At Church of the Ascension in Minneapolis, Minnesota, we celebrated St. Phoebe in Mass by introducing her to our community through narrative, song and prayer. We told some of her story at the beginning of Mass, and then St. Phoebe was mentioned again both during the homily and in a witness testimony from a parishioner. The Mass parts, including the hymns and prayers of the faithful all uplifted St. Phoebe and women’s ministry in the Church. Most engaging, however, was the event held after Mass in which we shared about the life and ministry of St. Phoebe, highlighted the global Synod, and participated in the synodal listening process using questions from Instrumentum Laboris. 

It was so life-giving to listen to such an inspiring and powerful witness testimony, as well as to work alongside one another on our team to plan this event. There was so much good energy among the planning team and parishioners! The timing of this event in connecting the witness of St. Phoebe to the movement to rethink women’s participation in the global Synod was a perfect way to encourage our parish community to continue to pray, discern, reflect and discuss together.