Part 2, Day 3, 10/25/25: The day starts with a procession through the Holy Door. Every quarter century the Catholic Church celebrates a Jubilee Year. Part of the tradition is to walk through the door of a cathedral or basilica to reconnect with Jesus, who declared “I AM the Gate.” (John 10:7) and with the Church as our home. In procession we sing a Litany of the Saints and travel through the basement of St. Peter’s en route to the beautiful carved front door.
Then the 2,000 pilgrims divide into small groups for a Conversation in the Spirit. My group is twelve people from the Philippines, Bahrain, England, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the US (FL, NM, AL and PA). I am encouraged to find that all over the world, synodality is indeed being implemented. It may have started late in some places, like the US, but once people begin, they are changed! In my joy, I learn to trust. After all, “what comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped.” (FD 60)
Two other high points of the day for me are two workshops I attend. During “Reconciling Synodality,” presenter, Jacques Haers, S.I., depicts Jesus’ entire ministry as synodal reconciliation. “God wants reconciliation and the reconnecting of every thing that is.” Fr. Haers shares a method for developing our capacity to forgive and be forgiven. The participants try out a mini-version of this process. I especially appreciate the notion of finding the next small, possible step, which involves giving over to God who makes the impossible possible.
The second workshop is “A New Way of Pastoral Planning That Promotes Synodal Transformation.” Speaker, Dr. Christina Kheng of the Philippines, gently but persistently stresses that strategic planning becomes synodal only when we take time to build relationships with one another in an inclusive community.
