Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap. will celebrate this special Advent Mass on November 27, 2021 at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross at 4:30PM.
It will be broadcast and live-streamed on CatholicTV & CatholicTVLIVE.com (rebroadcast on Sunday at 11am and 8pm). The theme is “For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission.”
In preparation for the diocesan phase of the synod process, the archdiocese has set up a preliminary survey, inviting the faithful to share their ideas for how the Church can better listen to her people at various levels. Though anonymous and confidential, the survey asks some demographic questions, such as the participant’s location, age, ethnicity, and status as a layperson, clergy, or religious. Then, it has boxes for participants to briefly answer questions about how parishes, the archdiocese, and the universal Church can listen to their people.
“Father Paul Soper, archdiocesan Secretary for Evangelization and Discipleship, said they hope the survey responses will give Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley some material to draw upon as the diocesan phase of the process begins.
“This survey is, in large part, to provide some beginning thoughts for him in how to address this. But it’s only a beginning,” Father Soper said…
In order to “provide a greater opportunity for the people of God to have an authentic experience of listening and dialogue” during the recently launched synodal process, the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops has decided to extend the deadline of the first phase. In a statement on Friday, the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops said that it has extended “the deadline for the presentation of the synthesis of the consultations by the Episcopal Conference, the Oriental Catholic Churches sui iuris and other ecclesial bodies” to 15 August 2022.
The statement notes that extension comes in response to numerous communications from various quarters in these first weeks of the synodal process requesting an extension of the duration of the first phase.
Over the next several years, the Church around the world will be participating in a process called the Synod on Synodality. The Holy Father will be meeting with Bishops from across the globe in 2023 to discuss ways of improving the process by which the church on all levels is open to hearing the voices of people from all walks of life.
That process will begin here in Boston now with asking as many people as possible to take a simple survey.
This survey is the first step. Other upcoming steps will be…
Pope Francis has called for a synod in the church. The theme of this upcoming Synod is “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission.” The solemn opening of the Synod will take place in Rome on October 9-10, and in the particular Churches (the diocesan phase) on October 17. It will conclude in the Vatican on October 2023 with the assembly of bishops from around the world. The diocesan phase, which runs until April, will focus on listening to and consulting the people of God.
You can learn more about this inspiring two-year process our Church is engaged in on the Synod page on our website…