Over the past few months, we introduced the various steps of this path and turned our attention to the confluence of our first year’s theme of proclaiming the faith, which coincides perfectly with the “year of mission” of our National Eucharistic Revival. We reflected on how this first year of our faithful journey corresponds with our global jubilee, Pilgrims of Hope. Now, let’s continue to connect Via Fidelis with another major event of the wider Church, the Synod on Synodality.

The term synod literally means “together on the way,” so synodality refers to the process of the Church journeying together. When distilled to its purest form, all that has been asked of us is to reflect on how we, as a Church, walk together and discern how we can improve our togetherness. This image of walking together is reflected in the Eucharistic Revival, a common journey of the Church in the United States, and the Eucharist itself, the visible sign of communion and foretaste of our heavenly destination. 

There seems to be a providential connection with the Jubilee 2025 theme, Pilgrims of Hope. We are called “the pilgrim Church here on earth,” walking together toward our destination of heavenly communion, the object of our hope. These three events — the National Eucharistic Revival, the Synod on Synodality and the jubilee — all flow together. They describe the same reality of our common life (communion) as a Church from different perspectives and with different points of emphasis.

As this happy convergence of themes shows us, it is always the Holy Spirit who is in control. He can help us see the way as long as we open our hearts to his guidance. These journeying themes call a central fact to our attention: openness to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

With this in mind, the thematic connection between synodality and our Via Fidelis is also clear. Via Fidelis can be translated as “the faithful way” and “the way of the faithful.” The latter translation makes it clear that it is a common journey we are undertaking as a Church. Our “journeying together” on this five-year pilgrimage is one way that the Catholic Church in South Carolina is living out the call to synodality. As we Proclaim the Faith to others in this first year, we must “walk together” with them, actively inviting them also to walk with the global Church on our common pilgrimage. 

These monthly Via Fidelis reflections will begin to further turn our attention to the year-one theme of evangelization (Proclaim the Faith), which begins the first Sunday of Advent, Dec. 1. We will spend time learning about the kerygma, or proclamation of salvation in Christ, as an act of witness and as the very core of the faith to which we witness. 

Let us open our hearts to the Holy Spirit as we begin our journey. We pray for his guidance to help us internalize the faith and wholeheartedly proclaim it to others. The convergence of the many paths in the universal Church with our pilgrim path locally should give us the confidence that the Holy Spirit will answer our request and lead us forward together.