Our bishop held listening sessions throughout the diocese as a part of a renewal process for our diocese and to help him to know the people of our diocese so that he can offer us excellent leadership in the areas of the Church’s mission.
These listening sessions were planned prior to the synod on synodality but dovetailed with it and Bishop Parkes used the information gathered from his meetings to send to Rome.
What Bishop Parkes found in our diocese is very encouraging. There was no whining about wanting heterodox teachings made orthodox. There was no clamoring for changes in doctrine, dogma and the moral and sacramental teachings of the Church.
Rather, the findings show that in the Diocese of Savannah, Catholics want to live their faith more deeply, want a clear Catholic identity, and want their parishes to be engaged in all aspects of a bishop’s primary mission, of which we are all a part of, “to teach, rule and sanctify!”
There needs to be an outreach in an evangelical way to the poor, ignorant and marginalized. The outreach must always have as its goal an opening up of God’s grace to individuals to experience conversion and to be able to come to know, love and serve Jesus Christ in this life in order to be saved by Jesus and His passion, death and resurrection, for an eternity in heaven.
Here is a portion of Bishop Parkes’ letter to our diocese as it concerns liturgy, spirituality and good works:
■ Acknowledge the gift of mystery
■ Relish His precious gift of grace
■ Marvel at His mercy and compassion
■ Talk to Him conversationally in prayer
How does the Church help to Discover Beauty? Through a commitment to Liturgy and Worship that brings light and joy to the heart, mind, and soul.
UNDERSTAND TRUTH... BY UNDERSTANDING THE FAITH.
■ Relate God to daily life in hopes of being a future citizen of heaven
■ Form a faith-based conscience through spiritual reading and the study of the Catechism
of the Catholic Church
■ Devote time to the reading of Sacred Scripture
How does the Church help to Understand Truth? Through the ministries of Formation and
Catechesis that uncover the beauty and richness of our Catholic faith.
INSPIRE GOODNESS... BY FOSTERING RELATIONSHIPS OF FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY.
■ Respect the God-given dignity of every human life from conception until natural death
■ Care for the least, the last, and the lost
■ Practice good stewardship of God’s gifts and honor His creations
How does the Church help to Inspire Goodness? Through an encouragement to Outreach and Mission that seeks to serve Christ by serving others.
8 comments:
Good points but if he is truly listening he will toss Traditiones Crudelis (Custodes) into file 13
As always, they tell people to have a spiritual life, while not telling them how to have a spiritual life, and then focus entirely on externals and personal actions.
I have read the Diocese of Savannah's Synodal listening sessions synthesis.
During the past several months, various commenters here have issued a tremendous amount of anti-Synod posts.
Conversely, Bishop Steven Parkes has spoken of the Synod, as well as Pope Francis, in very positive fashion. Bishop Parkes has noted the Holy Ghost's presence in regard to the Synod/Synodal Process.
The Diocese of Savannah has insisted that the listening sessions were "overwhelmingly positive."
That is in line with the USCCB's overwhelmingly upbeat assessment of the Synodal listening sessions here in America.
The Holy Ghost is the Synod's driving force. We have been assured that by such holy bishops as Stephen Parkes.
Therefore, the Synod/Synodal Process will conclude in holy, orthodox fashion.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
MT,
LOL
Mark, please delete the word "holy" from your vocahulary until you learn its meaning. Hint: it does NOT mean functionary or activity of the Roman Catholic Church, but can (ever more rarely) include them.
Father McDonald said..."What Bishop Parkes found in our diocese is very encouraging. There was no whining about wanting heterodox teachings made orthodox. There was no clamoring for changes in doctrine, dogma and the moral and sacramental teachings of the Church."
The Diocese encountered a certain level of dissention. But dissension has always existed within Holy Mother Church.
The Diocese reported: "Points of dissention included the ordination of women, the use of Latin in the liturgy..."
Nevertheless, the Diocese noted that "interactions remained friendly even when speakers had differing points of view."
"With rare exceptions, the experience of the listening sessions was overwhelmingly positive."
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Bob said..."Mark, please delete the word "holy" from your vocahulary until you learn its meaning."
Bob, please delete the word "vocahulary" from your vocabulary until you learn its meaning.
:-)
Pax.
Mark Thomas
I honestly don't know what's worse: The fact that no bishop seems to be able to say anything but pre-scripted positives almost devoid of meaning, about the priests and various parishes they visit and, especially whomever the pope happens to be. Likewise, no priest can criticize a bishop publicly either. While I can appreciate that it's not our job to tear down the leadership of the church, this utter lack of objective assessment has turned virtually every activity of our Church where the laity interface with the chanceries into a predictable, banal, exercise in verbal pablum.
How any adult Catholic with an ounce of critical-thinking skill can blindly label every act of the never-ending synod as "holy" or "driven by the Holy Spirit" merely because certain bishops or priests say so and just accept it at face-value is unfathomable.
If anyone can look at how honest and forthcominig so many of our Church leaders have been with us since 2002 and continue to just trust without verifying, then you deserve the Church you'll get.
I'm not saying to disrespect our bishops and priests. But blindly trusting and idolizing them has put us in a bad place. Regardless, some very naive laity continue to blindly trust and idolize.
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