The Path We Walk

We Are Listening

Parish Visits:

Parish visits to all 62 parish homes in the City of Baltimore and those just beyond the border in Baltimore County have been fruitful opportunities to actively listen and capture the voices of many people who love their churches in the City.

Parish Listening Sessions:

Parish Listening sessions held at each parish have been an empowering opportunity to hear from parishioners through open discussions with friends, neighbors, and families who are invited to join in and fellowship with intentional sharing of their hopes and vision for their church in the City.

Survey Launch:

Online and paper Surveys (offered in English, Spanish, French, Polish, Vietnamese and Tagalog) will be launched in April as another way to capture the sharing of as many minds, hearts, and voices as possible.

Seek the City to Come:

The Process

LISTEN
(9-12 Months)

Right From the Start We Are Listening.

We will thoughtfully:

Visit 62 campuses and speak with pastors & parochial leaders
Hold 4 in-person and 2 virtual Open Prayerful Discussions
Launch and analyze a survey accessible online and on paper
Meet with 13 Mission & Ministry Groups

And then we will share back what was heard and learned with all:

Reconnect with pastors and parishes
Additional 2 open Prayerful discussions
Meet again with 13 Mission & Ministry Groups

ENVISION
(4-6 Months)

How do we re-imagine the Church in Baltimore fully alive and rebuild toward the future?

We will invite parishioners and leadership to take a comprehensive look at the Catholic presence using the information gathered.

6 Prayerful discussions will encourage all to envision a renewal of Christ’s light in Baltimore
Aligned workshops with Archdiocesan leadership and some Mission & Ministry Groups will explore the same questions as the Prayerful discussions

DISCERN
(4-6 Months)

This is a time for discernment.

Draft recommendations will be shared out with all. Everyone will be invited to consider their potential impact for the Church to realize its evangelizing mission.

6 Prayerful discussions welcome feedback in both in-person and virtual formats
13 Mission & Ministry Group sessions review the recommendations from a variety of viewpoints
Online and paper survey expands access to all the faithful and those impacted

A PATH
FORWARD

Finalized recommendations for marshaling resources to do the work of the Gospel as a model for evangelization in Baltimore.

We will then together begin the challenging work of implementing the recommendations from this process.

2 Prayerful discussions allow for questions and deeper understanding of the recommendations
Conversations with some Mission & Ministry Groups will examine how to best continue engagement as the journey moves towards implementation of the recommendations

Guiding Texts

Revelation 21: 3-5

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them [as their God]. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, [for] the old order has passed away.” The one who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then he said, “Write these words down, for they are trustworthy and true.”

Evangelii Gaudium 27

I dream of a “missionary option,” that is, a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation. The renewal of structures demanded by pastoral conversion can only be understood in this light: as part of an effort to make them more mission-oriented, to make ordinary pastoral activity on every level more inclusive and open, to inspire in pastoral workers a constant desire to go forth and in this way to elicit a positive response from all those whom Jesus summons to friendship with himself. As John Paul II once said to the Bishops of Oceania: “All renewal in the Church must have mission as its goal if it is not to fall prey to a kind of ecclesial introversion.”

Evangelii Nuntiandi 18

For the Church, evangelizing means bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new: “Now I am making the whole of creation new.” But there is no new humanity if there are not first of all new persons renewed by Baptism and by lives lived according to the Gospel. The purpose of evangelization is therefore precisely this interior change, and if it had to be expressed in one sentence the best way of stating it would be to say that the Church evangelizes when she seeks to convert, solely through the divine power of the message she proclaims, both the personal and collective consciences of people, the activities in which they engage, and the lives and concrete milieu which are theirs.

Seek the City to Come (HEB 13:14)

A Listening Process

REFLECTIONS

FAQ

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