CONNECTICUT
News Times
There’s no need to worry if you don’t understand what it means that the Bridgeport Diocese is convening a synod. My entire academic education was in Catholic schools, and I accepted an invitation to have it clarified for me at the Catholic Center in Bridgeport last week. For that matter, church leaders within the diocesan nerve center acknowledge they are still working out the fine details.
If poorly executed, a synod could be perceived as just another closed-door process. So far, this one is being defined by dialogue, by an effort to create transparency through the stained-glass window.
The process is modeled on Pope Francis’ synod on the issue of the family. The Bridgeport Diocese synod began with a listening session at Trinity Catholic High School in Stamford on May 5, with the results to be revealed Sept. 19, 2015 at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport. The synod will draw input from clergy, consecrated women, parishioners at the 82 churches in the diocese, teenagers and many others to advise Bishop Frank Caggiano on how to — in his words — “make our Church more responsive to our current needs and to plan our future together.” He has called the dialogue a “freewheeling experience.”
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