Summer activities to renew the soul

We hope your summer includes some restful days with friends and family – and your community of discerning deacons! In the midst of many national and global challenges, we invite you to several Discerning Deacons virtual summer activities intended to renew the soul and ignite hope.

We invite you to join us next Monday, July 14 at 3-4:30 pm ET / 12-1:30 pm PT for Preaching God’s Narrative: Caring for Creation and Becoming Pilgrims of Hope. On this Feast of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, this formation session will equip preachers and Ministers of the Word with tools and narratives that bridge the Sacred Word to the Cries of the People and the Cries of the Earth, animating the People of God to act in hope and care for our common home. Our guest speakers include Diana Marin from Catholic Climate Covenant (CCC), Sr. Laura Vicuña from the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA), and Rev. Dr. Leah Schade at Lexington Theological Seminary in Lexington, Kentucky. Register here.

Later in July, join us on Wednesday, July 30, 3-4 pm ET / 12-1 pm PT for St. Phoebe, Deacon, and the Women Who Followed Christ in Ministry presented by Sr. Donna Ciangio, OP, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Newark and renowned pastoral leader. Sr. Donna is passionate about St. Phoebe and the role of women in the early Church. Through presentations nationwide, she has illuminated the rich history of women disciples, leaders, and preachers, helping to ground today’s conversations about women’s participation in the Church. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn and be inspired! Register here.

Mark your calendar for Wednesday, September 3 at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT for the Feast of St. Phoebe Prayer & Celebration. During this evening of prayer, testimony, and witness, we will pray for St. Phoebe’s intercession for our synodal, diaconal church, lift up communities from around the world preparing their own St. Phoebe Day celebrations throughout the month, celebrate the good news of our new Church teaching elevating women’s leadership in Paragraph 60 of the Synod’s Final Document, and go forth to bring the good news of St. Phoebe and Paragraph 60 to our communities. Register here as an individual or as an organization.

Finally, for a summer read, we recommend Pathways for the Implementation Phase of the Synod 2025 – 2028, published this week by the Office of the Synod. Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod, reminds us that in a world caught up in a spiral of violence, it is the urgency of the Church’s mission to build bridges, encourage dialogue, and promote peace that drives us to implement the Synod. Pathways invites us to imagine how we can receive and implement the Synod’s Final Document in our local churches.

Women’s access to positions of responsibility and continuing the discernment about women and the diaconate is central to our work of creating pathways/caminos to becoming a synodal, prophetic Church on mission.