Time To Speak Up: Parishes, schools to gather input for diocese’s first synod
By Kathleen Ogle
Managing Editor
Speak Up . . . We’re Listening Sessions have been scheduled in almost all parishes and schools throughout the Diocese of Metuchen during January and early February (see schedule, next page). Many parishes are holding more than one of these sessions and active members are being encouraged to invite inactive Catholics who are neighbors and friends to participate.
“The bishop is going to be listening to anyone in the diocese who wants to who speak up about being a Catholic and what they think the diocese can do to make their Catholic experience better,” explains Msgr. William Benwell, vicar general and chair, Synod Preparatory Commission.
In an effort to reach the greatest number of people, some sessions will be bilingual, and others specifically for youth or senior citizens. Sessions have also been
designed to be facilitated by those involved with prison ministry. Plans are currently in the works to make it possible for anyone who cannot physically attend a Speak Up Session to participate via the synod Web site, www.diometuchen.org/synod/.
“Anyone attending a Speak Up Session can expect a prayerful and hospitable atmosphere,” said Peg Garvey-Mitchell, who designed the Speak Up Session process and trained more than 200 facilitators.
“They can also expect to participate in a process that will give them ample time to talk about how they feel about being Catholic and their vision for the future of the Diocese of Metuchen,” she said.
The process is designed so that participants first share with one other person and then gather with two other pairs to have their thoughts and ideas recorded by a scribe. “Scribes have been trained to write down exactly what has been said without editing or interpreting,” explained Garvey-Mitchell.
Names of participants will not be recorded. All input will be summarized and sent to the diocese where it will be used to identify key topics that will be discussed in more detail during Phase II of the Speak Up process. It is anticipated that six topical areas will be studied and discussed by synod delegates when they meet during the Fall of 2006.
Garvey-Mitchell, an expert in small-group dynamics, designed the sessions so that a large number of people could participate while still having a meaningful personal experience of being heard.
“There has been a lot of thought and care given to creating a process where all people would be comfortable speaking up,” she said.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law