Here at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in San Diego, CA, we uplifted the witness of St. Phoebe and raised awareness of the ongoing synodal process on September 23, 2023 at our community’s Saturday Vigil liturgy in Spanish. Prior to our celebration, a group of female parishioners and staff members at OLG joined together to plan and discuss sharing St. Phoebe with our community. A key emphasis of our celebration was on the global Synod process, and we also had a guest speaker from the local diocese speak about the current state of the Synod in our local community. She shared that, among other key concerns that arose as a part of the synodal listening sessions, many in our community uplifted the role of women in our local Church as a key area of concern and interest for our local synodal journey. Together, we were glad to have this time to uplift women in our own parish community, share the story of St. Phoebe, and to continue to pray and learn about the ongoing Synod process. 

We advertised our celebration on social media and in the community more broadly prior to our liturgy. At the start of celebration, our priest celebrant set the context for our liturgy by providing information about the history of St. Phoebe and her role in the early Church. Additionally, throughout the liturgy, women served in multiple key liturgical roles, such as serving as lectors and Eucharistic ministers. The music for our celebration together was selected specifically for our celebration, as it uplifted women and highlighted our process of journeying together. 

As a part of our celebration, our parish Youth Minister, Lupita Perez, was blessed and sent forth by our priest celebrant and our community as she prepared to travel to Rome the following month for the General Assembly of the Synod. This moment was deeply meaningful as we together uplifted and joined with Lupita in prayer, grateful for the opportunity for her to bring our community’s hopes and prayers with her on her journey. 

Overall, our celebration was welcomed by our community, and community members were glad to learn more about St. Phoebe and to learn about the current status of the ongoing Synod in our diocese. 

Following our celebration, members of the planning team answered questions from attendees and took photos with those who were supportive of our celebration or who heard about our celebration from our outreach prior. Our community is deeply grateful for the opportunity to not only celebrate St. Phoebe, but further for this opportunity to uplift women in our community and to continue to learn about and to pray for the ongoing Synod.