The Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit is holding a meeting to determine its priorities for the coming years. It’s called a synod, and since the Archdiocese was established in 1833, there have been only ten. The last one was in the 1960s.
Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron joined Stateside to talk about this rare gathering. He said the impetus for the Synod came from no less than Pope Francis himself.
“Pope Francis says we need to be about a new evangelization, become a band of joyful missionary disciples, and a synod is a great way to galvanize the whole diocese, to move us forward in this important goal,” Vigneron told us.
The Synod, which will take place from November 18-20 at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, came about after a year of input from the 260 parishes that comprise the Detroit Archdiocese. Vigneron said they received 11 thousand different comments and suggestions.
While evangelism is the focus of the Synod, Vigneron says it's not meant to serve as a membership campaign. Instead, he hopes it will transform the culture of the Archdiocese. “How do we change our culture away from maintenance to mission, to be a church on mission as Pope Francis says?”
Listen to our full interview with Archbishop Allen Vigneron above.
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