Synod

 

The multiple small group Synodal listening sessions that took place last year produced valuable feedback about the priorities of the Parish and School Community. The major themes included Strengthening our Community; The Role of Women in the Church; Liturgy and Prayer Life; Social Justice and Service; Religious Education and Continuing Faith Formation; and Youth Engagement. These themes mirror our ONE OLL process started back in 2018. To learn more about this and what we have built HERE.

To further the listening and discernment process essential to formulate change and achieve improvement in these areas, there will be a series of Town Hall Gatherings which will be open to all of our members both in person and by zoom. The Town Hall series will begin just after Easter 2023 and continue through this calendar year and into early 2024. There may be multiple gatherings for some or even all of the themes in order to facilitate full access and participation.

 

The inaugural Town Hall just after Easter will be “Strengthening Our Community”. With the very recent announcement of the Archdiocesan Plan "Partners in the Gospel" which will create new groupings of parishes, we want to provide a place for listening and discerning about that major change as we reflect on the special community at OLL. Sign Up for the Synod Town Halls HERE

Our Lady of the Lake Parish took the Synod Listening process seriously and invited current and former parishioners to participate in group sessions both in-person and remotely as well as individual in-person and remote meetings. At Our Lady of the Lake over 200 individuals in 21 group sessions contributed their responses to the key questions: 

 

“How is this “journeying together” happening today in your local Church?” and “What steps does the Holy Spirit invite us to take in order to grow in our “journeying together”?” 

 

In the Seattle Archdiocese, there were over 1,000 sessions that included 11,000 people and 93% of parishes participated. At Our Lady of the Lake, the groups included, current parishioners, the Bible Study group, parents of young people enrolled in public, private and Catholic schools, young adults, Our Lady of the Lake School 7th and 8th grade students, home-bound parishioners, members of the Executive Board and individuals who have stepped away from the Catholic Church. Each session began with an opening prayer that we also prayed at Mass each Sunday during the Spring. A reading from Luke about the Apostles walking to Emmaus after Jesus’ Crucifixion helped us focus on the journey of faith we are all taking. All participants respectfully listened to each other and set an atmosphere of openness and trust. Individuals opened their hearts and spoke with deep conviction of the steps needed to grow in our journeying together. On May 6th a summary report of the main themes from the Listening Sessions was sent to the Seattle Archdiocese. Our full report was over 20 pages long. In July, the Archdiocese released their synthesized report of parish synod sessions. We were pleasantly surprised that their report mirrored much of what surfaced at OLL. 

 

Please find below the Synthesized Synod's Reports from our local Archdiocese, Regionally and Nationally