Submitted by Father John Kellogg
I am a retired Catholic priest assisting at St. Rita’s in Castlegar presently. I converted to the Catholic faith 50 years ago and was ordained a priest 35 years ago.
I’m pretty excited about what’s happening in my church right now. The most far-reaching event in the Catholic Church is officially underway. Our Pope has issued an invitation for you and I and everyone else to give him feedback about the Catholic church. Francis is calling all Catholics; recovering Catholics and long-ago Catholics; Catholics who have been abused, hurt, neglected, marginalized and excluded; and even Catholics who show up week after week and happily occupy a pew and participate fully in our parish community. This call is extended especially to First Nations, women, the disabled, refugees, migrants, the elderly, people who live in poverty, children and youth, people from all walks of life, including people from other Christian denominations and those of other faith traditions.
In 2023 there will be a Synod (gathering) in Rome with bishops from around the world, meeting at the Vatican to explore our Catholic Church. Unique to this gathering will be input from the laity, the common folk, anyone and everyone who wants to share their stories and ideas. What does the Catholic Church need to change and what does it need to preserve?
The vision is to engage every diocese, every bishops’ conference and every continental church body. It will unleash the biggest popular consultation in history. Everyone and anyone is invited to imagine a different future for the Church. All of God’s people are being offered an opportunity to share our stories, our inspirations, our collective wisdom.
St. Rita’s parish is embarking on this process this weekend and we invite you to be included in another way. Until the end of February, we ask anyone and everyone to share what the Holy Spirit asks of the Church at this time. Consider sending an email to stritas@shaw.ca with your thoughts and discernments and these will be included with all the other comments we receive by Feb. 28. These will be summarized for our bishops to bring to Rome when the Synod happens in 2023.
newsroom@castlegarnews.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter