Synod

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"The Church of God is convoked in Synod."

“Synod” is not a familiar word for most Catholics. It’s a Greek word, basically meaning to “walk with,” or "journey together." Throughout our history, it’s been used to refer to gatherings of the Church to “walk with” one another and with the Holy Spirit, to read “the signs of the times” and discern in a spirit of prayer how the Church is being called to respond.

The Church is gathering around this question: A synodal Church, in announcing the Gospel, “journeys together.” How is this “journeying together” happening today in your local Church? What steps does the Spirit invite us to take in order to grow in our “journeying together?”

Guidebook for the Synod on Synodality in the Diocese of Davenport

The “58,000 Cups of Coffee Initiative” is a ground-up and organic initiative that we invite all Catholics in the diocese to take part in.

The annual diocesan Mass Counts for 2021 was 19,399. This is just over 60% of Mass Counts for 2019, pre-pandemic. Two things are true about this: 1) no one is content with this reality, and 2) everyone can do something about it. If we multiply the number of people currently in our pews by three (19,399 x 3), we get just over 58,000.

This is an initiative of the Synod in our diocese. We are inviting everyone who is currently in our pews to have at least one synodal conversation with:

1) one person who is already in our pews,
2) one person who used to be in our pews but hasn’t been since the pandemic, and
3) one person who has either never been a part of a faith community or stopped practicing long ago.

The central focus of these conversation is the question for the Synod: based on your personal experience, what fills your heart and what breaks your heart about the Catholic Church (e.g. in your parish and beyond your parish)? This is about listening to the experience of your conversation partner. It’s not about debate or listening in order to respond, it is about a deep and thorough listening in order to understand. We want to learn from their experience.

There is no reason to limit yourself to 3 conversations—grab coffee with as many people as you can! This is an opportunity to generate enthusiasm for the faith in our communities. Use the form linked above to let us know below how each conversation goes!

Our question for the Synod: based on your personal experience, what fills your heart and what breaks your heart about the Catholic Church?