of the synodal process, non-Catholics and those on the margins are also invited to pray, listen and dialogue.

Cardinal Dolan, along with diocesan bishops across the universal Church, opened the Archdiocese of New York’s diocesan phase of a synod last fall. Speaking at the opening Mass in October at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the cardinal said Pope Francis “wants us to join him in praying, listening, discerning, examining ourselves personally, and the Church community, to see if we’re truly on the path Jesus has set for His beloved bride, His mystical body, the Church.”

Pope Francis has characterized two interrelated goals of the listening process: “To listen to God, so that with Him we may hear the cry of His people; to listen to His people until we are in harmony with the will to which God calls us.”

The listening sessions are a step in the preparation for the Synod of Bishops in Rome, which is planned for October 2023. The Synod’s theme is “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission.”