June 1, 2022 at 4:40 p.m.
LISTEN AND YOU WILL HEAR
LISTEN AND YOU WILL HEAR
Gardiner was the designated speaker from Group 1 and smiled through the anxiety of speaking in public. Like the other group speakers, she stood at the podium at the front of the auditorium to share with the other 12 groups — approximately 60 people — her table’s thoughts on the current path and future life of the Catholic Church.
“I think this process is one of the most important things that we can do,” Gardiner told The Evangelist. “It gives me a lot of encouragement because I really struggle with being in the Church.”
“I didn’t know what I was getting into but I thoroughly enjoyed it,” said Ron Hotaling, parishioner at The Church of St. Patrick in Ravena. “I definitely felt a sense of community and coming together. There are many people from different parishes coming together to talk about how things are going.”
The Hudson Valley Vicariate gathering was the fifth installment of the Albany Diocese’s listening sessions to discuss Pope Francis’ Synod of Bishops on synodality initiative, which was started by the pope in October 2021 as a two-year process of listening, reflection, dialogue and hope — synodality essentially means “journeying together” — and meant to inspire people at all levels of the Church. The first session in the Albany Diocese kicked off on April 20 at Holy Trinity Church in Johnstown.
“What I kept hearing is a deep desire for respect for each individual person,” said Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger at the Hudson session. “I just want to reinforce that every person counts and every person is a beloved child of God, and every person has a story to tell that can move others and change a soul. In fact, many of us can honestly say that in our lives, the change in our lives may have been one person who listened to us and took the time to hear our story.”
Thomas Cronin, advisor to the Bishop for Family & Parish Evangelization and a member of the Diocesan Synod Committee, has been crucial in implementing each of the diocesan synod sessions and hasn’t missed a meeting yet.
“They’ve been amazing,” Cronin said. “I feel like there’s a lot of unknown when people come into these synod sessions, and there is some cynicism by some, but once the conversation starts, I really feel like there’s an opportunity where people are diving deeper into how important the Church is, what it means for them and what their dreams are for the Church going forward.”
Cronin added that there are three common themes that have consistently been brought up at the vicariate sessions: wanting to belong, wanting to bring in more young people, and wanting to deepen catechism.
Parishioners “want to know they’re a part of the community,” he said. “Another one is regarding young adults and how can we better engage with our young people, and number three is doing a better job with catechism and journeying with people and helping them develop in the faith.”
The Albany Diocese will hold one more vicariate listening session on June 28 at Our Lady of the Annunciation in Queensbury for the Adirondack Vicariate. The Diocese is also offering niche listening sessions for relevant themes in the Catholic church, including an LGBTQ+ community session (June 2, at St. Ambrose Church in Latham at 6 p.m.), a Respect Life session (June 2, via Zoom at 7:45 p.m.), a Pastoral Care session (June 7, via Zoom at 4 p.m.), Young Adult listening session (June 14, at St. Pius X Church in Loudonville at 6:30 p.m.), and a Hispanic community listening session (June 21, at St. Edward the Confessor at 6:30 p.m.).
After the listening sessions wrap up, the Synod Committee will compile the collected notes and information gathered from each session and discern themes. The information will then be used in the Diocese’s 10-page report for the Vatican.
“But more importantly,” Cronin said, “it will establish a road map or a structure for (the Albany Diocese) to start developing a strategic plan. I think there’s going to be lots of opportunity at the parishes to be able to implement a lot of the ideas that are being shared at the tables right now.”
“I hope it’s going to make a difference,” Hotaling added. “There are a lot of different ideas, and things don’t always change overnight, but it’s nice to get people together to share thoughts on their faith, their parishes and their community.”
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