I participated as a delegate in two days of meetings of the First Session of the Synod at the Cathedral and Conference Center in Los Angeles on May 16 and 17 along with 360 other delegates and various staff and observers. Other VOTFSBA members I recognized who attended were Ken and Gretchen Lovingood, Sr. Anne Dunn, and Sr. Barbara Dugan.

The Mass on Friday was celebrated by the Cardinal and was both beautiful and spiritually very uplifting. In the Homily, the Cardinal asked us to be "bold" in our thinking, and not just propose minor changes to the existing structure of the Church.

Delegates were seated at the same tables of ten for both days. My tablemates included The Cardinal’s theologian, a former pastor now engaged in running a High School, a Jesuit from Dolores Mission, a Brother from a local order, a deacon’s wife who was also an RCIA coordinator, a young woman who was coordinator for a young adult program at her parish, a lady from East Los Angeles and myself. Our tenth tablemate missed the sessions; she was a woman religious. The dialogue at our table was spirited and very informal. We were able to propose a series of suggestions for modifications to the draft documents by unanimous consent. It was heartening to see that delegates from such different perspectives were able to agree on so much with such good will. I think the Holy Spirit was working specially with us.

There was very strong feelings from virtually everyone at the meeting about the need for strong follow up and implementation to make to work of the Synod effective. The details of this have not yet been discussed.

I spoke to the assembly on two issues. First, regarding the proposal on the shortage of vocations and the steps we need to take to meet the shortage. With the encouragement of everyone at my table, I suggested that the Cardinal forward to the National Bishop’s Conference and the Holy See our suggestion that married priests and ordained women be considered as part of the solution. This had been included at every level of participation by persons who participated in parish and regional speak out session. The Cardinal has said that any matter on which the local church could not act because of restrictions in Canon Law would be forwarded "upstairs". Second, on the language dealing with implementing Pastoral Councils at each parish I suggested that the guidelines include direct election of Pastoral Council members, specific delegation of decision making responsibility to the Pastoral Council, a veto by the pastor if he does not consent to a decision of the Pastoral Council and a referral of any pastoral’s veto to the Synod follow up organization for further consideration.

While our table was discussing a modification of the requirement for publication of Archdiocese financial statements to include information from each parish in a standardized and consistent format, our table was joined by the Cardinal. He listened to our discussion and added that each parish already make an annual financial report using a standard format to the Archdiocese and that it could easily be made available in response to such a request. As he left the table he said that he had very much enjoyed the discussion.

The final product of the Synod remains in the future. I was encouraged by my experience as a delegate in this first session.