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
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