Denver Catholic

Our synodal process was defined by two central goals: G OA L # 1: TO R E-ACQ U I R E A B I B L I C A L WO R L DV I E W All of the faithful of the Archdiocese of Denver were called to regain clarity on our mission as a Church by dis- covering our place in the great narrative of salvation his- tory, recognizing that the heart of discipleship is to see the world as it really is by knowing the story of what God has done through Jesus Christ. G OA L #2: L I S T E N TO G O D The mission and teachings of the Church are perennial; how, though, do we best accomplish that mission today? Better than our own plans or best ideas, we realized that we must listen to and discern God's voice allowing him to be the "planner" in our archdiocese, surrendering each step of the way to the Holy Spirit who is the principal agent of all renewal. In order to truly listen to the Holy Spirit during both the parish and archdiocesan-wide discernment gather- ings in early 2022, we knew that we would need to first have clarity on why the Church exists and what the mis- sion of Jesus is — we would need to know the story. More straightforwardly, we would need to "re-acquire a biblical worldview." That is why, from the Feast of Christ the King through Christmas, Archbishop Aquila invited the entire Archdiocese of Denver to "go on retreat" together. Delivered over five Sunday homilies, launching on the Feast of Christ the King and then through unpacking the Gospel over the four Sundays of Advent, all priests in the Archdiocese of Denver delivered the kerygma to the faithful in their parishes as part of their homilies. These homilies and related reflection questions were intended to open our ears and hearts to the Holy Spirit, as Christ did on the Road to Emmaus, so that we might see and hear clearly and encounter him anew. There was the conviction that we could not truly listen to God until we, as an arch- diocese, had the clarity on his mission. Once we completed the process of encounter with the Lord through the proclamation of the kerygma, we focused on further preparation and formation of the parish representatives who would attend our Archdioce- san Discernment Event in March 2022. The parish repre- sentatives and their pastors hosted Parish Discernment Gatherings throughout the month of February 2022. PA R I S H D I S CE R N M E N T G AT H E R I N G FO R M AT All Parish Discernment Gatherings, whether hosted at parishes or in other locations, were asked to provide quality time for silent prayer, preferably in front of the Blessed Sacrament. This prayer time happened either once at the start of the gathering or before discussing each of the questions. Following prayer, facilitators would lead small group discussions asking participants to share what they heard in prayer regarding each of the three questions. Scribes were selected to write down the responses of the participants, which were then collected by the parish representatives. D I S CE R N M E N T Q U E S TI O N S Three questions were discerned at the local Parish Discernment Gatherings asking what the Holy Spirit is saying to us about the mission of the disciple, the mis- sion of the parish, and the mission of the Archdiocese of Denver. Parishes then provided reports of what they heard the Holy Spirit saying through their gatherings which were submitted to the Synod Team and were used to pre- pare the Archdiocesan-wide Discernment Event, which took place March 25-27, 2022. In the lead up to the event, Archbishop Aquila invited the faithful to join in a prayer of the Surrender Novena which ended on March 25, 2022, for the intention of our synodal process. A R CH D I O CE S A N D I S CE R N M E N T E V E N T FO R M AT Representatives from across the Archdiocese of Denver gathered at a hotel in Broomfield, Colorado for three days of prayer and discernment conversations between March 25 and March 27, 2022. On March 25, 2022, Archbishop Aquila opened our Archdiocesan Discernment Event with a Mass. During the Mass, in unity with the Holy Father, he also performed a consecration of Russia and the whole world to the Immac- ulate Heart of Mary. We do not think it was a coincidence that the Holy Father invited bishops to join him in this consecration on 6 SEPTEMBER 2022 | DENVER CATHOLIC

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