I my letters of the last five weeks I have been introducing you to the five “best practices” for revitalizing the Catholic Community as presented in Everyone Leads by Chris Lowney. I am hoping that we will keep these in mind as we move ahead into the New Year. The unpacking of them in these letters can be found on our parish website. The nonmonic device he uses is EASTeR:
1. Entrepreneurial
2. Accountable
3. Serve the poor and marginalized
4. Transform each worshipper’s heart and soul
5. Reach out to the world beyond our doors
I hope you all know by now that I encourage creativity (entrepreneurial spirit) and accountability. We strive to serve the poor and marginalized in many ways. We work together through preaching, retreats, worship, and listening to transform our hearts and souls. The place we need the most work is reaching out beyond our doors. This is where we are going to place our efforts in the New Year of 2018.
To assist us in beefing up our efforts to reach out and move beyond the comfort of our parish I am asking us all to work together:
1. If you know someone who is alienated from the church, invite them back! Even if it is to a parish event, rather than to Mass. Invite them to the wine, cheese and chocolate event in January, the Mardi Gras Celebration in February, Italian night in April; you get the idea. Give them an opportunity to meet our Catholic Community and be welcomed.
2. If you know someone who has stopped coming to worship with our Catholic Community because they feel judged, or been told they cannot receive communion, please invite them to come and talk with me. Lots of misinformation is out there. I am happy to assist people to come and be fed both by word and Sacrament (Eucharist).
3. On January 19th and 20th Xaverian Fr. Carl Chudy will lead our annual retreat and address the challenge of talking to family and friends who are alienated from church and how to welcome them back.
4. The Stewardship and the Community Engagement teams are joining their efforts in planning monthly events to accomplish goal number using resource materials from Stephen Ministry.
This is just the beginning of our efforts. As the New Year approaches, lets us all make a concerted effort to REACH OUR BEYOND OUR DOORS!