2017 USCCB Convocation Participants Guidebook and Journal | Page 15

Who’s Who the needs of the times today and especially to the call of the Holy Father: In every community, in every parish and institution, in every diocese and circumscription, in every region, try to launch, in a synodal fashion, a deep reflection on . . . Evangelii Gaudium, to draw from it practical parameters and to launch its dispositions. . . . I am certain of your capacity to put yourselves into a creative movement in order to make this study practical. 15 A goal of the Convocation is to be a deep reflection and creative movement that helps dioceses, parishes, organizations, aposto- lates, and associations across the United States celebrate, imple- ment, and live out the key principles of Evangelii Gaudium. Who’s Who at the Convocation It is important to understand who is attending the Convocation and why. Because of the nature of the Convocation as bish- op-led and delegation-structured, it is an invitational event. Particular leaders have been invited to participate in order to bring back tools, strategies, and resources for the Church in her dioceses, parishes, movements, and organizations to implement. Meanwhile, even more Catholic leaders across the United States may be following the Convocation through streaming and engag- ing in conversation digitally via social media. The success of the Convocation depends on what happens after- ward and ultimately on helping all the baptized to embrace their call to missionary discipleship and to go forth into the whole world, motivated and filled with the joy of the Gospel. Bishops at the Convocation The bishops, as successors of the Apostles, have the vital minis- try of shepherding the Church’s mission of evangelization and 10