| Four days
into his episcopacy, in February of 1990, Bishop David B. Thompson announced
his plans to convoke a Synod of Charleston, the first Synod to be held
in the Diocese of Charleston in more than 30 years. He began conducting
listening sessions across the state where the faithful provided input on
what they saw as the greatest issues facing the Catholic Church in South
Carolina.
On Dec. 8, 1992, Bishop Thompson issued his pastoral letter "Our Heritage -- Our Hope," which officially convoked the Synod of Charleston. It outlined the 12 issues which would be addressed in the Synod: Evangelization and Reconciliation, Christian Formation, Prayer and Worship, The Social Mission of the Church, Building Community, Ministry: Lay and Ordained, Ecumenism, Stewardship, Marriage and Family, Youth and Young Adults, Women in the Church, and Communications. Commissions for each issue were appointed with members from across the diocese. They prepared documents outlining the current situation and offering directives for what needed to be done in the future. Delegates were chosen from each of the 118 parishes in the diocese that would review, debate and ultimately vote on the documents. The first session of the Synod was held in April 1994. The documents were debated and recommendations for revisions were made. A second session was held in September where the documents were overwhelmingly accepted by the delegates. In January of 1995, a final celebratory session was held where Bishop Thompson signed the final Synod document which contained all twelve documents. In May of 1995, Bishop Thompson issued his pastoral letter "Souvenir and Promise" which officially established the Office of Synod Implementation which was to guide the implementation of the directives outlined in the final Synod document. In February 1996, the Bishop issued "Enthusiasm for the Faith: A Design for Implementing the Vision of the Synod of Charleston." This document outlined specific directives needed to implement the Synod including the clustering of parishes to share resources and the establishment of an institute to train parish leaders. In Strategic Goal One it also condensed the 12 issues into six asking that each faith community in the diocese endeavor to be a center of: Prayer and Worship, Christian Formation, Evangelization, Social Outreach, Stewardship, and Community Building. In October of 1996, all the parishes of the diocese were grouped into 24 clusters and cluster facilitators were appointed. Cluster meetings have provided parishes in close proximity to one another the opportunity to come together to discuss common problems and work together to solve them. |
