Archdiocese Synod 2022 – Year 3

Just this past July 1, we entered a year dedicated to reclaiming Sundays for the Lord as the next step of the implementation of our 2022 pastoral letter. This will lead into “Year 3-B,” beginning in July 2026, which I pray will begin a cultural shift to equip parents to fulfill more fully their role as primary educators of their children in the faith.

I see each of these efforts impacting everyday life in the Archdiocese going forward.

With hope for the future, I am now looking ahead to seeing how God wants to bless us even more fully through the fruits of our most recent synod. On June 7, 2025, the Vigil of Pentecost, 409 lay faithful, clergy and religious from across our archdiocesan parishes and various apostolates came together with our auxiliary bishops and me at Cretin-Derham Hall and the Cathedral for the Synod 2025: Be My Witnesses Assembly. That day we focused on the eight top remaining vote-getting propositions in Synod 2022 that were not selected back then for immediate implementation. You can view all of the Synod 2022 Propositions in the Appendix of my pastoral letter, You Will Be My Witnesses.

Through prayer, sharing, listening, dialogue and voting, each of these 409 members shared with me where they felt the Lord was leading our Archdiocese in the coming years. Throughout the next months, I will be analyzing and praying with the voting results and with the more than 3,000 comments we received on June 7, trusting in the Holy Spirit. Once I have discerned and sought the counsel of others for implementation, I hope to release a short pastoral letter to guide us from the last phase of You Will Be My Witnesses implementation into the first phase of whatever comes next. While I have not yet discerned what those next priorities will be, I am happy to share with you that the three Propositions with the highest vote totals were: Discipleship in Daily Life; Adult Formation; and Welcoming & Hospitality.

I also shared with the Synod Members that my vision for this archdiocese is to continue the practice of “walking together” in synodality for years to come. I am already committed to convening another Synod. While no final date or duration has been set, I did ask the members to vote on their preference: the results resoundingly suggested another that we should hold another one-day synod three years from now.

Keep in mind all of this important planning activity coincides with the ongoing implementation efforts that came forth from Synod 2022. It is my deep desire that you, as Catholics in this archdiocese, continue in— or join— a small group, centered on Christ’s great commission and his call to us to evangelize. I encourage you to pray regularly, particularly at Mass, the highest form of prayer our faith affords us. My hope is that through prayer we will enter ever more deeply into the mystery and beauty of what is really happening in the sanctuary and in the pews.

I also encourage you to check out a very practical “Guide to Reclaiming Sundays for the Lord,” a month-by-month framework for how everyone in our archdiocese—from parents, to children, to single adults, both young and old—can take simple, practical steps toward reclaiming Sunday as the Lord’s Day as a much-needed day for peace and rest in our archdiocese, our country and our world—giving the best that we have to our Lord. We know that if we desire to reclaim the culture of family, we need to reclaim worship in our homes—because the underlying current of culture is worship. You can find this resource guide on our website and watch for monthly video releases complementing this guide with real-life stories from our parishes, ideal for use in our small groups or independently in your home.

My dear sisters and brothers, you and I were created “for a time such as this,” to do our part in this important time of renewal in our Archdiocesan history. I look forward to learning where the Spirit next moves within each one of you—and in this archdiocese.

Most Reverend Bernard A. Hebda