Lay Network Update -

We can feel fall in the air and are tempted to dwell on the thought that summer was way too short, but there is still plenty of time to enjoy the sunshine and the fun activities of this season, so let us savor the days we have left.

Archdiocesan Listening Sessions

The next Open Forum and the Open Forums that follow into 2020 will be focused on the Archdiocesan listening sessions, which are crucial to the formation of the Synod that will set the agenda for the future of our archdiocesan church. The purpose of these Open Forums is to encourage participation and prepare each other to be effective at these sessions. We will be addressing concerns and suggestions that were captured in the Pastoral Recommendation Project in 2016. The 58 pages are clear and poignant, so we do not have to reinvent the wheel. We will take just one or two PRP topics, at a time, to address at the Open Forums so we won't become overwhelmed. When Archbishop Hebda first read the PRP, he said it was like being hit with a fire hose, so read it in small doses, a section at a time. Let your mind be stimulated by slowly sipping the content like it was a fine wine.

Pastoral Recommendation Project link (go to www.cccr-cob.org)

Under Menu, Click on Archiives, CCCR2, Pastoral Recommendation Project (PRP), PRP June 2016 Recommendations.

Listening sessions:  Archdiocesan Listening Sessions

CoB - Open Forum - September 10, 2019- Preparation for Archdiocesan Listening Sessions

Where:

Gloria Dei Lutheran Church

700 Snelling Ave. S, St. Paul, MN 55116

7-9 p.m.

Nancy Gotto and Bonnie Strand will facilitate Healing and Collaboration, from the PRP. There will be time for discussion and questions on these two topics as well as your own concerns about how the institutional church may have harmed or hindered Catholics in any way. Archbishop Hebda recognizes that "all members of the People of God" share in the "priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ." He wants to listen and wants us to listen to each other as well as give voice to the damage that has been done. It is our moral responsibility to lament with the suffering. Much work has been done to create a safe environment after the sexual assault scandals and abuse of power, but the faithful in the pews and those who have left the pews are also hurt. You cannot have healing until the wounds are exposed and cleaned. We are the church and we are all in this together. If we are, indeed, part of the body of Christ, then what we say and do, in collaboration and communion with the larger community, will determine the synod and the agenda for the archdiocese for many years to come.