SAN DIEGO — A transformation is unfolding at nearly half of the parishes in the diocese, as lay leaders and their pastors re-imagine daily parish life and leadership.
They are bringing to life a concept initially championed in the Universal Church by Pope Francis, called synodality, and now affirmed by Pope Leo XIV.
Two events at the Diocese of San Diego in August will highlight that transformation.
On Friday evening, Aug. 21, Sister Nathalie Becquart, will offer a reflection on “Re-Imagining Parish Life in a Synodal Church.” She is the Vatican’s Undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, the office that shapes how the Catholic Church listens, discerns and implements synodality.
The following day, Sister Becquart will speak at the diocese’s third annual synod convocation, addressing clergy and lay leaders participating in the diocese’s initiative to sow synodality at its parishes. A total of 44 are now participating in the two-year-old effort — and counting.
Paulist Father John Hurley, the diocese’s synod facilitator, expects close to 400 people to attend the convocation, to be held at St. Thomas More Parish, including the 23 members of the Diocesan Commission for a Synodal Church.
The commission, launched last spring by Bishop Michael Pham, is primarily
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