Dear Parish Family:
Summer Solstice began last Tuesday and sometimes we all want to simply get into a summer kind of mood and put our feet up and relax. However, here in the parish office we are working hard to implement all the decisions we make through our Pastoral Planning Team meetings. The leadership and decision-making team meets monthly to make sure that the ministry needs of the parish are on target for our community. I want to touch on a couple of those areas that we are working on.
These past few months we have been restructuring our major parish ministries. Something wasn’t quite right and we talked it out patiently with each other during and between meetings. I must say, it is wonderful to know that the leadership team is invested and concerned about how we function as a parish even as we talk with one another at coffee and, and communicate through e-mail and in the parking lot! What a dedicated group we have!
We will have five focus areas of ministry: Faith Formation, Worship, Operations, Stewardship and Community Engagement. More information regarding the mandates for these areas of ministry will be coming in a chart form as soon as we have articulated them well.
Youth engagement is a top priority! Our Faith Formation Team has been looking closely at ways to engage our Junior High youth members, those in grades 7 and 8 in ways that assist them in deepening their involvement in understanding and practicing their faith through a variety of fun, flexible formats. We constantly need to be reminded that faith is “caught” not taught and so sitting in a classroom setting, teaching our faith only plants seeds. We must put our faith into practice and make it a lived experience so that it takes hold.
I hear comments from many visitors after funerals, sacramental celebrations and weekend Mass on the vibrancy of our faith community. This doesn’t happen by chance. It is the dedication of our Pastoral Planning Team and our entire community and our desire to make all things new. It takes the commitment even in the summer months to put things into place so that we do not grow stale, but continue to listen attentively to the Word of God, and the needs of our faith community. The members of our PPT are listed in the bulletin each week. Take the opportunity to share your wisdom so that Sacred Heart can continue to grow as a dynamic faith community.
Fr. Bill