Meaningful Conversations with Synod Teams

Along with members of our diocesan leadership team, I had the blessing of participating in the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies at the Vatican (October 24–26, 2025) — days of prayer, listening, and dialogue with Catholic leaders from every continent. At the request of Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod, I helped facilitate one of the English-language small groups. There were about 20 people around the table. I expected meaningful conversations. I didn’t expect how quickly it would feel like a family.

We spoke different languages and came from different cultures and political realities. Yet we named the same hopes and struggles: the challenge of forming disciples in a distracted world, the longing to welcome people who feel on the margins, the desire to accompany young people with honesty, and the ache of watching faith treated as irrelevant by secular culture. One takeaway I keep returning to  is this: despite all our differences, we are facing similar challenges — and we share similar hopes for our faith to thrive and be a shining light in a world with so much darkness.

Synodality can sound like a big “Church word” until you experience it up close. In those rooms, it felt simpler and more demanding at the same time: listening without rushing and discerning before we act. One point stuck with me because it was both obvious and challenging: the goal of synodality is not listening as an end in itself.

Listening is supposed to change us. It is meant to deepen our understanding of one another and sharpen our understanding of what the Lord is asking of us. And it also means this: after listening, there should be a response. Sometimes that response is “yes,” sometimes “no,” and sometimes “not now”—but it should be followed by the responsibility to explain why, and to help people understand the discernment behind it.

Vivid Moments in Rome

But Rome wasn’t only a conference or a schedule of meetings. It was a pilgrimage that touched me deeply. I was surprised by how personally it affected me to watch pilgrims pass through the Holy Doors with such devotion. Some moved quickly, some slowly. Some looked like they had been saving up for this trip their whole lives. Some were excited, almost bouncing with joy. Others were clearly carrying grief. Many paused as if they were offering themselves and saying, “Lord, I’m here.”

Another vivid moment in Rome came when Bishop Cantú celebrated a private Mass for us in one of many chapels in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica. We could hear masses being celebrated in different languages. That overlap of prayer echoing through the stones—quiet, steady, multilingual—was a reminder that the Church is truly Catholic: universal, and yet intimate.

On the Scavi tour, which takes you beneath St. Peter’s Basilica and concludes near Saint Peter’s tomb, I was not prepared for how humbling it would feel. Down there, you realize how simple the Church's start was. And then you look up and remember what it has become and carried forward by the witness of generations. Similarly, I prayed at the tomb of my confirmation saint, Saint Catherine of Siena, a woman who struggled to read yet still had the courage to advise popes and ultimately became a Doctor of the Church. Being near her was a reminder that God doesn’t wait for us to be perfect; He works through the willing. Finally, standing in Saint Peter’s Square for a Wednesday General Audience with Pope Leo XIV, with what felt like a sea of people (estimated at over 100,000), one truth hit home: our faith is vibrant and our Church is not small. That’s not always easy to remember in Silicon Valley, where it can feel safer to keep faith private.

From Rome to Home

One moment kept returning to me on the flight home: during the Sunday Mass with Pope Leo XIV, I had goosebumps during the consecration. We were only about ten rows from the main altar with a clear view. It was one of those moments when the noise goes quiet and you remember with your whole heart, mind and soul: Jesus is really here.

I came home with renewed resolve and confidence in sharing the Good News, especially here in our secular Silicon Valley, where it feels like faith is supposed to be kept private. Rome reminded me that we Catholics are part of something vast and living. Our Faith has been carried forward to us by centuries of witness and sustained by the grace of God. We cannot keep our light or our faith under a bushel. We don’t need to be loud or dogmatic, but we do need to be authentic and unafraid, living as followers of Jesus in what we say and how we serve. Beneath St. Peter’s, among pilgrims from every nation, I was reminded: we don’t carry the mission alone—and we never have. The Church is alive, Christ is present, and our witness matters.

What I Saw in Rome: Diocesan Leadership Team Members Share!

Rosio Gonzalez, Chief Operations Officer:

Hearing the Holy Father remind us that the "synodal journey is not a project with an end date," but a way of being Church reawakened in me a sense of responsibility and hope, filling me with renewed energy to help our local Church in San Jose continue this path of dialogue, discernment, and shared mission; a call to walk humbly together, guided by the Spirit, toward Spiritual Renewal.

Sister Ellen Hess, Bishop's Delegate to Religious:

In workshops with fellow global leaders, I was struck by how our faith transcended the many differences and difficulties that we all face, either locally in our countries or globally as a Church. I will always truly treasure being at St. Peter’s square with over a million people as well as having the chance to view its latest art addition of a bronze migrant sculpture called “Angels Unawares” by Timothy Schmalz inaugurated in 2019 as a challenge of hospitality according to Pope Francis.

Steve Milligan, Planning & Implementation Director:

It was incredibly moving to be in the presence of the Holy Father and I was left believing that we are absolutely on the right path here in San Jose with our plan for spiritual renewal. I was deeply impressed with the Church’s leadership in clearly explaining what it means to be a synodal Church.