September – October 2019: The conclusions and recommendations of the V National Encuentro are scheduled to be published by the bishops of the United States.
September 7, 2019: The implementation phase of the V National Encuentro commenced with Episcopal Regions V and XIV celebrating province gatherings in the Southeastern United States. The first Province Encuentro was celebrated at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Tampa with close to 200 representatives from all the Florida dioceses in attendance. Archbishop Thomas Wenski presided over the opening Mass, followed by presentations and breakout sessions to review strategies identified at the Regional Encuentro and the preliminary findings of the V National Encuentro to help create a plan for Regions V and XIV.
September 20-22, 2018: National gathering of the V Encuentro took place with 300 delegates from our Region XIV traveling to Texas for this historical event. There were 3,470 participants, including 125 bishops. Findings and recommendations from the 14 episcopal regions were gathered and presented to the bishops of the United States. Twenty-two delegates from the Diocese of St. Petersburg attended the V National Encuentro.
February 22-25, 2018: Regions V and XIV participated in the V National Regional Encuentro. Thirty-four delegates were able to represent the Diocese of St. Petersburg at this gathering of the 30 dioceses of the Southeastern United States.
February 12, 2018: Bishop Parkes met with diocesan delegates and commissioned them to represent the Diocese of St. Petersburg at both the regional and national gatherings.
October 14, 2017: The Diocesan Team planned and organized a diocesan wide V Encuentro gathering at the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle. Parish teams and representatives from each parish participating attended the gathering. Parishes prepared their Parish Reports and shared their encuentro process experience and their findings at the diocesan gathering. The Diocesan Encuentro helped to engage the parish teams and the Diocesan Team as they formulated a diocesan wide report that included the findings of the encuentro process. During that Diocesan Encuentro, 24 delegates were chosen to participate in the V National Regional Encuentro gathering scheduled for February 2018 in the Archdiocese of Miami and the V National Encuentro gathering in Texas. The Diocesan Encuentro concluded with the celebration of the annual Diocesan Hispanic Mass presided by Bishop Gregory Parkes and concelebrated by Bishop Arturo Cepeda, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit.
July – August, 2017: Parishes organized parish V Encuentros gatherings to receive the information collected by the missionary actions after each session. Parish wide reports were prepared with their findings.
February – June, 2017 Parish Reflection Time with the Five Themes:
The themes of the sessions were inspired by Pope Francis in The Joy of the Gospel n. 24.
• Called to a loving encounter with Jesus
• With words and actions: Do it!
• Walking together with Jesus
• Bearing fruits of new life
• Celebrating the joy of being missionary disciples
NOTE: After each reflection time a missionary action was encouraged. Parishes worked with leaders of groups/small communities to implement the reflection sessions, gathering and recording information from their participation in the process. The work of reflection, consultation, and information gathering was crucial and very important. Historically, the encuentros have helped the bishops, priests, deacons,religious and laity leaders as they pastorally address and respond to the various needs they have encountered over the years. This work will also help as we carefully plan for the formation of future leaders for our church.