September 18, 2022: From the Pastor’s Desk

Dear Parishioners,

We live in a very exciting time as the universal Church prepares for the convening in Rome of the “Synod on Synodality: Communion, Participation, Mission” in October 2023. The bishops of the world, along with lay colleagues, will meet to discuss the nature of the church as a collaborative body and how we walk together – bishops, priests, religious, and laypeople – united in our desire to care for the Catholic Church and those whom the church serves. More than an issue of governance in the church, the invitation of Pope Francis is to discern who we are as a church and how best we can accomplish the mission entrusted to us by Jesus Christ in the context of today’s world.

The discernment process in preparation for the Synod was begun on the diocesan level. Each diocese was invited to submit to the Vatican a report of what it learned through listening to the voices of those who participated in the process. Those reports will become the foci of deliberations in next year’s General Assembly in Rome.

While not a constitutive part of the discernment process for the Synod, we undertook a similar journey in 2019 that resulted in the drafting of a Vision Statement that was published and distributed to all parishioners in February of this year. Similar to what was happening at the diocesan level, listening sessions were held in the Spring, providing everyone the opportunity to offer their reflections on the Vision Statement. Following those sessions, I was delighted to report that a significant majority of parishioners endorsed the Vision Statement and its corresponding recommendations for its implementation.

At the beginning of the summer, I wrote in a letter published in the parish bulletin and e-newsletter asking for your prayers as we continue our planning process and that you consider participating in one of four working groups to draft action plans that would set the course for the implementation of the Vision Statement. To refresh your memory, the four strategic elements of the Vision Statement are: 1. We Welcome All. 2. We Worship With Joy. 3. We Walk Together With Those In Need. 4. We Reverence God In The Wonder of Creation. For the full text of the Vision Statement and its corresponding recommendations, refer to the parish website ignatius.nyc/vision-statement.

 Now it is time to get to work and bring our strategic planning process to fruition so we may begin to live what we profess to be, as members of this parish. Please contact me by email, [email protected], or telephone at 212-288-3588 to discuss with me your willingness to serve on one of the four implementation committees.

May the Holy Spirit continue to guide us as we work together as a parish to build the kingdom of God in our corner of the world, and may all that we do now and in the future redound to the greater glory of God.

Sincerely in the Lord,

Fr. Yesalonia