A Synod Glossary
As I Have Done for You: a pastoral letter on ministry issued by Cardinal Roger Mahony and the priests of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on Holy Thursday of 2000 that emphasizes the importance of ordained ministry while also affirming the significance of lay ministry rooted in the common priesthood of the baptized. The Cardinal concludes the letter by convoking the Ninth Synod of Los Angeles. Read the letter.
Baptismal responsibility: living in Christ through the gift of the Spirit to the glory of the Father through witness, worship, and service. Through Baptism, each member of the Church is called to active participation in the Church and in the world, building up the Church and advancing the Kingdom of God through the particular gifts and charisms given to each individual according to his or her state of life and place in the community.
Catechesis, catechetical: the name given to the totality of the Church’s efforts to make disciples, to enable men and women to believe in the person and message of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, through catechesis the Christian story and tradition are transmitted with a view to maturing initial faith and inviting hearers into the fullness of the Christian life so that they may appropriate, profess, and live it. “The specific character of catechesis . . . has the twofold objective of maturing the initial faith and of educating the true disciple of Christ by means of deeper and more systematic knowledge of the person and message of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Catechesi Tradendae, 19). Learn about catechesis. Read the U.S. Bishops' document on Adult Faith Formation.
Communion: In addition to Holy Communion, or Eucharist, the term applies to the bonds of faith, hope, and love joining believers in unity and charity throughout the world. Called into communion with one another and with their bishops, believers form the community of faith.
Consecrated life: consecration to God by a “new and special title” effected through the profession of the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience, usually by vow within a Religious Congregation or a Secular Institute. Other persons may also be consecrated in appropriate ecclesial forms or ceremonies of consecration.
Core amount: the minimal amount of financing assured to a parish to meet its operational needs and to fulfill its particular mission and program. The amount is to be determined by a formula approved by the Archdiocese and authorized following an established financial audit and parish evaluation.
Culture, cultural diversity: Culture refers to the web of symbols, rituals, values, and meanings in which the life of a people is rooted and around which their experience, way of living, and sense of destiny are ordered. Cultural diversity indicates the harmonious interrelationship of individuals from differing cultural backgrounds respecting, appreciating, and living in cooperation with one another.
Deanery, dean: designated group of parishes within a specific area or region of a diocese. Each deanery is headed by a Dean or Vicar Forane (VF), a priest (usually a pastor) who coordinates the cooperation of clergy and parishes within a Deanery. See deaneries by pastoral region.
Discernment: the art of prayerfully distinguishing the wisdom of the heart, wherein the Holy Spirit dwells, from other influences and forces. In mature Christian living, discernment plays an essential role in making decisions, enabling us to discover God’s call (will) in concrete situations, and to live in accord with the movements of the Spirit.
Evangelization: allowing one’s own heart to be seized and saturated by the Good News of Jesus Christ, responding to the call to lifelong conversion by the gift of the Spirit. Evangelization also requires reaching out to others to proclaim in word and deed the Reign of God, the intention of God for the world now and to come. Evangelization demands that the values of the Reign of God—the reign of truth, holiness, justice, love, and peace—permeate each and every culture, transforming every sphere of life. Learn about evangelization. Read Evangelii Nuntiandi, Pope Paul VI's document on evangelization in the Modern World.
Formation, ongoing formation: In the context of the Christian community, persons are invited into a process of developing mature faith. Informed by the Christian story and tradition and shaped by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they are led to integrate faith and life, to appropriate and to live Gospel values for mission. “Ongoing formation” refers to the process of continuing to explore and deepen the Christian faith through refection, sharing, prayer, study, discernment, and integration of faith and life for mission. Learn about formation. Read the U.S. Bishops' document on Adult Faith Formation.
Governance, Church: This term refers both to the power entrusted to the pope and bishops to rule, guide, and preside over the Catholic Church, and to the exercise of authority shared by the pope and bishops with members of the clergy, religious, and laity according to their established offices and recognized charisms. The term also refers to the established structures of authority and leadership by which the Church functions. Learn about church governance.
Holiness: the fullness of life in Christ through the Spirit. In the spirit of Vatican Council II, all who are baptized are called to a life of holiness, which lies in the perfection of charity.
Lay, laity: This term refers to those members of the Church who are fully incorporated into the People of God by faith and Baptism but who are not ordained. By baptism, the laity are called to be priests, prophets and kings and by Church law have the right to participate in the governance of the Church..
Lay ministry, lay ecclesial ministry: the wide range of services rendered in Christ’s name by the lay faithful and properly recognized by the Church community. Lay ministry may be exercised for the good of the Church or for the wider human community. “Lay ecclesial minister” refers to professionally trained or otherwise properly prepared women and men, including vowed religious, who are in positions of service and leadership in the Church and who are called to service in the name of the Church. “Lay ecclesial ministry” refers to the ministries of committed persons, women and men, married or single, which are exercised in and through the Church in a stable, public, recognized, and authorized way.
Local Church: This term refers to all the members of the Roman Catholic Church gathered in communion with their bishop in each diocese throughout the world. All the local churches together make up the universal church.
Ministry: service in Christ’s name arising from the gift of the Spirit and properly recognized by the Church community. In the Church there are ordained and lay ministries. Learn about ministry.
Mission: the purpose for which the Church exists and the task that the Church is called to engage. Central to its life, the mission of the Church is Christ’s own mission—to announce in word and deed the coming Reign of God, the final victory of truth, holiness, justice, love, and peace. New evangelization: a term used frequently by Pope John Paul II to describe evangelizing or re-evangelizing under-catechized, inactive, and alienated Catholics, as well as reanimating the faith and life of those who have already come to know the presence of Christ. The “new evangelization” requires those who already have faith in Jesus Christ to allow Christ to touch the unconverted corners of their lives.
Pastoral Initiatives: significant areas of pastoral concern targeted through the Synod process as the primary agenda items to be addressed at all levels of the Archdiocese. These initiatives will give direction for charting the future course of the Archdiocese and for developing a comprehensive Archdiocesan pastoral agenda. Decisions at all levels of administration and ministry within the Archdiocese are to be made in light of addressing these Pastoral Initiatives. Read the Pastoral Initiatives.
Pastoral Priorities: Under each of the Pastoral Initiatives targeted by the Synod, Pastoral Priorities refer to selected duties and functions identified through the Synod process to which the Archdiocese is to give principal and focused attention in developing its comprehensive pastoral agenda. Pastoral Strategies: specific tasks identified through the Synod process that are to be accomplished in addressing the Pastoral Initiatives and realizing the Pastoral Priorities of the Archdiocese.
Pastoral Council: in accord with canons 228 and 536, a standing commission of qualified laypersons, clerics, and religious, representative of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction within which they function, gathered to assist and counsel the pastors of the Church as experts or advisors. Pastoral councils may be established on the levels of the parish, deanery, vicariate (region), and diocese. Learn about pastoral councils.
Pastoral Region: sometimes known as a vicariate, one of the geographical entities within a diocese, each under the leadership and guidance of a regional bishop or episcopal vicar. In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles there are five Pastoral Regions: Santa Barbara, San Pedro, San Fernando, San Gabriel, and Our Lady of the Angels.
RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults): a journey of faith and Christian experience by which those who seek to become members of the Roman Catholic Church are gradually and purposefully introduced into the full life of faith. The RCIA, one of sacramental rites restored by Vatican Council II, was promulgated in 1974.
Regional Bishop: in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, an auxiliary bishop who guides and pastors one of the five pastoral regions under the authority of the archbishop.
Regional Pastoral Council: in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, a standing commission of qualified laypersons, clerics, and religious, representative of the pastoral region, gathered to assist and counsel the Regional Bishop in implementing the Pastoral Initiatives, Priorities, and Strategies identified through the Synod process. A separate Council is to be established in each of the five Pastoral Regions. Learn about the Regional Pastoral Councils.
Reign of God (Kingdom of God): the central message in the preaching of Jesus Christ. By preaching the Reign of God, Jesus expressed God’s intention for the world now and to come, a world in which truth, holiness, justice, love, and peace will prevail. Learn more about the Reign of God.
Social justice: the activity of creating a world in which all may achieve the fullness of life intended for humankind by God. This activity cannot be relegated to the realm of the purely personal but is to affect every sphere of life, including the social, the economic, and the political. A Christian view of justice gives pride of place to those who are the last, littlest, and least in the Church and in society. Learn about social justice.
Synod, diocesan: a special gathering of selected clergy, laity, and religious of an individual diocese who are called together at a specific time and place by the diocesan bishop to offer the bishop assistance and counsel through a process of prayer, dialogue, discernment, and decision for the good of the entire diocesan community according to the norms of canons 460–468 of Church law. Learn about the synod process.
Vocation: the response to the gifts of the Spirit bestowed at Baptism and Confirmation by means of which an individual is called to a particular state of life in service of the Church and the human community. The Christian vocations include the single, the married, the vowed, and the ordained.
Synod Initiatives
- Evangelization and "The New Evangelization"
- Structures for Participation and Accountability
- Ongoing Education and Formation: Adults, Young Adults and Youth
- Ministry and Leadership: Lay, Consecrated Life and Ordained
- Eucharist and Sacramental Living
- Social Justice: Living at the Service of God's Reign
