Our working group completed the third year of planned activities with three Conversations in the Spirit, using as a model the conversations conducted during the Synod meetings in Rome.
Theme for two of the Conversations was Religious Liberty, Freedom, and Formation of Conscience. In the first session, held August 2024, we asked two questions: What is your understanding of religious liberty? What is your understanding of freedom of conscience? More than 40 clergy and lay people participated in the meetings. We then distributed a summary of the conclusions and general comments to the participants.
(The summary is also available to anyone who emails us for a copy: dbdoucette@yahoo.com or rlisowski91@gmail.com.)
We hosted the second set of Conversations on Religious Liberty, Freedom, and Formation of Conscience in November 2024. The questions asked this time were: (1) How do you experience your own conscience? (2) How does that relate to Church teaching in a synodal age? More than 55 registered for these Zoom sessions, again with a good mix of clergy and lay people for each. Summaries from these sessions also are available.
Our final set of Conversations was held in late April, again with more than 40 clergy and laity participating. Our topic this time examined the ongoing implementation of synodality and its emergence from Vatican II teachings. Standing on the foundation of Vatican II teachings, how do we listen to the voices of the Spirit? This connects with one of the central reasons that Pope Francis called for a synodal Church that listens to the Spirit in the voices of the people, especially the marginalized. We asked two questions to consider this theme: (1) What resources do we consult as we seek to hear the voice of the Spirit? (2) When we encounter differences among those who “hear the Spirit,” how do we embrace them synodally?