Week of May 1, 2022

Week of May 1, 2022

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Dear Parishioners,

Last month, we completed the parish phase of the Synod on Synodality. We offered 5 meetings in which 32 people participated as well as the online questionnaire to which 30 people responded. While this might not be a huge turnout, I’m sure that the people who did respond really had it in their hearts to speak up and I thank everyone who participated and facilitated. Many people who participated in the meetings seemed very glad to be there and I hope everyone felt listened to and respected.

Many topics were brought up in these discussions. And, after reviewing the various reports, I would like to write replies to all of them. However, this will take up a lot of space. So, I am going to write these replies in a series of articles over the next several weeks of bulletin letters. Here are all the topics I plan to address:

• Community the need for more fellowship and gatherings of like-minded Catholics
• Catechesis the need for more opportunities for education in the parish
• Liturgy and reverence Many people have expressed the need for more reverence in the liturgy and feel like we have grown way too casual with how we treat Our Lord at Mass.
• Music Some people love the direction we have taken with music in the parish. Others have not loved it. While I will never dispute anyone on taste, I would like to address what the point of music is in the liturgy and hopefully, the changes we have made will make more sense in that context.

In the next phases of the Synod, the responses we have made will be shared with the whole Diocese who will summarize the responses and send them on to the Vatican. The point of all of this is to discern how the Holy Spirit is leading the Church and what our response should be. Let us pray that we may be open to the promptings of the Spirit now and always.
If anyone would like me to address anything else or share their experiences of the Synod, feel free to reach out. My email address is toddcarterpirest@gmail.com.

God bless,

Fr. Carter