CENTERS: Synodality
Catholic Education Network to Enact and Resource Synodality
Shape the future of the Church
The Catholic Education Network to Enact and Resource Synodality (CENTERS) is a nationwide network of 16 Catholic colleges and universities. Led by Loyola University Chicago’s Institute of Pastoral Studies (IPS) and supported by a $10 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., our main goal is to catalyze higher education for the generational project of becoming a synodal Church, a Church that walks together as we serve Christ’s mission in our world.
We seek to do this by offering a variety of formation programs for Catholics around the country and cultivating the next generation of pastoral ministers and leaders equipped to serve in a more participatory and collaborative Church.
The CENTERS mission
Nothing communicates the heart of this collaboration better than our logo. In order to walk together, synodality invites us to center on the Holy Spirit, young adults, women, people living at the periphery, and communities ostracized from the Church.
In a time of growing global polarization, we need the unity without uniformity that synodality offers. We seek to collaborate with each other, with a Church that listens, and with a clergy that uplifts laypeople in our parishes. When you connect with and support CENTERS, you join a global Catholic movement and strengthen the synodal Church here in the United States.
Why synodality in the Catholic Church?
Synodality is not a program; it is a spiritual and practical way of being Church together. It helps us to recognize the Holy Spirit at work in everyone and put the gifts of the Baptized to work in serving Christ’s mission in our broken world. Our conviction is simple: when Catholics and all people of good will practice the spiritual dispositions of synodality, especially in the ordinary pressures of ministry, communities become more united and more credible in their witness to the faith.
The CENTERS hypothesis on synodality points to the future of ministry. A more participatory and collaborative Church will expand pathways for the Word of God, and Catholic higher education institutions need to form ministry connections in equally participatory and collaborative ways.
What does synodality mean?
Synodality comes from the Greek word synodos, meaning walking together. At its core, this ancient practice of the Church calls for prayerful attention to the Holy Spirit, collective discovery about what God calls communities of faith to do together, participation in decisions that shape communal life, and shared responsibility for bringing the light of Christ to the world. In the Catholic Church, synodality looks like:
- Listening for the Holy Spirit in ourselves and each other
- Dialogue that builds belonging
- Communal discernment or discovery of God’s desires for our communities
- Co-responsibility for the Church’s mission
Reforms of the Second Vatican Council
In the 1960s, higher education institutions and theologians helped shape the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. As Vatican News explains, these ideas emphasized the laity’s “participation in the life and mission of the Church.”
CENTERS continues this legacy. Following the vision of the Second Vatican Council, the Synod on Synodality, and the continuing work of Pope Leo XIV, we empower individuals to listen and walk together on a national and institutional scale.
Synodality and CENTERS
CENTERS seeks to resource people at every level of the Catholic Church to listen first, discern together, and then act in mission.
We want to be like a breadmaker kneading dough. Through the partnerships it will foster in campuses, parishes, and diocesan communities around the country, our collaboration will pull the edges toward the center, sharing decision-making with those on the periphery to grow co-responsibility for the Church’s mission. It is not an accident that our acronym is plural. We enact and resource local, national, and international collaboration.
How does your gift support the synodal Church?
Lilly Endowment awarded a $10 million grant to CENTERS as part of a large-scale collaboration within Pathways for Tomorrow, an initiative that helps theological schools address the challenges of preparing pastors for present and future congregational leadership.
Rooted in prayer and attentive to the Holy Spirit, we have entered into a matching period using $2.5 million of the Lilly Endowment grant. From now to October 2027, every $1 that you donate to CENTERS becomes $3.50 through a 2.5:1 match. Every $10 becomes $35. Every $100 becomes $350. In this campaign, we aim to raise $1,000,000 to build a $3,500,000 endowment that will sustain CENTERS’ long-term formation and work.
While our efforts constantly evolve, your gift to CENTERS today supports the synodal Church through:
- The funding of a permanent operating budget
- The foundation and support of the Adsumus Fellowship, a synodal leadership program for ministry students
- Formation programs, retreats, and symposia to share best practices of synodality across our four regional hubs and expand our network
- National CENTERS assemblies to deepen our collaboration
- Supplemental tools and resources that leaders can immediately use in parishes, dioceses, and Catholic nonprofits
- Local synodality-related building projects at our participating colleges and universities
The adsumus fellowship program
The Adsumus Fellowship hones the intellectual passion and ministerial skills of the next generation of pastoral ministers. The program name comes from the ancient prayer to the Holy Spirit that opened both Vatican II and the Synod on Synodality. Aligned with the language of the Adsumus prayer, we train Church leaders to say, “Here we are, at the ready.”
This fellowship invites a select cohort of graduate and advanced undergraduate students from CENTERS’ 16-university network to help build a more participatory, inclusive, and Spirit-led Church. The curriculum draws on the Vatican-approved Discerning Leadership Program to provide ministry and pastoral theology students with dynamic synodal training and collaborative project opportunities.
Support your university through CENTERS
CENTERS is a path for you to directly benefit your alma mater or nearby institution. We organize 16 Catholic colleges and universities into four hubs across the U.S. Each hub is led by four of our partner institutions, which coordinate regional networking opportunities, learning events, and joint initiatives. By giving to CENTERS through any of our partners, you promote our efforts on that campus and in that area, and you become a catalyst for the spiritual renewal and structural reform at the heart of becoming a more participatory and collaborative Church. To help us sustain the Adsumus Fellowship program for many years beyond the grant period, donate to CENTERS through Loyola University Chicago.
Join this historic moment in the synodal Church
Grounded in the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, CENTERS helps individuals and institutions support the growth of a more participatory and collaborative Church. At a 2.5:1 match rate, you can have a meaningful impact by donating today.