We are on a mission, and by now, everyone who is part of Holy Family knows what that mission is: love God, love others, make disciples. And certainly, people probably have a good idea of what this mission means, and understand that it was Jesus who gave us this mission. In his encyclical (?) “Evangelii Gaudium” Pope Francis speaks of his dream “of a missionary option…” which calls all faithful to follow this mission given to us by Christ to build up the church by reaching out to each other and evangelizing the world. It is about gathering the people of God, not the self-preservation of the church as an organization.
Well, now that we know what we are called to do, and who we are to be, how do we get there? Before we can embark on a journey, we need to know clearly where we are going and how we will get there. This could be considered a “strategic plan”, but with the faithful intentions of the church.
Our Parish leadership team has been participating in a process over the past several months with guidance from the Amazing Parish team in Colorado which supports Catholic parishes around the world. During this time, we have worked to identify and establish the answers to 6 specific questions to bring real clarity to our journey from here. Over the next few weeks, we will present and explain this work and our answers to the clarity questions. This work has been extremely enlightening for us, and has brought not only the motivation, but also the needed attitude and enthusiasm to proceed with our continued journey to fulfill our parish mission. In the meantime, I invite you to consider these important questions:
- Why do we exist?
- How do we behave?
- What do we do?
- How will we succeed?
- What is most important right now?
- Who does what?
Please continue to pray for our parish, our mission, and for us as we endeavor to bring clarity of our purpose to everyone engaged in Holy Family Parish.
