Mr. Chinh V. Dinh of South Philadelphia has been appointed to a General Preparatory Commission for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Synod which will be held in the Fall of 2002. A Synod gathers the members of the local Church to consider prayerfully and seriously the current state of the Church's life in order to create a vision and a plan for the future. Mr. Dinh belongs to Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish and is a mechanical engineer. He and his wife, Quy Dinh, have two sons: Giang and Christopher. Mr. Dinh is President of the Vietnamese Catholic Community of Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish, member of the Parish Pastoral Council and Treasurer for the Holy Name Society. Mr. Dinh came to the United States as a refugee in 1975 after the fall of the Republic of Vietnam.

The Synod to be held in the Fall of 2002 is an historic event in the lives of the people of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It has been sixty-eight years since the Archdiocese held a Synod. The calling of this Tenth Synod for the Archdiocese by Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, Archbishop of Philadelphia, is the culmination of a series of planning programs. It affords the Archbishop a special opportunity for him to hear the voice of his people on their hopes, concerns and desires for the faith they hold in communion with him and one another.

Mr. Dinh is one of twenty-seven people appointed to the General Preparatory Commission for the Synod. He said, "It is a privilege and an honor to be a GPC member. People should be interested in the Synod because it is a wonderful opportunity for them to have their voice heard in promoting the three-fold responsibility of the Archbishop: to teach, to govern and to sanctify."

The members of the General Preparatory Commission are charged with writing a Directory which guides the preparations for the Synod and the norms for conducting its meetings. One of the important tasks of the Commission is to devise a method for all of the people of the Archdiocese to express their needs and concerns to Cardinal Bevilacqua as input for the Archbishop's eventual selection of the topics for the Synod. The consultation of the people to hear their "voices" will be in two parts. The first part, this fall, will ask them to write down their own needs and hopes. The second part, in the spring of 2002, will ask them to respond to possible topics during assemblies or regional meetings.

The sessions of the Synod will be held on several days during Fall 2002. The matters that are placed before the Synod at its sessions will result in recommendations to be considered by the Archbishop. Additional information about the Tenth Synod of Philadelphia at www.synod-phl.org.

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