St. Columba Catholic Church

Madrid, Spain, Oct 11, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Association of Propagandists (Advocates) (ACdP) in Spain has launched a campaign on the discovery and evangelization of America titled “1492: Neither Genocidal Nor Slave Owners — They Were Heroes and Saints.”

With more than 200 posters distributed on marquees and billboards in more than 60 Spanish cities, the campaign was created with the aim of “dismantling the stereotypes of the black legend against Hispanic heritage.”

The campaign extols the accomplishments of those who “at the risk of losing their lives, embarked on the adventure of reaching the New World with one main objective: to spread Christianity,” a statement from the organization explained.

The ACdP emphasized that with this initiative it “pays tribute to those who brought the promotion of human dignity — which has its origin in the Catholic faith — to Indigenous peoples, subjected to the oppression of bloodthirsty empires.”

The association seeks to “combat the so-called ‘black legend’ spread for centuries against the remarkable Spanish accomplishment.”

The posters and billboards show a QR code that links to a video that, in a humorous tone, simulates a television contest in which a promoter of the “black legend” and a citizen of a Latin American country participate.

The simulated TV contest dismantles one by one the main stereotypes about the arrival of the Spanish in the Americas and the spread of the Christian faith by the Catholic monarchs Queen Isabel of Castile and her husband, King Ferdinand of Aragón.

Among other points, the episode points out that Spain never had “colonies” but “viceroyalties” and that on the cultural level, 100 of the 140 United Nations World Heritage sites in Latin America are of Spanish origin. It also points out that by 1538 more than 30 universities had already been founded and that by 1574 the Bible had been translated into more than 12 native languages.

The fact that the Spaniards intermarried with the Indigenous, resulting a mixed-race society, was pointed out as contrary to the widespread expulsion and extermination of Indigenous peoples by other European powers in North America. The episode also pointed to the enormous economic cost that Spain incurred to maintain its presence in America, much more than what was obtained from the natural resources of the new continent.

Last year, on the occasion of Hispanic Heritage Day, the ACdP also publicized a video that summarizes the history of Spain in two minutes, from the appearance of the Virgin Mary to the apostle St. James in Zaragoza to modern times.

These and other campaigns are part of a strategy developed by the ACdP in recent years to highlight the positive impact of Catholic values ​​in society.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

CNA Staff, Oct 11, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Amid low enrollment at academic institutions across the country, Catholic colleges and universities with strong Catholic identities have bucked the trend, boasting high enrollment for fall 2024.

College enrollment has been declining since 2010 by approximately 12%. Enrollment at private four-year colleges decreased by 54% from 2010 to 2021. Meanwhile, enrollment nationwide declined by 7% from 2019 to 2022.

But at 11 Catholic colleges, enrollment is up, some with record enrollment rates. What these thriving colleges have in common is a “strong Catholic identity,” according to the Newman Guide, an education resource for Catholics by the Cardinal Newman Society. CNA caught up with some of these Catholic schools to ask their leaders why they believe their schools are thriving.

University of Mary (North Dakota)

University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, had its largest incoming class for its second year straight, the media relations specialist for “UMary,” Tom Ackerman, told CNA. This fall, enrollment increased from 3,805 students in 2023 to 3,861 students.

UMary Vice President for Public Affairs Rachael Brash credited the growth to UMary’s “authentic” Catholic identity.

“When you are mission-centric in everything that you do for students, it shows,” Brash told CNA. “It goes in direct opposition to what’s happening in so many parts of our culture today.” 

UMary has 24-hour-a-day adoration at its Benet Chapel and offers eight different Catholic student groups, including the Knights of Columbus and FOCUS. 

“I think that the students, prospective students, and their families are seeking authenticity,” she said. “At the University of Mary, what we hear the most out of our students is that we are who we say we are. And that’s why I think so many places, including the University of Mary, are succeeding in bucking against that trend of declining enrollment. It’s because we have kept ourselves ordered correctly and understanding who we’re serving.”

“We want our students to feel like they come home when they come to our campus,” Brash said of UMary. 

“We have an environment where we want students to flourish throughout the whole of their life,” Brash said. “And so our students come prepared, not just with the current relevant skill sets and the newest technology, but the ability to understand the world and interact in it in a way that is true to both our mission, but that’s true to serve them throughout the whole of their life.” 

Belmont Abbey College (North Carolina)

Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, just outside Charlotte, announced its fourth-highest enrollment rates in the college’s history. The college had a 2% increase in enrollment since last year, with 1,687 students enrolled, including in-person and online undergraduate and graduate students.

Belmont Abbey College as well as UMary both feature maternity programs for student mothers. Belmont’s maternity program for pregnant college students is known as MiraVia. UMary’s St. Teresa of Calcutta Community for Mothers program made headlines last year after its first student mom graduated with her daughter.

“It’s providing these young mothers with a great opportunity to go to school and get their bachelor’s degree,” Brash said of UMary’s program. “But we’re equally as blessed to have these young children on our campus and for students to be babysitting them and for these mothers to be helping each other and for their opportunity to go to a job here on campus.”

“We talk about being pro-life, and of course, you know this, that in our culture, that’s talked mainly about abortion and end of life,” she said. “But for life, so much of it happens between birth and death.”

Franciscan University of Steubenville (Ohio)

Franciscan University of Steubenville (FUS) in Ohio has hit its 10th consecutive year of record-breaking enrollment, John Romanowsky, director of marketing and media relations, told CNA. FUS welcomed its largest-ever incoming class of 812 students. The university has a total of 3,977 students enrolled in both its in-person and online programs. 

At least four Masses are offered daily on campus, often with standing room only, Stephen Hildebrand, vice president for academic affairs and a theology professor at FUS, told CNA last December. 

FUS has continued its growth by launching a Washington, D.C., program this fall for students that prioritizes evangelization, formation, and bringing a Catholic perspective to the capital.

The Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.)

The Catholic University of America (CUA), America’s oldest Catholic research university, experienced slight growth in enrollment amid challenges, Vice President for University Communications Karna Lozoya told CNA. 

“Like many Catholic universities nationwide, this enrollment cycle presented challenges in first-time fall enrollment due to the well-documented FAFSA delays and the resultant cost uncertainty,” Lozoya said. “Despite these obstacles, we are pleased to report a slight increase in overall student enrollment.”

CUA has had increased interest in applications as part of “an upward trend in interest we’ve seen over the past several years,” Lozoya noted.

Ave Maria University (Florida)

Ave Maria University in Florida also had record-high enrollment in fall 2024 while increasing its GPA standards for applicants.

“Students want to come here,” Susan Gallagher, vice president of marketing and communications, said, “especially when they visit and see the Ave joy — joy in the truth.” 

Ave Maria also has the highest percentage of Catholic students in more than a decade, at 93%. 

University of Dallas (Texas)

Another university that has seen increased enrollment is the University of Dallas, where freshman enrollment was up significantly over last year, with a class of nearly 400 — a 14% increase from last year, Clare Venegas, vice president of marketing and communications, told CNA. 

“Our strong Catholic identity coupled with the academic rigor of our curriculum are both key reasons students cite for choosing UDallas,” Venegas said.

University of St. Thomas, Houston (Texas)

University of St. Thomas, Houston, another Catholic university in Texas, also welcomed a record-breaking undergraduate class this fall, with 683 freshmen and more than 200 new transfer students, according to Sara Nevares Johnson, dean of admissions.

She said the school has been taking steps to increase enrollment and development. 

“At the University of St. Thomas, we’re witnessing a growing desire among students to develop holistically — in mind, body, and spirit,” Nevares Johnson told CNA. “Our year-over-year increase in inquiries and applications reflects a rising interest in pursuing a liberal arts education right here in the heart of Houston, standing in contrast to the national trend of declining university enrollment.”

“Rooted in the traditions of the Basilian Fathers, our mission resonates with students seeking a deeper understanding of their purpose and place in the world,” she said.

Benedictine College (Kansas)

A liberal arts college in a small city of 10,000 has been growing for the past 20 years. Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, has seen “another year of record enrollment, with 2,213 full-time undergraduates,” Benedictine College’s Director of Marketing and Communications Stephen Johnson told CNA. 

“This is a continuing trend of positive enrollment growth over the past 20-plus years,” he added. 

Benedictine is seeing growing freshmen classes as well as “large increases” in transfer students, Johnson noted.

Benedictine highlights Catholic values such as being “Christ-centered” and community- and faith-oriented, according to its website.

The small but mighty

Most liberal arts colleges are on the small side, with numbers in the thousands, compared with public universities, which can reach tens of thousands. Some Catholic liberal arts colleges are designed for an even smaller number of students. In spite of being small by design, these colleges are still setting records.

Thomas More College of Liberal Arts (New Hampshire)

The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire, which keeps its student body intentionally small, hit its largest number of students this year: 98, the college president, William Edmund Fahey, told CNA. The college’s student body has more than doubled since 2009.

Fahey said the college is “at the point at which we will need to run a building campaign so as to house the increase.”

Christendom College (Virginia)

Another school that is intentionally small but growing is Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. Christendom reached its enrollment cap for the past four years, instituting a waiting list each year. 

“We had to institute a waiting list for the fourth year in a row this year, due to the continued high demand for a Christendom education,” Christendom Director of Communications Zachary Smith told CNA. “In fact, over the past 10 years, Christendom has grown by 40%, helping us to achieve our cap of 550 students.”

“We keep the school intentionally small in order to keep class sizes smaller,” Smith explained. “This fosters more discussion in the classroom and better connections between students, their peers, and their professors.”

Thomas Aquinas College (California and Massachusetts)

Another intentionally small school, Thomas Aquinas College, has expanded to two campuses to grow. “TAC” keeps its student body intentionally small given its Socratic style classes and focuses on a tight-knit community. TAC has two campuses, one in California and one in New England. 

The two campuses combined hit record-high enrollment this fall at 566 students, Christopher Weinkopf, the college’s executive director for college relations, told CNA. The California campus was near capacity, at 372 students, and the New England campus has its largest student body yet, at 194 students, about a 13% increase since last year, according to Weinkopf.  

“These numbers are very much in keeping with the overall trend: California has been at maximum capacity for years, and the number of students on our New England campus has nearly quadrupled since its launching in 2019, in keeping with our campus growth plan,” Weinkopf explained. 

Other Newman Guide schools including Wyoming Catholic College and John Paul the Great Catholic University are known for their Catholic identity but did not respond with enrollment data in time for publication.

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

There has been one noteworthy development so far in the Synod on Synodality’s second week — and it’s not the resurfacing of “women’s ordination” and other hot-button issues that were presumably not on the agenda for this month’s assembly.

Instead, it was an intervention on Oct. 7 by a bishop from the People’s Republic of China: Bishop Joseph Yang Yongqiang of the Diocese of Hangzhou. This is significant because it marks the first time a Chinese bishop has taken the floor to speak to his fellow synod delegates.

Yang, who participated in last year’s assembly as well but departed before the session’s conclusion, is one of two mainland China bishop delegates appointed to the synod by Pope Francis, having been the protagonist, last June, of the first “transfer” of dioceses under the Sino-Vatican agreement.

Yang read a short speech in Chinese with a simultaneous translation. Synod sources told EWTN News that his remarks, which were not broadcast, focused on three main points: the history of Chinese Catholicism, China’s agreement with the Vatican on the appointment of bishops, and cultural exchange.

According to a source from the Vatican Secretariat of State, a Vatican delegation was in Beijing in the last week of September for talks on renewing the controversial agreement, possibly for three or four years this time.

Yang, who is expected to remain for the full assembly this year, spoke positively about the provisional agreement, saying it will deepen relations between the Holy See and his country. He also extended an invitation to synod participants to visit China, and he stressed the importance of “Sinicization,” the terms used to refer to efforts to ensure the Church in China has a distinctively Chinese character aligned with the goals of China’s communist government.

Meanwhile, Bishop Norbert Pu of Chiayi, Taiwan, told EWTN News that he is in dialogue with the Chinese bishops at the synod.

All this underscores how the Synod on Synodality can be a place to build bridges across different places and cultures. Yet that dimension of the synod may be overshadowed by attempts to reignite attention on hot-button issues that were thought to have been set aside for the various study groups to address.

The fact that these issues are returning in various forms testifies to the pressure both sides are bringing to bear to change or affirm the Church’s traditional doctrine.

The issue of the ministerial ordination of women surfaced in one of the interventions this week, according to synod sources, as well as during a press briefing on Oct. 8 where Sister Mary Theresa Barron of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles said that “some women do sense a call to priesthood or diaconate.”

At the same briefing, Cardinal-elect Jaime Spengler, archbishop of Porto Alegre, Brazil, broached the topic of dispensing with the discipline of priestly celibacy in regions where there is a shortage of priests.

Meanwhile, the need for greater pastoral care for LGBTQ+ persons was the focus of a side event the same day sponsored by the Outreach association of Father James Martin, SJ, and the Jesuit-run America Media. Cardinal Stephen Chow of Hong Kong was among those in attendance.

Finally, the role of bishops in a synodal Church was a featured subject in an open theological forum held on Oct. 9. Participants included Cardinal-elect Roberto Repole, archbishop of Turin, Italy; Sister Gloria Liliana Franco Echeverri, ODN; Professor Carlos Maria Galli; Professor Gilles Routhier; and Professor Matteo Visioli.

It was a diverse panel. Galli, who teaches at the Catholic University of Argentina, immediately distinguished himself as one of the most profound interpreters of Pope Francis’ thought. He emphasized the figure of the bishops in terms of “brothers and friends.” Sister Franco Echeverri urged the bishops to “not waste time on bureaucratic issues” and not to “cover up or bury anything” in the event of abuse. Routhier stated that the bishop is “a brother among brothers,” while Visioli spoke of the concept of “power,” divided into the dimensions of “order” and “jurisdiction.” The first refers to sacramental acts and the second to government functions.

Will any of these issues find their way into the synod’s final document? That remains to be seen. But it’s clear the debate rages on.

CNA Newsroom, Oct 11, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church’s final session of the multiyear Synod on Synodality is finishing up its second week.

Here’s what you should know 

• Decoding the Synod on Synodality: CNA’s essential terminology guide

• Here’s what is new at the Synod on Synodality Part 2

The story so far 

Oct. 11: What happens when a Chinese bishop takes the floor for the first time at the synod?

Synod sources tell EWTN News that Bishop Joseph Yang Yongqiang of the Diocese of Hangzhou spoke to synod participants about the history of Chinese Catholicism, China’s agreement with the Vatican on the appointment of bishops, and cultural exchange. Andrea Gagliarducci has more.

Oct. 10: Pope Francis’ Brazilian pick for cardinal calls for ordaining married priests

Archbishop Jaime Spengler, OFM, confirms plans for a trial run of an Amazonian rite of the Mass and urges “openness” to the idea of married priests to serve certain communities at a briefing for the Synod on Synodality.

The 64-year-old prelate, descendant of German immigrants, is a prominent figure in the Church in his home country and throughout South America, heading both the Catholic bishops’ conference of Brazil and the Latin American bishops’ conference (CELAM), writes Hannah Brockhaus.

Oct. 10: Why Is ‘Women’s Ordination’ Still Dominating Media Coverage of the Synod?

News media has a built-in tendency to downplay nuance and highlight novelty, and this is arguably accentuated at the synod, writes Jonathan Liedl for the National Catholic Register. Two synod members say synod communications head Paolo Ruffini overstated the strength of calls for “women’s ordination”. Read the full analysis here.

Oct. 10: Non-Catholic delegates put Christian unity in focus at Synod on Synodality

Three fraternal delegates — non-Catholic representatives of Christian churches participating in this year’s session of the Synod on Synodality — take center stage at Thursday’s Synod on Synodality press briefing held at the Vatican’s Holy See Press Office.

Speaking about “the great importance of relationality” among Christian churches, Anglican Bishop Martin Warner of Chichester — co-chair of the English-Welsh Anglican-Roman Catholic Committee — speaks about the “sense of family” that has developed between the Catholic Church and the Church of England, particularly during the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Kristina Millare reports.

Oct. 9: Synod delegates look to St. John Henry Newman as theological guide

Australian Bishop Anthony Randazzo, a synod delegate and president of the Federation of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Oceania, says St. John Henry Newman famously showed “that the Church would look foolish without the laity” and should help ease fears that collaboration with the laity is heterodoxical.

“I think that this way of thinking should liberate us in the Church from believing that any one group or vocation alone drives the bus,” the bishop of the Diocese of Broken Bay, Australia, emphasizes. Randazzo made a powerful statement against pushes for so-called “women’s ordination”, explains Jonathan Liedl for the National Catholic Register.

Oct. 8: Catholic bishops from mainland China and Taiwan in dialogue at Synod on Synodality

In an interview with CNA, the first Indigenous bishop of Taiwan says he met with the two bishops from mainland China taking part in the synod and plans to meet with them again. “It’s very important to dialogue with them, to respect each other. I think it’s good … not only for the Chinese, for the whole Church,” Bishop Norbert Pu of Taiwan tells Courtney Mares.

Oct. 8: Who is in charge of drafting the final document of the Synod of Synodality?

Paolo Ruffini, the synod’s communications head, announces the 14 members of the Final Document Commission. The seven continental delegates are:

• Catherine Clifford, a theologian from St. Paul University in Ottawa, for North America

• Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, for Africa

• Father Clarence Davedassan of Malaysia is the pick from Asia

• Bishop Shane Mackinlay of Sandhurst, Australia, for Oceania

• Cardinal Luis José Rueda Aparicio of Bogotá, Colombia, for Central and South America

• Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille, France, for Europe

• Bishop Mounir Khairallah, a Maronite prelate, for the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Middle East

The other members include three direct picks from Pope Francis and four automatic appointments, writes Jonathan Liedl.

Oct. 8: Synod participants donate for Gaza parish

In a video played for journalists at the Holy See Press Office on Oct. 8, Gaza parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli thanks synod participants for both prayers and financial help, because in Gaza, “everyone is in need of everything.”

The pope’s charity office announces that synod participants donated 32,000 euros (about $35,000) for the Catholic parish in Gaza from synod participants on Oct. 7, the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel.

The synod donations were combined with another 30,000 euros (about $33,000) from Pope Francis’ charity coffers and sent to Holy Family Parish, the only Roman Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip, which is sheltering hundreds of Palestinian Catholics.

Oct. 7: Pope invites prayer for the Middle East as participants from that region begin week 2 of the synod

Since the beginning of the Synod on Synodality, synod delegates and participants have echoed Pope Francis’ pleas for prayers and solidarity with communities across the war-ravaged region. As the second week of the synod gets underway, on the World Day of Prayer and Fasting held on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Pope Francis addressed Catholics in the Middle East on the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel. Kristina Millare has more.

Oct. 7: Women deacons off the table? Synod delegate claims ‘some women sense a call to priesthood’

While the topic of “women deacons” is not formally up for discussion at the Synod on Synodality assembly this month, the official Vatican press conference for the synod showcases a female delegate who spoke about women experiencing “a call to priesthood,” Courtney Mares reports.

Oct. 6: Pope Francis and synod participants pray rosary for peace

Invoking the intercession of the Virgin Mary for peace in the world amid an escalating conflict in the Middle East and the ongoing war in Ukraine, Pope Francis presides over a rosary prayer in Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major on Sunday evening, Courtney Mares reports.

Oct. 5: A call for peace and an announcement of dialogue

A Lebanese bishop makes an impassioned plea for peace and forgiveness at the Synod on Synodality’s daily press briefing on Saturday as the assembly’s first week draws to a close.

Bishop Mounir Khairallah of Batroun shares his personal experience of violence and forgiveness, recounting how his parents were murdered when he was just 5 years old.

Meanwhile, a dialogue with study groups is announced for Oct. 18 after synod delegates vote for more interaction with the groups established by Pope Francis.

Oct. 4: What’s behind the viral photo of Pope Francis venerating a chair?

Pope Francis sits before the historic relic of St. Peter’s chair in the Ottoboni sacristy of St. Peter’s Basilica after celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Square ahead of the second session of the Synod on Synodality. What is behind this viral image? Madalaine Elhabbal explains.

Oct. 4: Participants put spotlight on world’s poor

Closing the first week of meetings, participants from different continents put a spotlight on the plight of the world’s poor and vulnerable on the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, Kristina Millare reports. 

The first week at the Synod on Synodality — revolution or much ado about nothing? 

Vaticanist Andrea Gagliarducci analyzes the first days of the gathering in Rome. He writes: “It seems clear that while the delegates may discuss many things over the next three weeks, nothing will be decided. There will be no doctrinal changes. No diminution of the role of the bishop. No rush to resolve the question of opening the diaconate to women.” 

Oct. 3: Many voices to be heard 

Cardinal Mario Grech, general secretary of the synod, says at a press conference that “every believer, man or woman, and every group, association, movement, or community will be able to participate with their own contribution” via the synod’s 10 study groups.

Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, tells journalists the work of participants in the second session of the Synod on Synodality is to find the “cohesive voice” that expresses the life of the Church.

Oct. 3: Cardinal Fernández rules out women deacons

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, on Oct. 3 shuts down speculation regarding further theological study into the possibility of women being ordained as deacons. Father Giacomo Costa, special secretary of the synod, says this month’s discussions held in the Vatican should serve as “laboratories of synodal life,” Kristina Millare reports.

Oct. 3: Solving sexuality questions with ‘contextual fidelity’?

A study group appointed by Pope Francis to explore a synodal approach to the Church’s most debated issues — including sexual morality and life matters — proposes “contextual fidelity” and a “new paradigm” that downplays long-standing Church teaching, Jonathan Liedl notes. 

Oct. 2: Pope Francis calls for new ways for bishops to be ‘synodal’

At the first meeting of the full assembly of the Synod on Synodality on Wednesday, Pope Francis says a bishop’s ministry should include cooperation with laypeople and that the synod will need to identify “differing forms” of the exercise of this ministry.

Oct. 2: Pope Francis opens synod, warns against personal ‘agendas’

Pope Francis opens the second and final session of the Synod on Synodality, which is meant to deepen the missionary perspective of the Church, explains EWTN Vatican Bureau Chief Andreas Thonhauser.

“Let us be careful not to see our contributions as points to defend at all costs or agendas to be imposed,” the pope says at the synod’s opening Mass on Oct. 2, Courtney Mares reports. The pontiff warns: “Ours is not a parliamentary assembly but rather a place of listening in communion.”

Oct. 2: Looming questions about role of German ‘synodality’ 

“More candor about the motivations of the German Synodal Path and its vision of the Catholic future would be helpful in determining what, if anything, it has to offer the world Church at Synod 2024,” comments George Weigel in the National Catholic Register.

Oct. 1: Penitential liturgy is held in St. Peter’s Basilica; more than 500 people attend

On the eve of the second session of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis says the Catholic Church must first acknowledge its sins and ask for forgiveness before it can be credible in carrying out the mission Jesus Christ entrusted to his Church, Kristina Millare reports. 

Nine years ago, this papal speech set the ‘synodality’ machine in motion

Since Pope Francis’ 2015 speech, synodality has grown from a theological concept into a guiding principle of Church governance. Analysis from Jonathan Liedl in the National Catholic Register.

Has the synod been a bust? NCR peeks behind the curtain in an interview with Jesuit Fr. James Martin.

After the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School was unconstitutional, the school's attorneys are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in, claiming First Amendment rights.

Letters to the editor: NCR readers respond to Michael Sean Winters' column on the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks. 

Listen: Heidi, Daniel and David talk about the hurricanes devastating the southeastern U.S.; Daniel discusses his recent announcement; and Heidi interviews Massimo Faggioli about the meeting of the synod in Rome.

"Cultivating a culture of synodality is filled with promise," writes Sr. Colleen Gibson, "though not without the growing pains that come with allowing our hearts and minds to be reformed by the Spirit." 

The panel on "The Role and Authority of the Bishop in a Synodal Church" focused on moving away from monarchical episcopal authority. It was not Management 101. It was mission-oriented, grace-filled Ecclesiology 101.