2024-11-15-eEdition

PAGE 16 THE CATHOLIC WEEK NOVEMBER 15, 2024 VOCATIONS Photos courtesy of Fr. Patrick Gilbreath Archdiocese of Mobile Vocations Director Fr. Patrick Gilbreath recently visited Archdiocese of Mobile seminarians currently studying at St. Joseph Seminary College in Covington, La., (above) and St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in Indiana (below). By MARIAWIERING OSV News Julia McStravog compares these days immedi- ately following the end of the Synod on Synodal- ity's second assembly to a "bye week" in football — a period of rest and recollection before the work continues. The synod's 400-some participants from six con- tinents, including more than 350 voting delegates, have just spent four weeks in Rome and Vatican City. In the days following the closing Mass Oct. 27, they traveled home, reacclimating to their typi- cal routines and responsibilities. After completing their work and approving the synod's final document, this transition time "gives this space that's necessary for the learning, the thinking, the understanding, the contemplation, the discernment — and also just giving their brains a break," McStravog told OSV News Oct. 30. "They did a whole lot of work over the past month. … Next week will be the beginning, the start of the implementation." McStravog is the U.S. Conference of Catho- lic Bishops' senior adviser for the synod, and has worked closely with the U.S. delegates as they've participated in two monthlong assemblies for the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops — the first in October 2023, and the second completed Oct. 27. She also works with diocesan leaders endeavoring to implement synodal principals in their local churches. "Even though we have this document and the synod is over, synodality is not over," McStravog said. The next steps for implementing the ideas and expectations surfaced by the Synod on Synodality begin with discerning the synod's final document, which synod delegates approved via a paragraph- by-paragraph vote Oct. 26.The final document has 155 paragraphs. "That's not a small document," McStravog said. As of Oct. 31, the only official version of the document was in Italian, with a working translation available in English. An official English translation is expected in the coming days. "The first step is going to be reading the official translation and taking that … into discernment," McStravog said. "Of course, in the U.S., we have been working and doing things at the national level this entire time, so I think we have a little bit of an idea of what that might mean. But we also want to consult with our bishops before we talk about exactly what that looks like." The U.S. bishops are expected to receive an up- date on the synod during their annual fall plenary assembly in Baltimore. McStravog, who holds a doctorate in Catholic studies with a dialogue focus from La Salle Uni- versity in Philadelphia, cautioned against expecta- tions that the synod will result in major immediate changes in the U.S. church. "It's going to take a long time to implement a document as long and as complex as this, and to really continue to feed the work that's been hap- pening on the ground and at the local churches and parishes in the diocese, and how to support that, too," she said. SYNOD ON SYNODALITY What's the future of synodality? By JUSTINMCLELLAN Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY —The guiding principle of love extolled by Jesus cuts through confusion around how to uphold God's commandments to humanity, Pope Francis said. Reflecting Nov. 3 on the day's Gospel reading from St. Mark in which Jesus responds to the question, "Which is the first of all the commandments?" the pope said, "Jesus gives us the answer, putting together two commandments that are the primary ones: the love of God and the love of neighbor." "This is the heart of our faith," he said before pray- ing the Angelus with visitors in St. Peter's Square. "Jesus tells us that the source of everything is love, that we must never separate God from man." Like the Jews of Jesus' time who sought truth through discussion and debate of religious teaching, "we too at times feel lost among so many things," he said. Yet, at- tempting to bring into focus the fundamental teachings of God's commandments to humanity "is essential for us, too, for our life and for the journey of our faith." Pope Francis: Love is the most important commandment