Newly ordained Auxiliary Bishop Michael Woost is in Rome attending the formation course for new bishops. As his time permits, he plans to send photos and regular updates on the program. Below is the first installment.
Greetings from Rome!
I left Cleveland on Sunday morning, Sept. 11, to fly to Philadelphia as the first leg of my Roman journey. In Philadelphia, I met up with Bishop David Bonnar, bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown, and Bishop Mark Eckman, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Our overseas flight left Philadelphia around 7 p.m. Sunday evening. We arrived in Rome at 9 a.m. Monday, Sept. 12, for the beginning of the Vatican’s annual course of formation for new bishops -- or as it is affectionately called, “Baby Bishops’ School.”
This week, 180 bishops from around the world are gathered at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, which is a seminary and university administered by the Legionaries of Christ outside of Rome. The bishops are from Eastern and Western Europe, North and South America, Australia and Southeast Asia. They represent five different language groups: Spanish (being the largest), Portuguese, Italian, French and English. Last week, 150 bishops were here for the same formation. Since this program was suspended during the COVID pandemic, the Vatican is using this month to catch up on the past couple of years.
After getting settled at the Regina Apostolorum, Bishop Bonnar, Bishop Eckman and I made a trip into Rome and Vatican City to have lunch and spend a couple of hours walking through the streets and exploring the religious goods stores. We encountered a number of other new bishops who also had arrived in Rome early and had the same idea.
The Dicastery of Bishops, which is organizing this conference, will be offering presentations this week on the theme, “To Announce the Gospel in the Changing Epoch and After the Pandemic: The Service of Bishops.” The conference officially opened at 7 p.m. Monday with a celebration of Evening Prayer, Eucharistic adoration and benediction in the chapel of the Legionaries of Christ. This was followed by dinner at 8 p.m., which provided a great opportunity for meeting many of the bishops in attendance.
Tuesday’s (Sept. 13) schedule began at 7:30 a.m. with Mass combined with Morning Prayer. Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendoҫa presided and preached at the liturgy, which was primarily in Italian with some Latin ritual prayers and a couple of English hymns. Breakfast followed at 8:30 a.m.
From 10-11:15 a.m., we gathered in an auditorium for a panel presentation on “The Ministry of the Bishop in the Context of the Synodal Way of the Church – Significance and Horizons of a Synodal Church.” The presenters included Cardinal Mario Grech, Bishop Luis Marin de San Martin, OSA, and Sister Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ. Both have leadership roles in guiding the Vatican’s synodal process. Each of the presenters reflected for 20-25 minutes on various aspects of what it means to be a synodal Church, how the synod process is already bearing fruit in local dioceses and the universal Church, the importance of gathering people from all walks of life and listening to their experiences of Church and society today, the significance of accompanying individuals and communities in their faith journeys and discerning the movement of the Holy Spirit in this process, and the unique role that bishops have in facilitating the work of the synod.
I found the presenters’ reflections to be insightful and thought provoking.
While an attempt to summarize their rich remarks in a short paragraph seems almost impossible, I do want to share some highlights. They emphasized the need for all of us to recognize the synodal process as an inspiration of the Spirit for our age. Every member of the Church – baptized faithful, religious congregations and clergy – are necessary contributors to the overall process. They gave particular attention to the voice of the baptized stressing that authentic discernment only arises from listening to everyone, especially those who seem to exist at the margins of the Church and society. While this may cause some to feel uneasy, as if the nature of the Church is changing, they stressed that such listening -- which can be an arduous and time-consuming task -- is not about simply identifying and following the popular opinions of the day or moving toward majority rule. Rather, it is an essential aspect of the hard work of discernment and accompaniment, guided by the Gospel message and the deposit of faith. They noted that such discernment and accompaniment will require both spiritual and pastoral conversion on the part of every member of the Church, including bishops, if we are to recognize and respond to the Spirit’s guidance and the will of God. For bishops, we were told, this will mean remaining close to God, to the College of Bishops with the Holy Father, to the local presbyterate, and to the people. It means being a shepherd who is compassionate, tender, merciful and self-sacrificing, like the image of the Good Samaritan and Christ himself.
Synodality is a process in which the whole Church is presently engaged. Cardinal Grech indicated that 111 national conferences of bishops out of 114 worldwide already submitted the findings and insights of their local dioceses. In order for this process to be grace-filled, it will require that the whole Church – that is, all of its members – are willing to exercise patience, perseverance and prayerfulness. Contemplative attentiveness to the Holy Spirit, we were told, requires a willingness to listen and to speak, to enter into both silence and conversation so that true discernment may lead to the embracing of God’s will for the Church in our time. In the end, the hope is that the synodal process, supported by the bishops, will result in a renewal of the Church’s life and energize all its members to engage in the mission of evangelization.
The talks by the three presenters were given in three different languages – Italian, Spanish and French – with simultaneous translation provided to each of the various language groups via Zoom. After the presentations, we had a 30-minute break and then, a question and answer period ensued for about 45 minutes.
We enjoyed a great lunch at p.m. and then, a two-hour respite from meetings.
This afternoon’s activities resumed at 4 p.m. with Evening Prayer and the gathering of bishops into small discussion language groups to further reflect on what we heard this morning. I was in a group of 12 bishops representing dioceses in the Philippines, Australia and the United States. We began by discussing our experience of the synodal process in our local dioceses and ended with talking about the role of the bishop in supporting the ongoing work of the synod, which is to promote dialogue, understanding, discernment and communion within our local faith communities. This conversation took place over the course of 90 minutes. Afterward, we gathered in the auditorium once again for a final conversation with the cardinal prefect at which most of the language groups reported on the content of their conversations.
After this, we concluded the day with dinner at 8 p.m.
Until tomorrow (Sept. 14), know that I am keeping all of you in prayer and remembering our diocesan community in the celebration of the Eucharist here in Rome.