One significant step in our Church’s Synodal journey took place this week, when Pope Francis met virtually with college students at an historic event hosted by Loyola University, Chicago. The conversation was the result of hours of listening sessions between a larger group of 130 students- many with a wide range of life experiences and different areas of study. They represented 58 Universities and 21 countries!
One of the participants told herself “Be calm, he’s just a pastor. Yes, he’s the pope, but he’s also a human being like you.” Another said, “He was just so present for us. All of his attention was clearly focused on us as we spoke.”
This historic conversation with these 16 students was titled, “Building Bridges”. The conversation emphasized our Catholic responsibility to support the over 281 million migrants across the globe, representing an astounding 3.6 % of the total world population.
To watch the encounter with these student and the Holy Father visit the YouTube Link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXspwy8lNuo
Our Synod committee meets weekly to grapple with the challenges of gathering the wealth of experiences and learning a lived synodality. We are exploring many ways we can reach people in multifaceted ways to hear the fruits of their own prayer and experience in the Church. We encourage everyone if they haven’t had a chance to read the Synod on Synodality Preparatory Document and Vademecum which are both available on the Synod page of our website, along with a host of additional Synod information and resources.
In the Easter Season we’ll be offering many ways to engage in the process of Synodality at St. John – St. Paul Collaborative.