The NOVA Community has been in continuous existence since its first liturgy in January 1968. This liturgy followed encouragement from the diocese, submission of a proposal, and then a letter of approval from the bishop. From the beginning the community has been lay-led and bound together by liturgy and social action. Over the years it has had the benefit of mostly non-diocesan priests located in the Washington, D.C. area to preside at the community’s liturgical celebrations.
In response to the American bishops’ statement “Called and Gifted: The American Catholic Laity” the community wrote, in July 1981:
“There are many exciting, innovative and promising forms of Christian community evolving throughout the country. These are experiencing successes and failures that are part of community building. Unfortunately, not enough is being done to collect and use these experiences to the benefit of the whole Church. We see NOVA as one of these models. We believe that our experience could be particularly helpful as we move to smaller communities. In this regard, we envision that the Church of the future will exist largely on the basis of small, communal groups of the People of God who will raise up ministers from their own as the need for ministry arises. We feel that this future dictates that thought and care be devoted to the development and nourishment of embryonic, sub-parish groups and communities.”
The community’s preparation of this response for the Synod on Synodality follows a pattern common to many its activities. Those interested responded to a call – in this case, a call extending beyond the community itself. Two small groups consisting of both NOVA members and other Catholics, including one from a local parish, others from elsewhere in the U.S. and one from Liverpool, England. Each group met eleven times between January and June of this year. The key purpose of these gatherings was to probe the following questions:
A synodal Church, in announcing the Gospel, “journeys together.” How is this “journeying together” happening today in your local Church? What steps does the Spirit invite us to take in order to grow in our “journeying together”? (PD, 26)