Synod (Small Groups)
Seeking Additional Small Group Leaders
“Evangelization.” It’s a word we have heard a lot in our Archdiocese in the past year, especially regarding the implementation of the PECS (Parish Evangelization Cell System). PECS is the program that has helped Risen Savior to form small Christian communities. These groups, which meet in the homes of parishioners, have been a vibrant addition to our parish. Many of these “cells” are devoted to enriching the faith of their members AND planting seeds of faith outside the walls of Risen Savior. These cells meet on a regular basis, and the reviews from participants have been overwhelmingly positive.
What makes these cells so effective is that they connect people with similar interests. They each operate using a shared idea of what it means to evangelize, including:
- Evangelization is a way to bring the good news of Jesus to people in all situations.
- Evangelization encourages people to place their trust in Jesus and to follow his teachings.
- Evangelization is a way to incorporate people into the Christian community.
So, what happens next? We hope MORE groups will form and grow at Risen Savior. The PECS model is great for enriching faith, and we always benefit from additional groups that study Scripture, embrace Catholic devotional practices and, of course, pray for others. PECS is also a perfect format for groups that provide “pastoral support.” Pastoral support groups combine prayer, personal sharing, and information to help individuals respond in faith to specific life challenges. Examples include groups for: caretakers, single parents, parents of children with special needs, divorced/remarried individuals, and support for widows. PECS is also a great format for groups which address issues such as depression, addictions, and many, many other realities. Risen Savior NEEDS groups such as these.
To make this a reality, Risen Savior will host a PECS Small Group Leadership training in English on Saturday, February 22, from 9 am to 3 p.m. A training in Spanish will be scheduled as soon as training materials have been updated. Yes, it is a full day of training, but participants will leave knowing how to create and sustain effective, dynamic groups.
Please prayerfully consider being a part of this training! Complete the form below to register.
You can also register and get more information by contacting Mary Anttila at maryanttila072@gmail.com or Fr. Matthew at matthew.malek@risensavior.org and (952) 698-1710.
Small Group Leader Training Registration
Sign up for the Small Group Leader Training on Saturday, February 22, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Synod Implementation "You Will Be My Witnesses"
Synod Update November 2024
We are in Year 2 of the Synod Implementation and the focus is on the Mass and the Eucharist as the source and summit of Christian life. The Year 2 teaching priorities are: (1) The meaning of the Mass. (2) The Eucharist and its effect in our lives, especially the radical hospitality of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, openness to the gifts (charisms) of the Holy Spirit, and the movement to mission. (3) Recovery of celebration of Sunday as “The Lord’s Day:" What it means and how it might be celebrated in our families and parishes. The other Year 2 focus is the ongoing life of the Synod small groups started during Lent 2024. The Risen Savior Synod small groups are on-going. Risen Savior will offer Small Group Leader training in early 2025. We need more Small Group Leaders to grow our Small Group ministry.
In addition to the offerings at Risen Savior, the Archdiocese has many opportunities for us to learn more about our faith in Year 2.
Additional Information is available on the https://www.archspm.org/ website.
The New and Eternal Covenant
At these events, various speakers will present a vision of God’s desire for covenant and relationship with humanity, inspiring the faithful to:
- Enter into the celebration of the liturgy with a more intentional sense of belonging to God’s plan for salvation, and
- Rediscover God’s call to live out our baptismal priesthood as a holy and chosen people.
Though speakers vary, the same presentation is offered at each of the locations below. Choose the date and location that work best for you to attend.
Start Time: 6 p.m.
End Time: 9 p.m.
Thursday, January 16, 2025
Location: Mary, Mother of the Church, Burnsville
Presenter: Fr. Glaser
Thursday, March 20, 2025
Location: St. Odilia, Shoreview
En Español
Presenters: Fr. Koop and Marta Pereira
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Location: Ascension, Minneapolis
En Español
Presenters: Fr. Koop and Marta Pereira
In Defense of Leisure: Reclaiming the Lord’s Day
In today’s hectic world, our identity often gets caught up in what we do, but this is only a part of who we are created to be. Let’s focus not only on what we achieve, but on what we receive. Join this “Defense of Leisure,” as presented by Dr. Michael Naughton and Dr. Pam Patnode. Each presentation will include a talk and Q&A and will conclude with a time of prayer and reflection.
Start Time: 6 p.m.
End Time: 8 p.m.
Thursday, February 20
Location: St. Hubert, Chanhassen
Presenter: Dr. Pam Patnode
Thursday, May 1
Location: Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Paul
En Español
Presenter: Dr. Pam Patnode
Thursday, May 15
Location: St. Helena, Minneapolis
En Español
Presenter: Dr. Pam Patnode
Life in the Spirit Seminar
This is a two-day seminar beginning Friday evening, January 17, from 6:30-9:30 p.m., Saturday, January 18, from 8 a.m.- 3 p.m., and finishing with 10 a.m. Mass with Archbishop Hebda on Sunday, January 19. A $25 donation is asked to cover the cost of the seminar and lunch.
Dates: January 17-19, 2025
Location: NET Center, West St. Paul
Teaching Mass Retreat
Do you want to know and understand and experience the Mass? Father Michael Joncas, one of our beloved priests in the Archdiocese will be the facilitator.
All are welcome to attend this event, the language spoken will be English.
Date: Saturday, February 15
Time: 10 a.m.
Location: St. Bridget, Minneapolis
Jesus’ Pilgrimage to Us: Holy Hours Around the Archdiocese
These monthly Eucharistic Holy Hours, held in various regions of the Archdiocese, will be conducted according to the USCCB’s newly revised rite for exposition, adoration and benediction. Held at a new parish each month, all the faithful—and especially those already participating in adoration ministries—are encouraged to communal prayer, that more may come to know and love our Lord in the Eucharist.
All are welcome to attend this event; the language spoken will be English.
Start Time: 7 p.m.
End Time: 8 p.m.
Thursday, December 19
Location: Our Lady of Grace, Edina
Thursday, January 23
Location: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Hastings
Synod Update
Risen Savior is preparing to implement the Archbishop’s Year 2 Synod focus of the Mass and the Eucharist as the source and summit of Christian life (July 2024-June 2025). A major component of Year 2 is the continuation of the Small Groups that began during Lent 2024. These groups, which meet at the homes of parishioners, have been a wonderful way for participants to form relationships AND go deeper into their faith. Some of these groups will use Year 2 to learn more about the Mass and the Eucharist. Additionally, Risen Savior will have programs at the parish which highlight both knowledge of the mass and the beauty of the Eucharist.
Our existing small groups are ongoing, and you can join these groups. Risen Savior will maintain these groups, and new small groups will emerge using the PECS (Parish Evangelization Cell System) model. Risen Savior will also be offering training again for potential leaders and group members in with the PECS model in 2025.
To briefly recap, our current groups are the result of the Year 1 Synod implementation (July 2023-June 2024) and the hard work of the Risen Savior Synod Evangelization Team (SET). This team completed extensive training through the School of Discipleship, the Activated Disciple 40-day challenge, and the Activated Disciple Seminar. During summer 2023, the SET recruited candidates for the Small Group Leader training program which ran for 7 weeks in Fall of 2023. Approximately 80 participants completed the training which was offered in both English and Spanish. Risen Savior held the Small Group invitation weekend last January to invite all parishioners to join a group.
Many groups are open to new members! You are invited to join! Each small group determines their meeting schedule and focus area. The goal is to continue growing our small group ministry over the 5 years of Synod implementation.
Find a group that works for you. Click here to view all Risen Savior groups and to sign up.
Mark your calendars for the weekend of September 14/15, 2024. That particular weekend is set aside to promote Year 2 of the Synod during and after all Masses. Information and in-person sign-ups for small groups will be available at a table in the commons.
Feel free to reach out to Mary at maryanttila072@gmail.com if you have questions about the groups.
Contact: Ben Caduff, benjamin.caduff@risensavior.org, (952) 698-1724
Make Our Parish a ‘Center of Constant Missionary Outreach’
You know who you are. You’re amazing: you love our parish, you volunteer at every event, you come to Mass with a joyful heart and share Christ in how you live. But you also see a Church that needs renewal, surrounded by a culture that is rejecting the love of our Lord.
Pope Francis has called the parish as a “center of constant missionary outreach.” How? By being a “community of communities” – fostering small groups that bring its members into deeper relationship with the Lord and with our parish. Be part of that mission!
Small Groups for the Person That’s ‘Not a Small Group Person’
In Lent 2024, our parish launched a new way of being parish – through a new type of small groups. Imagine a group that meets you where you are and helps you take the next step in your faith journey. Imagine group leaders that welcome new members (in word and deed), so that you don’t feel like the “odd person out.” Imagine deep prayer, sharing and community. Now stop imagining – and join a small group! Find a group that works for you. Click here to view all Risen Savior groups.
Give me three good reasons to join a small group.
Challenge accepted! Our parish launched a small group ministry that:
- fosters personal relationships,
- builds community, and
- provides formation, so we all may grow as joyful missionary disciples of Christ.
Joining a small group is easy! In-person sign-ups after all Masses the weekend of September 14/15, 2024.
Small Groups: Prayerful Unity in a Divisive Age
“Small group conversations ... were respectful and affirming. While we did not always agree with one another, we did listen and strive to respect the dignity of the other.” - Archbishop Bernard Hebda, You Will Be My Witnesses
Does this sound like an impossibility in today’s divisive age? It doesn’t have to be. Archbishop Hebda, in his pastoral letter You Will Be My Witnesses, describes experiencing this prayerful unity less than two years ago, in the gathering of the faithful in small groups. He is now inviting you to experience this yourself, by joining a small group at our parish.
What would Jesus do? Join a small group!
“In choosing the Twelve ... we could say that Jesus formed the original Christian small group, and once again set the example by saying, ‘Follow me.’“ - Archbishop Hebda
Our Lord set the example of sharing and living the faith in a small community. This Lent, see why small groups – in our Lord’s time, and now – are a powerful way to live our Catholic faith in the company of other believers.
Contact Mary Antilla with any questions regarding the Synod process and/or the small groups at
See below for older information and materials.
Further Information about the Archdiocesan Synod
- Archbishop Hebda started our local, archdiocesan synod process.
- Began in Fall 2019 with Prayer and Listening Sessions and has been unfolding since then.
- In the Fall of 2021, all parishes were invited to host parish small groups on the synod topics. Risen Savior hosted 15 small groups (10 in English with 68 participants and 5 in Spanish with 25 participants). Each participant was invited to submit feedback forms to the Archdiocese on the discussion topics. The Archdiocese will make the data from those forms available to our parish at a later date, and we look forward to sharing insights gleaned with everyone as soon as we’re able!
- Our parish invited participants to fill out a supplemental Overall Small Group Feedback Form, and our Adult Faith Formation & Social Justice Coordinator reviewed them and wrote a letter to Archbishop Hebda and the Synod Executive Committee distilling the themes from that form and sending each individual response. You can view those documents at these links:
- In January/February 2022, 10 representatives from each parish will meet with others in their deaneries (geographic groupings of parishes). Risen Savior Deanery Representatives are Vince Breza, Maria Castellon, Michele Engstrom, Keyra Jimenez Vargas, Ken Mosier, Amanda Pampuch, Alejandra Renteria, Bob Schilmoeller, John Woell, & Marcia Woell. They will meet with other parishes’ deanery representatives and pastors on January 29th to discern themes that came out of the parish small groups, pray together, and offer suggestions for the archbishop.
- In June 2022, every parish sent 2 delegates to the Archdiocesan Synod Assembly with Archbishop Hebda to discuss pastoral priorities for our archdiocese. Risen Savior Synod Delegates were Vince Breza and Marcia Woell.
- On the Feast of Christ the King (Nov. 20th, 2022), Archbishop Hebda published a pastoral letter “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent from the Upper Room”, which outlines a plan and priorities for our Archdiocese through June 2025.
- Purpose: to listen to the Holy Spirit moving in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, to dialogue and pray with one another, and to discern what the needs and priorities in our communities are.
- Learn more at the Archdiocesan site by clicking here.