Rebuilding our Church by renewing diakonia

Many thanks to the more than 1,000 people and the half dozen watch parties who participated in our April 29th webinar Discerning Diakonia! We welcomed participants from the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia. If you were not able to join us, you can watch the recording here in English or Spanish.  

Several members of the Synod Assembly joined us as a listening presence, including Deacon Geert de Cubber, Belgium; Drs. Cynthia Bailey Manns and Tricia Bruce, U.S.; Sr. Elizabeth Davis, RSM, Canada; Sr. Maria de los Dolores Palencia, CSJ, Mexico, and Sr. Daniela Cannavina, CMR, Colombia. They modeled for all of us the synodal leadership of a Church that listens actively during this time of global discernment about how to deepen our communion, participation and mission. 

We thank witnesses for their authenticity and their vulnerability as they shared poignant testimonies of how they are living out diakonia in their lives – Rosella Kinoshameg, AnnaMarie Pacione, Lonnie Ellis, and Aimee Shelide-Mayer. You can listen to their witness testimonies here as you reflect on the vision of a prophetic diaconate for a co-responsible Church and the impact it would have for you, your discipleship, your loved ones or the people you serve if women were part of the order of deacons. 

We are grateful to our 28 Participating Organizations which included organizations of priests, provinces, and religious who are deeply immersed in questions of formation and mission. Other organizations are committed to evangelizing young people by helping them to discover a meaningful path to walk on – often through the Church’s social mission of accompanying those on the peripheries. Some are renewing the Church by helping people to deepen their spiritual practices. Still others are building bridges across cultures and continents. A common thread across all these organizations is diakonia. A consensus is emerging that we want to witness to a God who came not to be served, but to serve.