St. David the King Parish

In October 2025, embark on a 12-day sacred Biblical pilgrimage, retracing the footsteps of the Apostle Paul across the ancient lands of Greece and Italy. This transformative journey begins in Thessaloniki, where you’ll explore Philippi and Kavala, sites steeped in Biblical significance, before immersing yourself in the rich history of Thessaloniki itself. As you stand in awe before the Meteora Monasteries and traverse the storied streets of Athens, the enduring legacy of faith comes to life before your eyes.

In Rome, the heart of Catholicism, your pilgrimage reaches its pinnacle. From the solemn halls of Mamertine Prison to the hallowed grounds of St. Peter’s Basilica, each site offers a profound connection to the martyrdom of the Apostle Paul and the early Christian community. As you attend a Papal Audience and cross the Holy Door, you’ll experience moments of profound spiritual reflection, deepening your bond with the Church and its rich traditions.

Throughout your journey, Masses at revered sites such as the Bema of Apostle Paul in Berea and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls provide moments of spiritual renewal and communion with the faithful. Join us on this sacred odyssey, where faith, history, and tradition converge to illuminate the path of discipleship and grace.

Click here to register and secure your spot today!

This summer, St. David the King’s Youth Ministry will bring a group of 10 high schoolers to the Steubenville Youth Conference in Steubenville, Ohio. For those that don’t know, Steubenville is high-energy Youth Conference where thousands of teens are invited to encounter Jesus Christ through dynamic speakers, engaging music, the Sacraments, small group discussions and fellowship with other teens. I can personally attest to the transformative nature of the Conferences as it was the place where I decided to make my faith my own, finally interiorizing the faith my parents passed down to me. I invite you to attend the Steubenville Youth Conference this summer and see your faith grow in ways you never imagined.

Visit the Youth Ministry page for more details and to register!

At the conclusion of the October 2023 meeting of the Synod in Rome, the assembled delegates issued this letter, reflecting on their deliberations. The Synod reconvenes for a second session in October 2024.

Letter of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to the People of God

Dear sisters, dear brothers,

As the proceedings of the first session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops draw to a close, we want to thank God with all of you for the beautiful and enriching experience we have lived. We lived this blessed time in profound communion with all of you. We were supported by your prayers, bearing with you your expectations, your questions, as well as your fears. As Pope Francis requested two years ago, a long process of listening and discernment was initiated, open to all the People of God, no one being excluded, to “journey together” under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, missionary disciples engaged in the following of Jesus Christ.

The session in which we have been gathered in Rome since 30 September is an important phase of this process. In many ways it has been an unprecedented experience. For the first time, at Pope Francis’ invitation, men and women have been invited, in virtue of their baptism, to sit at the same table to take part, not only in the discussions, but also in the voting process of this Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. Together, in the complementarity of our vocations, our charisms and our ministries, we have listened intensely to the Word of God and the experience of others. Using the conversation in the Spirit method, we have humbly shared the wealth and poverty of our communities from every continent, seeking to discern what the Holy Spirit wants to say to the Church today. We have thus also experienced the importance of fostering mutual exchanges between the Latin tradition and the traditions of Eastern Christianity. The participation of fraternal delegates from other Churches and Ecclesial Communities deeply enriched our discussions.

Our assembly took place in the context of a world in crisis, whose wounds and scandalous inequalities resonated painfully in our hearts, infusing our work with a particular gravity, especially since some of us come from countries where war rages. We prayed for the victims of deadly violence, without forgetting all those who have been forced by misery and corruption to take the dangerous road of migration. We assured our solidarity and commitment alongside the women and men all over the world who are working to build justice and peace.

At the invitation of the Holy Father, we made significant room for silence to foster mutual listening and a desire for communion in the Spirit among us. During the opening ecumenical vigil, we experienced how the thirst for unity increases in the silent contemplation of the crucified Christ. In fact, the cross is the only cathedra of the One who, having given himself for the salvation of the world, entrusted His disciples to His Father, so that “they may all be one” (John 17:21). Firmly united in the hope brought by His Resurrection, we entrusted to Him our common home where the cries of the earth and the poor are becoming increasingly urgent: “Laudate Deum!” (“Praise God!”), as Pope Francis reminded us at the beginning of our work.

Day by day, we felt the pressing call to pastoral and missionary conversion. For the Church’s vocation is to proclaim the Gospel not by focusing on itself, but by placing itself at the service of the infinite love with which God loved the world (cf. John 3:16). When homeless people near St. Peter’s Square were asked about their expectations regarding the Church on the occasion of this synod, they replied: “Love!”. This love must always remain the ardent heart of the Church, a Trinitarian and Eucharistic love, as the Pope recalled on October 15, midway through our assembly, invoking the message of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus. It is “trust” that gives us the audacity and inner freedom that we experienced, not hesitating to freely and humbly express our convergences, differences, desires and questions.

And now? We hope that the months leading to the second session in October 2024 will allow everyone to concretely participate in the dynamism of missionary communion indicated by the word “synod”. This is not about ideology, but about an experience rooted in the apostolic tradition. As the Pope reminded us at the beginning of this process, “communion and mission can risk remaining somewhat abstract, unless we cultivate an ecclesial praxis that expresses the concreteness of synodality (…) encouraging real involvement on the part of each and all” (October 9, 2021). There are multiple challenges and numerous questions: the synthesis report of the first session will specify the points of agreement we have reached, highlight the open questions, and indicate how our work will proceed.

To progress in its discernment, the Church absolutely needs to listen to everyone, starting with the poorest. This requires a path of conversion on its part, which is also a path of praise: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children” (Luke 10:21)! It means listening to those who have been denied the right to speak in society or who feel excluded, even by the Church; listening to people who are victims of racism in all its forms – in particular in some regions to indigenous peoples whose cultures have been scorned. Above all, the Church of our time has the duty to listen, in a spirit of conversion, to those who have been victims of abuse committed by members of the ecclesial body, and to commit herself concretely and structurally to ensuring that this does not happen again.

The Church also needs to listen to the laity, women and men, all called to holiness by virtue of their baptismal vocation: to the testimony of catechists, who in many situations are the first proclaimers of the Gospel; to the simplicity and vivacity of children, the enthusiasm of youth, to their questions, and their pleas; to the dreams, the wisdom and the memory of elderly people. The Church needs to listen to families, to their educational concerns, to the Christian witness they offer in today’s world. She needs to welcome the voice of those who want to be involved in lay ministries and to participate in discernment and decision-making structures.

To progress further in synodal discernment, the Church particularly needs to gather even more the words and experience of the ordained ministers: priests, the primary collaborators of the bishops, whose sacramental ministry is indispensable for the life of the whole body; deacons, who, through their ministry, signify the care of the entire Church for the most vulnerable. She also needs to let herself be questioned by the prophetic voice of consecrated life, the watchful sentinel of the Spirit’s call. She also needs to be attentive to all those who do not share her faith but are seeking the truth, and in whom the Spirit, who “offers everyone the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery” (Gaudium et Spes 22), is also present and operative.

“The world in which we live, and which we are called to love and serve, even with its contradictions, demands that the Church strengthen cooperation in all areas of her mission. It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of the third millennium” (Pope Francis, October 17, 2015). We do not need to be afraid to respond to this call. Mary, Mother of the Church, the first on the journey, accompanies our pilgrimage. In joy and in sorrow, she shows us her Son and invites us to trust. And He, Jesus, is our only hope!

Vatican City, October 25, 2023

 

Loss is a normal part of life… and grief is the normal human response to a loved one’s death. St. David the King invites you to a four-week overview of “Loss and Grief” and how it changes lives. Each session will address specific aspects of loss and how to slowly integrate the loss you have experienced, and the grief that comes with it, into your life. No pre-work or reading is required. The sessions are very conversational.

Both daytime and evening sessions will be held at St. David the King:

Daytime: Mondays, October 16, 23, 30 and November 6 at 10:00 to 11:15 am
Evening: Mondays, October 16, 23, 30 and November 6 at 6:30 to 7:45 pm

Registration is required as seating is limited. For more information, please email Al Martella at affal@stdavidtheking.com OR leave a message at 609.785.1118 (Google Voice)

A past participant wrote: “I had no idea what to expect from this group, but even after the first night I knew I was on the right path…with the right people. I am already comforted and know I am among friends. God is certainly in that room with us all.”