This is now my fifth posting to you describing the work of our Sacred Heart of Jesus Pastoral Council over the course of this year.
In my previous posting we looked at our Vision Inspired Priorities. There are also Problem Solving Priorities and Developmental (or Organizational) Priorities that our Pastoral Council and I came to agree upon as our agenda for the coming year, and by which we will evaluate the endeavors of our parish a year from now.
Now let’s look at the problems we face. One is that we need to augment our common sense of competence and confidence as Catholics, especially as our world is becoming more disengaged with God and religion. The other problem we face is that sometimes it can feel like we have three parishes: those who attend Mass on Sunday and are English speaking; and those who attend Mass on Sundays and are Spanish speaking; and those who send their children to our school. So, let’s see what we came up with:
Problem Solving Priorities
- Create competent and confident Catholics.
Identify doubts and questions that separate Catholics
from Christ and His Church. Determine and use what
motivates people to be confident and competent
Catholics to answer the identified doubts and
questions.
- One SHJ parish: English-Spanish-Church-School
Review successful examples of integrated
communities; assess existing barriers to unity and
parish efforts to promote unity. Prioritize next
steps in order to celebrate our unity in Christ.
Now let’s look at our Developmental (or Organizational) Priorities:
Developmental (Organizational) Priorities
- Harmonize parish processes with Archdiocesan processes.
Identify Archdiocese processes relevant to SHJ and
determine where SHJ is not in compliance.
Determine required changes in order to bring SHJ into
compliance.
- Improve facilities to be more conducive to Christian formation.
Review and evaluate the current SHJ Master Plan.
Prioritize improvements to support SHJ ministries and
to help people find God present in all SHJ facilities.
Sometimes we can have so many irons in the fire and so many aging elements of our facilities that we can not know where to begin. With these priorities set, we can take some new leaps in being better how we serve each other.
Lastly, what are the next steps?
- Subcommittees will be formed for each of the Priorities
- Each Subcommittee needs to identify specific tasks for its priority.
Tasks need to be SMART – Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Relevant and Time-Based.
- We need the help, wisdom and investment of all of our parishioners. In the coming months you will be notified of the specific areas for which we will be needing volunteers.
Please prayerfully review the priorities and see if there is one you would like work on. Then, consider volunteering for one of the subcommittees. We need both specific expertise and a willingness to help.