Pope Francis and a New Way of Being Church: Reflecting on the Legacy of the first Jesuit Pope

A Faith Formation series offered by St. Peter’s Church. (The parish auditorium is not accessible).

This will be a six-week series (Oct. 15 to Dec. 3) that surveys the contributions of Pope Francis using his encyclicals, apostolic exhortations and letters and other ecclesiastical documents. The sessions will be on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Facilitated by Sister Carla Thomas, O.P., Ph.D. (of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena).

Week One (Wednesday, October 15): Mercy, Hope and Holiness-- This will focus on what Francis tried to accomplish through the extraordinary jubilee of mercy in 2016 and his dream for the jubilee of hope in 2025.

Week Two (Wednesday, October 22): Synodality and Ministry—This week will consider the concept of synodality as introduced by Pope Francis and what it means for communion, participation and mission in the church.

Week Three (Wednesday, October 29): Integral Ecology—This session will be dedicated to considering Francis’ landmark encyclical Laudato Si’ of 2015 as well as the apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum published in 2023.

Week Four (Wednesday, November 12): Human Relationships—In this session, the focus will be on Francis’ contributions to family life. Special attention will be given to his apostolic exhortations Amoris Laetitia and Christus Vivit.

Week Five (Wednesday November 26) : Evangelization and Mission—This session will consider his ideas as presented in Evangelii Gaudium, Querida Amazonia and Fratelli Tutti.

Week Six (Wednesday, December 3): Liturgy—This final week will discuss Francis’ encyclical Dilexit nos as well as his apostolic letter Desiderio Desideravi.