Charlie Luczak is a beloved longtime parishioner at St. Mary. For decades, he was a daily Mass sacristan, lector, and all-around church caretaker! He made close friends with all the priests over the years. Charlie's warmth, charm, and smile attract everyone to him; you always leave feeling lighter and more joyous after being with him.

On Thursday, October 3, Charlie celebrated his 99th birthday! It's harder for him to get out these days, so a few of his friends decided to bring the party to him. Fr. Jean-Philippe offered to celebrate Mass on his front lawn. A group of friends and parishioners gathered together to tell stories, share our gratitude, and bless Charlie. He was beyond thrilled!

Please enjoy a few photos from this day.

The Preparatory Document for the Second Session of the Synod on Synodality: What We Can Learn From It About the Upcoming Session

When the Preparatory Document for the second session of the Synod on Synodality was published last July, some people were excited about it, while others were disappointed. Why was that so? Perhaps one way of explaining this is by understanding what the document is and what it is not.

First of all, it is not an agenda for the second session. There is no schedule for each day, nor is there a list or calendar of the topics to be covered. These items will come later, perhaps just as the session is convening. And many of the specific topics will come from the study group reports which we discussed last time.

The preparatory document might be better described as a statement of the theme or overall approach for the second session. Its central focus is that this is a Synod on Synodality. This means it will be primarily about how decisions are to be made rather than what the outcome of each decision would be. Therefore, the document is both a justification and a rallying cry for synodal decision-making itself, and the session is focused on learning what that synodal style looks like in practice. This practice includes listening and prayerfully reflecting on where the Spirit manifests in the worldwide Church of today.

In that light, the preparatory document has been described as an “exciting” document, even though it does not focus on the controversial issues of the day. That focus is left to the study groups, while this document focuses on how the decisions are to be made. And the answer to that is “in a Synodal way guided by the Spirit.” This is a process that the whole Church is still learning, but it is fundamental to the Synod’s objectives.

To this point, the Preparatory Document says:

• “This is the ongoing conversion of the way of being the Church that the synodal process invites us to undertake.”
• Synodal practice “calls us to mutual care, interdependence and co-responsibility for the common good”
• “Weakness in reciprocity, participation and communion remains an obstacle to a full renewal of the Church"
• “The concentration of power shuts out the voices of the poorest, the marginalized and minorities.”

With words such as these, the preparatory document emphasizes the participatory approach set during the first Synod session by using the small group format and the detailed process of “Discernment in the Spirit” which was introduced at last year’s synod session. It also calls for such a process to be the norm and “an opportunity for the entire people of God to discern how to move forward.”

Next Time: The opening retreat and the first days of the second session
Click here to start from part 1 of our Synod Session 2 coverage.

Want to learn more? Check out our series on the Synod on Synodality, from the first session to our parish listening sessions!

Jacob Hooker, a 9th grader who was confirmed at St. John XXIII Parish this past April, wrote the bulletin reflection for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time. While we couldn't fit the whole reflection in the bulletin, we thought the parish deserved access to the full thing! Thank you so much, Jacob!

A Reflection
by Jacob Hooker, Parishioner
​
Some of my favorite memories are spending time outdoors with family and friends. Every year, my family and I visit national parks and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, places that make me feel connected to myself, others, and even God (our natural world is, as The Gospel by Gen Z would say, “a W for the Top G”).
 
This week’s reading reminds us of our baptismal call to be prophets, which means living a life of service. A kind of service that is important to me is care for the environment. Our faith calls us to be stewards of the earth. To me, that looks like limiting our fossil fuel emissions, but it also means being educated about what’s happening around us and what we can do about it. I have learned about an ethic called “leave no trace”, which teaches the importance of reducing your impact upon the natural world. Applied to everyday things, like picking up litter, these actions leave a place better than we found it. There is joy in this service. I have done a few beach sweeps with my friends and it was fun because we got to hang out while also cleaning up nature. We’d had competitions about who could find the weirdest object or pick up the most trash in the shortest amount of time. Although these were few and far between, these outings helped deepen my connection to both them and the environment.
 
“Leave no trace” makes me think of other ways human beings can take greater responsibility for our common home. Much of our day-to-day life revolves around technology, which is developing so rapidly that we can’t keep up with the energy demand. For example, artificial intelligence data centers need a lot of energy to operate which, in most cases , still comes from burning fossil fuels. According to a study recently done by the UN, a request made through ChatGPT consumes as much as 10 times the electricity of a typical internet search. And, as the prevalence of AI increases, these centers could account for nearly 35 percent of the US’ energy use by 2026 (The UN Environment Programme, Sep 21 2024). Now technology alone isn’t the problem here. The problem is the copious amounts of fossil fuel energy they consume, which pollutes the air we breathe. And, in our country and around the world, often it is the most economically and politically vulnerable communities who are disproportionately affected by the highest levels of pollution created by these systems. As Pope Francis so finely put it in his second encyclical Laudato Si': “There is an urgent need to develop policies so that, in the next few years, the emission of carbon dioxide and other highly polluting gasses can be drastically reduced, for example, substituting for fossil fuels and developing sources of renewable energy” (Laudato Si', para. 26).
 
As this week’s reading states, “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!”. Moses reminds the Israelites, who are lost and complaining in the wilderness, that we all are prophets (Nm 11:25-29). We are all called to a new way of living. In our world today, that means to live our faith in such a way that shows responsibility and care for the vulnerable, which includes the environment. This week, I encourage you to make time to be in the natural world and reflect on ways you can care for our common home. Then, do something.

What can we expect from the upcoming Second Session of the Synod?
Inputs from the Study Groups established after the First Synod Session and the Preparatory Document for the Second Synod Session

The second session of the Synod will be convening in early October. What can we expect from this session? There are two sources flowing from last year’s first session which give us some indication regarding this second session:

• A series of study groups, which were established by Pope Francis to delve more deeply into the key areas identified during the first session and report back at this fall’s session
• The preparatory document for the second session, which was issued in July

In this part, we will look at the Study Groups, including the key study areas and the membership of the Groups. Next time, we will look at the preparatory document that flowed from the first session and report on what it outlines for this year’s second session.

The subject areas for the study groups covered key areas that were gathered from the worldwide listening sessions and discussed at the first Synod session. All the study groups have been charged with presenting their “Preliminary Reports” during the upcoming second session, and will then continue their work until June 2025, when their final reports will be due.

The job of the study groups has been characterized as providing more theological “meat” and Scriptural reflection on the areas under discussion, as well as considering the various local circumstances of the Church and how likely decisions are to require changes in Canon Law.

​Key study group areas include:

• Listening to the cry of the poor
• The role of women in the Church and their participation in decision making and community leadership, including the possibility of women deacons
• Possible revisions to the way bishops are chosen, including the involvement of laypeople in the choice
• Greater acceptance of LGBTQ+ and other “marginalized” Catholics
• Revision of the guidelines for priestly formation
• Other areas, such as ecumenism, the evaluation of bishops, the bishops’ relationship with religious orders, and the Eastern Catholic Churches relationship with Rome

Study group membership includes members of the Vatican’s Synod Office and various Vatican offices, theological experts, Canon lawyers, and members reflecting the diversity of the worldwide Church, including lay men and women. The Vatican letter which announced the formation of the study groups states that they must consider “the most relevant current experiences in the People of God gathered in the local churches.”

The content of the preliminary reports from the study groups that will be presented at the upcoming Second Session has not yet been made public, but their reports have been described by one of the lay delegates to the Synod as a way to both preserve the issues from the first Synod session as wide-open questions and to focus the second session assembly on “working toward a Church where these questions can only be dealt with in a synodal manner.”

Next time, we will explore further how the Preparatory Document for the Synod Session sets the stage for what that “synodal manner” of treating these issues will look like in action.

Want to learn more? Check out our series on the Synod on Synodality, from the first session to our parish listening sessions!

St. John XXIII Parish thanks you for your continued generosity and dedication to our community. If you would like to give to the offertory this weekend, we ask that you consider using our new donation platform, Pushpay. Our goal was to complete the transition by this Sunday, September 22, but we’ve extended it by a few weeks to give more people a chance to make the switch.

If you want to give with Pushpay during Mass for the first time, here’s how it works:

​Quick Explanation

1. Scan the QR code or click the “Give with Pushpay” button at stjohn23evanston.org/give.
2. Enter the amount you want to donate and choose to make a one-time gift or set up a recurring gift. (If you want to set up a recurring gift, select the frequency of the gift and enter the start date.) Finally, select the fund to which you’re making a donation.
3. Enter your phone number to receive a text with a six-digit verification code; enter the verification code.
4. Enter your name, email, and payment information; this will be saved for next time.
5. Confirm your gift and choose whether or not you want to help cover the cost of the transaction. Then make your donation and/or schedule your recurring gift!

Detailed Explanation

1. Scan the QR code on the sticker in front of your pew, or use your internet app to visit stjohn23evanston.org/give and click the red “Give with Pushpay” button.
2. Just under the word “Give,” type in the amount you would like to donate.
3. Choose whether you want to make a one-time gift or set up a recurring gift. If you want to set up a recurring gift, select how often you would like to make the gift and the date on which you would like it to start. Note: The default starting date will always be the current day. If you are trying to set up, for example, a yearly Christmas gift, but you don’t want the first donation to come out until Christmas, you’ll need to set the starting date to 12/25/24 (or whichever date you choose).
4. Choose what fund you want your donation to go towards. The default is Weekly Offertory. If you would like to give to the weekly offertory using Pushpay instead of putting cash, a check, or an envelope into the offertory basket, leave Weekly Offertory selected. If there’s a second collection on a given weekend, the second collection will always be the second choice in the fund drop-down list.
5. Click the “Next” button.
6. Make sure your phone is on silent! Then enter your cell phone number and click “Next” again.
7. Within a few seconds, you should receive a text with a six-digit security code. Type those six numbers into the security code box and click “Confirm.” Note: Pushpay will ONLY text you codes to verify your identity and get you logged into your account. You don’t have to worry about annoying marketing texts or reminders!
8. Enter your name, email, and payment information. After this time, your information will be securely stored in your account, so you won’t need to enter those details again. Now take a bow, because you have a Pushpay account!
9. Confirm your gift and, if you are willing, choose to add 2.2% to your donation to help us cover the cost of the transaction. That’s only $0.22 on a $10 donation, but it adds up to be a big help to the parish!
10. Make your donation or set up your recurring gift!

What will be quicker the second time?
Next time, you won’t need to enter your name, email, or credit card information. You may be asked for your phone number so you can receive another verification text, but even if you are, that only takes a few seconds! Then you’ll jump straight from entering your gift to the confirmation and transaction cost screen (step 9). How easy is that?

Looking for a personal recommendation? Just ask Shelley Benson, Chair of the Parish Pastoral Council!

Thank you so much for your willingness to learn this new process with us. If you want to walk through the transition with someone, visit the parish office or give us a call at 847.864.1185!

Where do we go from here?
by Carol Michelini

On Thursday, July 25, three vans carrying 17 parishioners and friends of St. John XXIII parish left for an 11-day pilgrimage to learn about the Civil Rights Movement and ongoing systems of injustice and inequality. We traveled through Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama visiting historic sites and hearing first hand from those who participated in the movement and those who continue today to work with people on the margins. The theme “Many Rivers to Cross to Justice and Equality” emblazoned on the back of our tee shirts said it all.

Rivers served as gateways through which the inhuman flow of enslaved people fueled the economy of our country. Ironically rivers also provided a route for those enslaved people to seek freedom. On our trip we crisscrossed many rivers: the Ohio, the Alabama, the Tennessee, and the Cumberland. As we moved from state to state, stopping at historic sites like the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, and the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, we were awed by the personal courage of those who were on the front lines seeking voting rights and fighting Jim Crow laws and domestic terror.

It’s easy to think that the civil rights movement had its heyday in the 50s and 60s and while many important issues like voting rights and desegregation were in the spotlight, there is still work to be done. As Dr. Avis Williams said, “We are blessed to be doing ministry, doing what the Lord has called us to do: to serve our brothers and sisters.”

​Our journey was at times both overwhelming and challenging; energizing and tiring yet we experienced the joy and power of the people in the communities we visited. We look forward to sharing more about it all during a presentation later this year. Stay tuned.

Your donations make a difference! We received this postcard from Children's Place International, the organization that benefits from our Haiti Scholarship Second Collection. Click here to learn more about Children's Place International their Child Thrive Program in Haiti.  

(Note: You can click to enlarge either image.)