Listening sessions for Synod 2023 are currently being conducted at St. Agnes Catholic Church and on Zoom. Courtesy photo

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Last October, Pope Francis publicly declared he was “shamed” by the Roman Catholic Church’s failure to appropriately deal with the staggering cases of child abuse caused by Catholic clergy members. Based on the results from a John Jay College study, four percent of priests in the church, serving from 1950-2002, have been accused of sexual abuse. And, because the church has historically swept cases like this under the rug, the perpetrators have essentially been allowed to continue emotionally and physically harming thousands of innocent children around the globe.

The result of these crimes and the loss of congregants due to them, is one of the reasons Pope Francis requested parishes around the globe to take part in assisting with Synod 2023.

“In October of 2021, Pope Francis asked for us to conduct listening sessions in our communities. The results from those listening sessions will then be sent to the Vatican, which will then be one of many considered in the Vatican’s 2023 Synod,” said St. Agnes Catholic Church parishioner Eileen Elliott.

According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, a synod is “a local or provincial assembly of bishops and other church officials meeting to resolve questions of discipline or administration.” Elliott said Synod 2023 will likely address how the church needs to change, with recognition of its failures in preventing and properly dealing with child abuse.

“The church has had all of those scandals with the priests who were pedophiles,” Elliott said. “Pope Francis wanted people from around the world to meet — not just Catholic people. He wants to hear from people on the periphery — people who used to go to church, people who irregularly go to church, things like that. What we’re hoping for, internationally, is that our church could be updated and brought into a modern world through this. “

The listening sessions St. Agnes is conducting, are being led by trained facilitators, in-person and on Zoom. Each group in a listening session has around five participants, who are each given a minute-and-a-half to give their perspective on each of 10 different topics. A focus on following respectful communication guidelines has helped the groups remain cordial.

“I think it’s going to be more relevant to our church, more immediate, what we’ve learned from this,” Elliott said, mentioning she got involved in this, because of her background as a counselor. “We need to close our eyes and listen to the Holy Spirit and try to find some core agreement with one another. That’s what I hope we’ll get to see happening in our church.”

Elliott is one of the coordinators, along with fellow parishioner Helen Harris and mentor Eileen Dooley, to help keep the listening session results and their 25 facilitators organized. She encourages community members of all ages to sign up to give their input in a listening session, at https://stagnesshepherdstown.org/.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance, that the pope is actually asking us to speak to him. So I thought this was important, for us to be able to try to listen to the people [for him],” Elliott said, mentioning the need for change is reflected in her parish’s population demographics. “Really, there aren’t that many young people. They leave the church. My own kids did! So it’s about finding out what they liked about it, what they didn’t like about it. What would you like to tell the pope about what’s going on?”