Responding to “Towards October 2024“ - the
Vatican document intended to guide the synodal process between the
October 2023 and October 2024 sessions in Rome - the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has published its own guidelines suggesting that dioceses conduct two or three diocesan-wide listening sessions during Lent.
The listening sessions in US dioceses will revolve around two questions:
“Where have I seen or experienced successes - and distresses - within the Church’s structure(s)/organization/leadership/life that encourage or hinder the mission?”
“How can the structures and organization of the Church help all the baptized to respond to the call to proclaim the Gospel and to live as a community of love and mercy in Christ?”
The USCCB has asked dioceses to “include voices that may not have been heard in earlier stages of the Synod, or other groups that were underrepresented in your diocesan consultations,” as well as to “collaborate with Catholic-affiliated groups and organizations in your diocese, including schools, colleges, non-profits, and healthcare facilities.” Dioceses are asked to submit a synthesis of the discussions (maximum five pages) to the USCCB by April 8.
The Vatican’s guidelines, issued by the General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops in December, called upon each diocese to conduct a new round of synod listening sessions and send the results to the episcopal conference.
The USCCB, like other episcopal conferences, is expected to submit a report (maximum eight pages) to the Synod of Bishops by May 15 summarizing the consultations across the nation - a challenging task, as there are 177 Latin-rite dioceses in the United States.
The USCCB’s two guiding questions differ from the sole guiding question that the Vatican document asked dioceses to reflect upon: “HOW can we be a synodal Church in mission?” (capitalization in original). The Vatican’s guiding question, in turn, has “two levels”:
“HOW can we enhance the differentiated co-responsibility in the mission of all the members of the People of God?”
“HOW can these relations be creatively articulated in order to find a dynamic balance between the dimension of the Church as a whole and its local roots?”
While the USCCB’s guiding questions differ from the Vatican’s guiding question, the Vatican did allow for flexibility, asking each diocese to
choose the perspective with which to approach the guiding question, reflecting on the relative chapters of the Synthesis Report.
Realistically, it will not be possible to examine all the implications.
Therefore, each local Church is invited to focus on those aspects that enable it to make a contribution in the light of its own situation, character and experience, sharing good practices that represent visible and concrete signs of synodality.
The USCCB’s guidelines, published on the USCCB website on January 3, were reportedly sent to US bishops the previous day by Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville (TX), who has been coordinating the synodal process in the United States.
Bishop Flores was also a member of the preparatory commission of the October 2023 Synod.