The following is the text of the Archbishop's Homily given at the noon Mass on Wednesday, October 7, 1998, formally announcing the beginning of the archdiocesan synod:

My dear brothers and sisters, we stand on the threshold of the Great Jubilee, commemorating the birth of Jesus 2,000 years ago.

We are also on the threshold of a new century and a new millennium. These events cause us to prepare for the future.

What will the future bring? Pope John Paul II, in his apostolic letter on the Great Jubilee, says - and does so in a very prophetic way - the Great Jubilee will reveal a new springtime of faith and of Christian living.

But he adds, if we are docile to the Holy Spirit.

After much prayer and reflection on the circumstances and the situations in our diocese and in the world of today, and after much consultation, I have decided to call for an archdiocesan synod to help us prepare as the Church of Vancouver for the future, to help us to be docile to the Spirit and to where it will lead us in the future.

Today is an historic day in the history of our archdiocese. We officially begin our synodal process and we do so on the feast of our Lady of the Holy Rosary, who is our archdiocesan patroness. Mary is the model of perfect docility to the Holy Spirit. We pray to her today asking that by her example and intercession she may teach us how to listen to the Holy Spirit, how to be guided and empowered by Him in such a way that we can contribute to the coming of that new springtime of faith and Christian living.

How does one listen to the Holy Spirit? How does the Holy Spirit speak to us? Basically, the Holy Spirit speaks to us in three ways.

First of all, by the very fact that we are baptized we have become temples of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives within us and He speaks within us, within each and every one of us. He does so sometimes very gently, sometimes very forcefully, but He does speak to us in the depth and silence of our soul by His movement, His promptings, His inspirations.

He speaks in that manner to each and every one of us and we must listen to the voice of the Spirit speaking through each and everyone, while at the same time being careful to discern His voice from the voice of the bad spirit who also speaks to us.

We must not confuse the voice of the bad spirit for the voice of the good Spirit, and so we must learn to be very discerning lest we be misled.

A second way and a very special way in which the Holy Spirit speaks to us is through the Word of God, as it comes to us in sacred Scripture, in sacred Tradition, as interpreted by the Magisterium of the Church.

A third way in which the Spirit speaks to us, and again in a special way, is through the "signs of the times." This expression, the "signs of the times," was coined and first used by Pope John XXIII at the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, and at that time he invited the universal Church to listen to the signs of the times and to discern what the Spirit was saying to us.

In more recent years since the Second Vatican Council, a number of theologians have given a different name to the signs of the times, and they call it the existential Word of God, because God does speak to us through the signs of the times.

What are the signs of the times? How does one listen to the voice of the Spirit speaking to us through the existential Word of God? Basically we listen to that word by taking note of the concrete happenings, the concrete events, the circumstances, the needs of our Church and of our world; and secondly by taking note of our resources, our gifts, and our talents and our abilities to meet those needs.

Let me give a very simple and rudimentary example. Suppose I am walking down the sidewalk and as I walk along I see a lady coming out of a grocery store with two big packages of groceries, and as she goes over the threshold she slips, falls and breaks her leg. That is an existential happening, it's concrete, it's happening before my eyes.

Now from the written Word of God I know that I must love my neighbour. This concrete happening tells me how I must love my neighbour here and now. This existential event, this existential Word, tells me how I must love this lady here and now: namely by making her as comfortable as I can and by calling an ambulance. A sign of the times.

In our synodal process we will strive to listen to the Spirit as He speaks to us in all three ways: interiorly in our souls; through the written Word of God and Tradition; and through the signs of the times through the existential Word of God which will tell us concretely what God wishes of us here and now and for the future.

Reflecting on the written Word of God, I believe there are three basic messages, really fundamental messages that are particularly relevant for our synod.

The first of these clearly, in the written Word of God, is that God wants the salvation of every human being, and that's why Our Lord gave us the mandate and the mission: Go, make disciples of all nations. He wants the salvation of all, and he sends us to make disciples of all.

Second, the message in the written Word of God. God calls each and every one of us to holiness: not just a few, all of us. Jesus said, "Be ye perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect."

He was speaking to each and every one of us.

A third important message for us in the written Word of God is that God calls each and every one of us to the apostolate. He calls each and every one of us to participate in carrying out His mandate and mission. Jesus said, "As the Father sent me, so now I am sending you."

As Pope John Paul points out, when Jesus spoke these words, He was not just speaking to the 12 fishermen from Galilee. He was speaking to each and every one of us, to every baptized member of the Church.

During our synod, I believe we must listen deeply to these basic messages of the written Word of God through which the Spirit is speaking to us, but during the synod we must also read the signs of the times. We must reflect on the concrete circumstances and on the needs of humanity in the world and on the needs of the Church in the world of today, and then we must also reflect on our resources, talents, gifts and abilities that God has given us to meet these needs.

What do the signs of the times tell us about the world and the Church of today? I think there are basically four signs that tell us about the needs and challenges presented to us by the world and the Church in the world today.

The first sign is that many Catholics in our world of today have become de-Christianized and unchurched.

Statistics suggest that in B.C., one third of Catholics practise their faith regularly, one third practise their faith occasionally, and one third practise their faith rarely or not at all.

This concrete fact says something. It is a sign of the times.

There is a second important and basic sign of the times and that is that in our neighbours there are many Christians who are not in full communion with the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. This, too, is a sign of the times, and calls for our redemption, our concern, and our passion. It is not an option. Jesus did say, "Let them be one as You, Father, and I are one."

We must work for Christian unity.

A third sign of the times is this: There are in our midst many people who have not heard of Christ or do not believe in Him. In the Vancouver area, we probably have a higher percentage of these than in any other city of Canada. This tells us something. This is something to reflect on, it is a challenge to us.

Finally, the fourth sign of our times is that our society has been invaded by secularism, and another word for secularism is Godlessness. In our society God is not important.

We live in a society that in a great measure has lost the sense of God, has lost the sense of the holy and the sacred, and consequently also has lost the sense of sin, the sense of the sacredness of human life, the sense of the sacredness of marriage, the sense of the sacredness of family, and has lost also in a great measure the sense of right and wrong, and true and false.

These signs demonstrate the needs and the challenges of our world today, but there are also other signs, signs of hope and promise and potential.

First of all, it is quite obvious in our world of today that people in our world of today are spiritually hungry. They are looking for meaning and purpose in life and peace of soul.

Secondly, in our world we also notice a new hunger and love for sacred Scriptures, for the Word of God.

Thirdly, in our world of today we see a growing appreciation for prayer, manifested by the multiplication of prayer groups in recent years, a new phenomenon in the life of the Church, a promising phenomenon.

Fourth, we are also witnessing another hopeful sign in that there is a significant yearly growth in the number of those who join the Church; this is encouraging.

Fifth, we also witness in our Church today a growing desire among the clergy and among the laity to become a more evangelizing, outreaching, mission-driven Church. There is a desire to move from a maintenance model of Church to a growth- and mission-driven Church.

Sixth, in our society we also see, and in our Church we see, a growing desire among the laity to become personally involved in evangelizing. This is a sign of great hope.

Seventh, we see also another promising sign in our Church and that is the promising response of our youth to our youth ministry programs in the archdiocese. Our youth are responding, and that gives us hope because they, the youth, are the hope of the future.

Eighth, we see in our society also a growing passion for justice, for human rights, and concern for the poor; this is a sign of hope.

Finally, we see in our society a general dissatisfaction with the way things are going and a desire for a change of direction. This, too, is a sign of hope because every great achievement always begins with a desire.

I look to the future with great anticipation and hope, and I look to the synod with great anticipation and hope, and I really believe that new springtime graces are already beginning to blow over us.

And so I invite you today to join me in prayer asking the Blessed Mother Mary, the model of docility to the Holy Spirit, to help us be docile to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our synodal process, so that the new springtime of faith and Christian living may become a reality.

I now conclude by reading the official decree convoking our synod:

"By this decree I convene the fourth diocesan synod of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, to be held in accordance with the prescriptions of Canons 460 to 468 of the Code of Canon Law. The formal sessions of the synod will take place in the context of the year 2000, the Great Jubilee of our redemption.

This synod is convened after I have consulted the presbyteral council and judged that the circumstances of our archdiocese and the challenges of the approaching millennium suggest its value for the building up of the church of Vancouver.

By this decree I call on all the clergy and faithful of the archdiocese to take an active part in the synod process, as they are able, and to hold themselves ready for appointment to the synod or to its commissions.

I also request the prayers and sacrifices of all, to ensure that the synod begins and is carried out in a climate of true docility to the Holy Spirit, guided by that same Spirit to discern the mission of our local church in communion with the Church universal.

Signed the seventh day of October by myself."

God bless you.