Bishop Homily to Open Synod

My dear brother priests and deacons, religious sisters, parish representatives from throughout the Diocese of Worcester, parishioners of St. Paul Cathedral Parish and all my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord.

“The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will instruct you in everything and will remind you of all that I told you” (Jn 14:26).

With the celebration of this Mass of the Holy Spirit, we solemnly begin our diocesan synodal process in preparation for the XVI Synod of Bishops that will take place in the city of Rome during October, 2023. The theme of that synod, a theme that will guide and inform our own diocesan synodal process, is: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission.”

In the documents sent to every Bishop of the world with guidance on how to conduct our diocesan synodal process, great emphasis was placed on exhorting the People of God in the Diocese of Worcester to listen attentively to the voice of the Holy Spirit calling us, every member of the Church, to become missionary disciples of Christ bringing the Good News of Our Lord Jesus Christ to a world that is in desperate need of the Lord’s message of hope and salvation.

As part of the Entrance Rite of today’s Mass, the deacon solemnly enthroned the Book of the Gospels in the sanctuary, and I incensed that book because it bears the Revelation of God to His people of all times and places. During the months ahead as we gather in fraternal dialogue and communion to further the mission of the Catholic Church in our beloved diocese, we must listen attentively and with devotion to the Word of God, to this ever old but ever new Divine Revelation as it directs us on the path of holiness of life that leads to our Father’s House in Heaven.

Our Catholic faith teaches us that the Most High Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. During the height of the COVID virus pandemic, I directed that our Churches be closed and that public Masses could not be celebrated in these sacred temples of the loving God. It was one of the most difficult decisions I had to make during my seventeen years as your Bishop. It was like entering into an eighteen month Eucharistic fast that left us spiritually hungry and profoundly saddened. One of my dreams for our diocesan synodal process is that it will result in a rekindling in the heart and souls of our Catholic people, a renewed love for the Mass and a fervent desire to come every Sunday to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with our brothers and sisters in the faith for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. The parish church is the very heart of every Catholic parish and without our weekly reception of the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion, we will not have the spiritual determination nor the joyful commitment to strive with the grace of the Eucharist and the power of the Holy Spirit to renew our homes, our neighborhoods, our cities, our society and indeed our world.

I have every confidence that as our diocesan synodal process unfolds in our parishes we will discern that the three hallmarks of the synodal process, Communion, Participation and Mission, have been in progress in the Diocese of Worcester since the closing and implementation of the Second Vatican Council. Every parish council meeting, every parish finance meeting, every Diocesan Planning Committee meeting, every religious education class, every Lenten parish mission, every time a parish feeds the poor through its food kitchens, every time one of our parish free medical centers care for those in need of health care, all these pastoral initiatives have been an experience of the synodal process. The Christian life itself is the daily journey of walking together with our fellow Catholics toward the hope of future glory in heaven where we will spend an eternity in the presence of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and in the communion and fellowship of all who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. It is this hope of future glory that is rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we enthroned at the beginning of the Holy Mass and it is this hope of future glory that is sustained by the reception of the sacraments of the Church, most especially by the sacramental gift of the Holy Eucharist.

And so now, my dear friends, we begin our mission to rebuild our Diocese and our Church, to renew and to cherish the precious gift of our Catholic faith and to work with God’s all-powerful grace to make our parishes communities of vibrant faith and welcoming places where the Lord God dwells among his Holy People. And so with profound and enthusiastic faith, we cry out this morning in earnest prayer: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and renew the face of the world.” Amen.

Opening Mass of the
Diocesan Synodal Process
Cathedral of St. Paul
Worcester, MA
October 17, 2021