Cardinal Mario Grech, the Vatican Synod Chief, gave a message to open the Catholic Partnership Summit.
Synod on Synodality
According to Cruxnow, the Cardinal Mario Grech held a speech for the Leadership Roundtable-sponsored Catholic Partnership Summit. For the fourth annual summit, the theme was "Synodal Leadership: Our Call to a Unified Church."
The Cardinal made his speech from Frascati, Italy. In the article, it said that the event had clergymen and laymen of faith present. Among the people present were Archbishop Christophe Pierre and Cardinal Wilton Gregory.
In his speech, the Cardinal asked for Catholic leaders in the U.S. to continue the "process of listening called for by the Synod on Synodality."
He added that listening to others can also be seen as listening to the Holy Spirit. He also said in his message that the church believes in the people of God and their power as the Holy Spirit lives within them. As such, he asked the priests to look into the contribution of not only the baptized people but also those he called as the "people of goodwill."
The Cardinal also talked about the 1,000 individual synod submissions that his team received and reiterated that all of them will be taken to account.
The synod submissions will be used for the church to learn more about the problems of the church in the United States. These include the sexual abuse crisis and the alleged lack of unity within the country's bishops, among other things.
A lot of the churches also called for the church to be "more welcoming" when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community and others.
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Cardinal Mario Grech
On the Leadership Roundtable page, it says that the Cardinal Mario Grech is currently the Secretary General of the Synod and Bishop emeritus of Gozo.
The experienced cardinal received his ordination on May 26 1984 and is a graduate of the Pontifical Lateran University and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
During his early pastoral career, he served the Cathedral of Gozo and the Judicial Vicar of the Diocese before he became the Bishop of Gozo in 2005.
By October 2019, Pope Francis appointed him as the pro-Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops.
In the bio for the cardinal, it also says that he is a member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Congregation for Divine Worship, and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
2022 Catholic Partnership Summit
According to Leadership Roundtable, the summit was held at the Fairmont Hotel, Washington D.C.
The summit aimed to give the church the time to listen to all voices and to employ restorative practices for healing and unity.
For this year, the Catholic church gave commitments when it comes to continuing the Synodal process, creating more collaborations within churches, seeking out women, young adults, and people of color to join the Leadership Roundtable, and producing more resources for the Spanish-speaking members, among others.
The event had a roster of speakers which includes Cardinal Mario Grech, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, and Rev. John Hurley, to name a few.
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