Parish Synthesis

The Synod on Synodality is a three-year process (2021-2024) that will allow the Church to take stock of the many different viewpoints in the Body of Christ from the bottom up in order to create a stronger, more unified vision of how God is speaking to us in our time. To launch the parish phase, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., released a pastoral letter and issued a decree, on October 17, 2021. In response to this call, St. Paul Parish conducted 13 listening sessions (which included two individual sessions) among its Spanish speaking and English speaking parishioners, as well as members of the St. Paul School faculty/staff, which altogether comprised nearly 250 individuals. Additionally, another 40 parishioners participated in the St. Paul Parish survey. These listening sessions were held in February and March 2022, and the survey was conducted in June and July 2022. While the listening sessions focused on the journey with the universal Church and the survey focused on parish life at St. Paul, we have endeavored to capture these responses in one synthesis.

Through the spiritual exercise of listening to one another, our parishioners came together to share their joys, challenges, and obstacles in journeying with the Church. Our parishioners embrace their Catholic faith and are optimistic that the Church will overcome the challenges facing her. They expressed how much they enjoyed the Synod Listening Sessions and their hope that their stories would be listened to beyond the parish. 

For many parishioners, their faith takes on a profound role in their lives - spiritually, culturally, and communally - often using the scriptures to express themselves. Those that attended Catholic education - primary, secondary, or even Catholic colleges - remain grateful for how well such an education kept them anchored to their faith. Parishioners also found great joy in participating in ministries and the connection it gives them to the Church. The universality of the Church is a great comfort to our parishioners. The opportunity to attend Mass anywhere in the world and knowing that the same liturgy is proclaimed in every church is a source of comfort.

The celebration of the Eucharist is important and central to our parishioners' faith and they recognize the importance St. Paul places on this in creating its church community. Nearly all participants wanted to explicitly communicate how much they liked being a parishioner at St Paul and how welcome they feel at Mass. They find the parish staff helpful, the priests and deacons approachable, and communications timely with staying connected to the parish community. Parishioners also expressed gratitude for St. Paul streaming its Masses during and after the pandemic, to continue to have access to the Eucharist and connect to the community. 

Our community, like any family, is not without its obstacles and challenges. In general, there is much concern for how we as a church community deal with those who are considered on the margins, not fitting neatly into the normal structure of parish life. These marginal groups predominantly include women, single and divorced Catholics, and those individuals who identify as LGBTQ+. The other two great challenges are the clergy abuse scandal, creating a great deal of pain and trust deficit among parishioners, and the ways in which political/ideological divisions seen in our society have infiltrated our parish community, creating additional pain and division. Many feel this lack of inclusion, trust, and unity is driving their family members - especially younger members - away from the faith. Finally, there was a profound sense of sorrow due to a general loss of community, mostly due to COVID-19.
 
These challenges also come with some expressed potential solutions. There is a great desire in the parish for an expanded role for women in the Church, including many who would support both the ordination of women as deacons and priests. Of the other marginalized groups, there is a need to both be welcoming and to respect Church teaching. For example, one parishioner stated, “I would like to see a different approach toward divorce. My divorced friends have mixed understandings of their relation to the Church – some feel they cannot attend while others carry on as before.” Some expressed a desire for fuller acceptance, however, others believed that while the Church should be more accepting, individuals need to respect the Church’s teachings on these subjects. In line with these sentiments, parishioners expressed a desire for more meaningful catechesis, both for children/young adults, as well as for adults and parents. Catechesis is also an opportunity for building a stronger social network of parishioners, including purely social events. Such mixing of the church community may help to regain the trust lost through the clergy abuse scandal and political divisions. The main concern is that a lack of community focus creates tension between subgroups, such as liberal vs. conservative ideologies, the primary focus on abortion instead of wider sanctity of life issues, and those who advocate for the Latin Mass and those who do not. 

Much like any family, there is a middle ground to be found through listening and time. Many parishioners expressed a great surprise at how much the Church desired to hear their views during the Synod process. Being able to express their faith journeys through these listening sessions is a source of inspiration and a road to deepening of their faith for many parishioners. Such an attitude may also help to retain younger members, as young people can see the Church as “not speaking to the central crises of the day” and “seeming irrelevant” when in truth, the steadfastness and timeless traditions of our Catholic faith can become a similar anchor to the upcoming generation if we invest in teaching them the faith. 

On the community-specific level, there is an expressed need to continue focusing on making the homilies relevant, applicable to our daily lives, non-political, and easy to understand. Many wish for the clergy to be on more of a first-name basis with parishioners. A great joy is the high frequency with which Mass is offered at St Paul. 

In summary, our parishioners would like to see a more welcoming Church - one which embraces all people, shares a broader sense of community, and is less riven with political ideological differences. They would welcome and be energized by allowing women to be ordained as deacons. Some parishioners would be accepting of married priests and many parishioners would like the clergy to be more engaged with them, for instance by spending time interacting at social functions. Our parishioners desire more community and social interaction. Almost to a person, St. Paul heard how parishioners enjoyed the Listening Sessions and would like more opportunities to be heard. And parishioners made it clear that they would like more opportunities for “adult catechesis” to support and expand their current understanding of their faith.

To that end, the Parish Council of St. Paul is developing responses to topics that can be addressed at the parish level, starting with the publication of this Synthesis and the plan to create a presentation for parishioners to be conducted in 2023.

Please see both the Diocese of Trenton Synthesis and the United States Council of Catholic Bishops for their respective recommendations for topics that were expressed by participants through the hundreds of Listen Sessions conducted throughout the Diocese and the thousands of Listening Sessions conducted throughout the United States.