February 3, 2026 // Diocese

A Class Act at the Synod: ND Grad Students Help Compile Consultation Summaries

Scott Warden

Editor-In-Chief

 

Beginning in late fall and continuing throughout the winter and early spring, parish communities and other unique groups in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend have gathered or will soon gather to prayerfully participate in the first diocesan synod in 100 years.

Following a discernment period, as members of the faithful join together to hold these “conversations in the Spirit” centered around the synod’s five themes – evangelization, catechesis, spiritual and liturgical life, vocations, and outreach – they are guided by reflection booklets that contain excerpts from Scripture, the Catechism, and pastoral writings, as well as relevant statistics from the diocese related to the themes. More than three quarters of the parishes in the diocese have already held their synod consultations, and soon, the special consultations phase will begin, which will invite those who can’t or don’t have access to a parish community to give their input. While the presbyterate has already had its consultation, groups that will soon begin their discussions include deacons and their wives, college students, the unhoused, the incarcerated, those in nursing care facilities, and those who are distant from the faith or have left the Church.

 

In all, nearly 90 separate consultations will take place, each producing a summary document synthesizing an array of thoughts on where the diocese succeeds at proclaiming the Gospel and living as a community in Christ and where it can improve.

The job of compiling these reports that will be used by the delegates at the two synod sessions later this year – one in South Bend and one in Fort Wayne – won’t fall to Bishop Rhoades or priests of the diocese or parish employees or anyone in the diocesan curia. Instead, it will fall to a group of graduate students wanting to learn about – and live – the synodal experience.

Stacey Noem, moderator of the synod and director of human and spiritual formation in the Masters of Divinity program at the University of Notre Dame, came up with the idea to form a one-credit-hour class for graduate theology students called Synodal Workshop.

“I had a number of students asking how they could help,” Noem told Today’s Catholic. “This is a way for them not only to participate but to get credit.”

 

The class, which meets once a week during the spring semester, consists of nine young men and women – four students in the Masters of Divinity program (MDiv), one of whom is a seminarian for the Congregation of Holy Cross, two Masters of Theological Studies students, a Ph.D. student, and two alums of the MDiv program who asked to sit in on the class, which is co-taught by Megan Quigley, the diocese’s director of adult faith formation.

Noem said the first four weeks of the class consisted of researching synods and synodality – both at the diocesan level and in the universal Church. On Friday, January 30, the class took what Noem called “a field trip” to Fort Wayne and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, where Bishop Rhoades gave them an hourlong lesson on the missionary roots of the diocese and its early history.

“Our students are from all over,” Noem said, “and so they’re participating in our identity as the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. And to best do that, they need to know our identity in a fuller way to be able to appreciate the work they’ll be doing.”

Bishop Rhoades said that getting a better understanding of the history of the diocese gives the students who will compile the synod consultation reports relevant context to their work.

“I think it always is important and helpful to know the history of our diocese, because we build on what our ancestors did,” Bishop Rhoades said. “I find myself being inspired when I see what our ancestors of the faith here in this diocese did.”

 

Noem said it was also important for the students to come to Fort Wayne, where few had visited prior to their class outing, in order to get a better sense of the geographical and demographical landscape of the diocese.

“It just blows up kind of your idea of the size of the diocese, the specificity, and the particularity of each of the little communities in the diocese,” Noem said. “Knowing it in your head is one thing, but to hold it inside of you as you work with a summary that’s coming from Bluffton or from Wabash – to have just a pinch of that, I think, is really important.”

Nohemi Tragesser, a graduate of Saint Mary’s College and Notre Dame who is in her second year in the Masters of Divinity program, told Today’s Catholic that she grew interested in the topic of synods and synodality during the worldwide Synod of Bishops in Rome that took place in 2023 and 2024.

“I was just curious about the process of it and how it came to be, and so when it was announced that there was going to be a diocesan synod, I was excited,” Tragesser said. “When I found out there was going to be a class on our synod, that was another layer to it – that I could actually help use the time that I’m in school to contribute, I was just really excited.”

She continued: “My majors in undergrad were computer science and math, so I really love solving puzzles and building new things, and it feels a little bit like that’s what we were going to be asked to do by bringing all this information together; it’s like putting together a puzzle where you get to figure out what people are saying, what the Holy Spirit is saying through them, and then we have to figure out how we’re going to compile it and present it to Bishop Rhoades.”

While the students haven’t yet begun sifting through the parish summaries, Tragesser has already been involved in the synod process, as she served as a notetaker for St. Jude during its parish consultation.

“I think what I found really beautiful was the importance placed on the call to serve others in all areas, including the elderly and people who have fallen away from the Church,” she said. “I’ve just felt that it’s been really beautiful to see this play out in the parish and support it.”

Tragesser said getting a chance to hear Bishop Rhoades speak to the class about the history of the diocese will inspire her in the group’s synodal work.

“I think hearing how the diocese came to be – how it began with missionary Catholics – was really important for us all,” she said. “It reminds us how we’re called to evangelize and be on mission, and hearing Bishop Rhoades talk really got me thinking about how we as a diocese can do that for each other and for the world.”

As Bishop Rhoades left the group to continue their field trip by touring the Diocesan Museum and worshipping at Mass, the students thanked him for his time and the wisdom he imparted.

“It’s the least I could do,” Bishop Rhoades said in return, “especially considering the importance of the work you’re going to be doing for us, so thank you.”

 

Scott Warden is editor-in-chief of Today’s Catholic. Email him at [email protected].