Here at St. Monica Catholic Community in Santa Monica, CA, we celebrated St. Phoebe Day on September 9th and 10th, 2023. We were proud to join with Catholic communities globally to uplift St. Phoebe, and were also glad that our celebration could raise awareness of the General Assembly of the Synod which occurred during October 2023. 

To plan our celebration we gathered a group of staff people to support us, and from there, we invited women who are involved in our community in a multitude of ways to see if they would like to offer witness statements at each mass throughout the weekend as a part of our celebration. 

We met several times as a large group to share our hopes and expectations, and we also took time together to read the scriptures of that Sunday out loud and to take some time together to highlight key themes or what stood out to us. For our second planning gathering, all women witnesses shared their reflections with one another, and we took time to provide feedback, suggestions and primarily, encouragement. Women witnesses also had the opportunity to practice sharing their witness statements in the sanctuary prior to our celebration. As we prepare for our upcoming St. Phoebe Day celebration for this September 2024, we are participating in a similar process to bring together women from our community to uplift their voices and to highlight their leadership and ministry amongst us.

At one of our celebrations, our pastor, Monsignor Lloyd Torgerson, introduced a little bit about St. Phoebe and explained the purpose of the women witness statements at our celebrations together: 

“St. Phoebe was a companion of St. Paul, the apostle. And he calls her part of the diakonia. Whether that meant that she was actually a deacon or just served in an important capacity in the early Church, she had a voice. And for so too long, my brothers and sisters, the voices of women, are not heard in this Church. And I admit that to you…and I am sorry about that. So today, at every mass, throughout our day on Sunday, after a short  little reflection from the celebrant, we’re asking one of our great women of our community to get up, and to give a reflection on the gospel.” 

Our parish created a place on our website for the information about our celebration, and for parishioners to get more information about Discerning Deacons. The webpage can be viewed here, and it also includes a recording of each witness statement from our celebration. 

Together, we were so grateful and inspired by our celebration, and we were deeply moved to bear witness to the leadership of women in our own community, all of whom have blessed us with their leadership, gifts and ministry for many years. It felt so fitting to hear them break open the word for our community at St. Phoebe Day, as they have and continue to break open God’s word and loving mission through their lives and service.