by Deacon Jim Mullin
Special to The Leaven
What emerged from the listening sessions was not simply a collection of opinions, concerns or recommendations. What emerged was something far more human and far more sacred: People entrusted the church with their stories.
Across parishes, prisons, campuses, community centers and rural towns, nearly 1,000 people gathered not to debate ideas, but to speak honestly about where they have encountered Christ, where they have struggled to find Him and where they long for the church to become more fully what she is called to be.
Again and again, participants described moments when the church became deeply personal:
• a priest arriving at a deathbed
• a parish remembering their name
• someone embracing them while they wept
• a retreat that awakened faith
• hours spent before the Eucharist
• a rosary prayed during fear
• small groups that became spiritual family
• a mentor who listened without judgment
• a community that made them feel seen
Many spoke of discovering the church not merely as an institution, but as home.
For immigrants, the church became family in a foreign land. For grieving families, the church became a presence in suffering. For converts and returning Catholics, the church became a place where long spiritual hunger was finally met. For many, the Eucharist was described not simply as doctrine, but as encounter — the place where Christ became real again.
At the same time, many also spoke honestly of wounds.
Some described feeling unseen, excluded or forgotten:
• single adults unsure where they belong
• families affected by disability struggling to participate
• working parents unable to access formation opportunities
• survivors of trauma carrying deep pain
• volunteers feeling dismissed
• young people drifting after confirmation
• the divorced, lonely, grieving, elderly or struggling wondering whether there is still a place for them within parish life
One of the deepest patterns that emerged was not simply disagreement, but longing:
• a longing to belong
• to be accompanied
• to be known personally
• to be formed more deeply in the faith
• to encounter a church capable of both truth and tenderness
Many participants expressed a deep hunger for reverence, beauty, strong catechesis, eucharistic devotion, Scripture, confession and clarity in teaching. Others emphasized mercy, accompaniment, listening, healing, hospitality and attention to those on the margins. Yet beneath these different emphases was often the same desire: for a church more fully alive in Christ.
People repeatedly described transformation happening not primarily through structures or programs, but through relationships:
• through witness
• friendship
• mentorship
• small faith communities
• shared prayer
• accompaniment
Again and again, stories centered on people who took time to listen, to walk with others and to remain present in moments of suffering or searching. Beneath the tensions, wounds and uncertainties of this moment, there remains a deep desire among the faithful not to walk away from the church, but to become more fully the Body of Christ together.
Deacon Jim Mullin is a member of the archdiocesan synodal team, along with Archbishop Shawn McKnight, Father Mike Hawken, Denise Mills and Helen Osman, team coordinator.
