The Archdiocese of New York will hold local listening sessions as part of the next phase of the Synod on Synodality.

New listening sessions will take place on Saturday, March 23, at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers. There will be sessions in both English and Spanish. English will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Spanish be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Attendance is free. Registration for the in-person sessions is now open.

Initiated by Pope Francis in the fall of 2021, the upcoming, interim phase of Synod 2021 – 2024 provides a forum for a second consultation with the faithful of the Archdiocese of New York. Participating in the Synod means participating in the process of listening to the Holy Spirit to determine the direction of the Church.

Two key questions will be considered in this latest step in the Synod through a process of listening, discussion, and contemplation.

The first question is: Where have I seen or experienced successes within the Church’s structure(s)/organization/leadership/life that encourage the mission? How can we expand on that?

The second question is: 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?

Each of the two-hour sessions on March 23 will consist of an opening prayer, scripture, and reflection, followed by more than 90 minutes allotted for facilitated, small group discussion to consider the two questions. Views expressed at the Synod listening sessions will be compiled into an archdiocesan Synodal Synthesis. A final session of bishops and Church representatives is set for October 2024 in Rome.

Initial synodal listening sessions were held around the archdiocese during Lent in 2022. Clergy and parishioners met within each of the Archdiocese of New York’s 12 deaneries, geographic groupings that largely follow New York’s political county lines. An archdiocesan synthesis report from the 2022 sessions was created. The first phase of the Synod was completed in October 2023.

Participating in a listening session is a unique opportunity to help shape the future of the Church, said Elizabeth Guevara de Gonzalez, director of the archdiocesan Office of Adult Faith Formation.

“After everything that happened in the last two years and having gone through a recent pandemic, it is all the more important to live out our faith, and that’s more than just going to Mass on Sundays. It means communing with each other, praying with each other, and listening to the Holy Spirit tell us what our Church is to look like going forward,” she said.