PAR
Newsletter
Parish Renewal & Assessment Report: May 2008
Dear Fellow Parishioners:
Many of you may have noticed the two new faces
buzzing around the parish late March
and early June and at least 110 of you actually met Father Tom Sweetser
and Sister
Peg Bishop at the Parish wide Town Meeting Sunday April 6th. With their
help, we,
the parish of Sts Patrick and Raphael, have participated in the Parish
Assessment
and Renewal (PAR) process. The results of the Survey, the information
gleaned from
individual interviews, the Town meeting and the efforts of more than 40
individual
members of our Parish who met on Saturday March 29 and Saturday April 13
all
informed our actions. We are now pleased to present you with the results
of the
process and our plans for moving forward. With the guidance of Father Tom and
Sister Peg we were challenged to
examine our current parish structure and transition to a new model that
will help us improve communication between all ministries, involve more parishioners
and improve collaboration between parishioners, lay leadership, parish
staff and pastor.
The information gathered through the
Survey, individual interviews and the
town meeting was the shared wisdom which guided your fellow parishioners
as we
worked with Father Tom and Sister Peg all day on Saturday April 12, 2008
to put
in place a new model of Parish decision making. Thank you to everyone who
has
given so generously of their time and talents over the past few months.
The sheer numbers of people with a sincere wish to help our Parish thrive as a
community
bodes well for our success.
Already we have created a new
governing model with five new commissions
with a focus on greater community involvement and communication. The
Commissions
are Worship, Outreach, Formation (Education), Community Life and
Administration.
Each Commission has already created a six month action plan and has
committed to
meeting on the first Tuesday of each month to work towards putting its
plan into action.
Our new motto is “Consult, Decide, Inform”. The Commissions will be
empowered
to make the decisions relating to their area so long as they have
consulted the
appropriate parties before making the decision and then inform the Parish
of their
decision. It is our hope this new model of governance and decision making
will
create a more inclusive atmosphere where all members of Sts Patrick and
Raphael
parish feel recognized and appreciated.
As our Parish moves forward in this
process we ask for your patience,
positive attitude, prayer and participation. We are taking a journey in
faith together.
PAR Oversight Committee
Fran
Flaherty Sandra King
C.J. Gillig Michelle Manners
Bob Iannitelli Glenn Rougeau
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