Saint Patrick Catholic Church Fayetteville, North Carolina

Transcription

1 Saint Patrick Catholic Church Fayetteville, North Carolina Parish Pastoral Plan January 2014 December 2017 Mission Statement As the oldest Catholic parish in North Carolina, under the patronage of Saint Patrick, we are a diverse and evolving community who seeks to know God through the Word, the Eucharist and the Sacraments. We gather a grateful people committed to a life of stewardship. Striving to fulfill our baptismal promises, we practice a life of prayer, minister to the poor, and remain open to God s call to change. June 9, 2014 Format and Content revision approved on January 14, 2015

2 Mission Statement: As the oldest Catholic parish in North Carolina, under the patronage of Saint Patrick, we are a diverse and evolving community who seeks to know God through the Word, the Eucharist and the Sacraments. We gather a grateful people committed to a life of stewardship. Striving to fulfill our baptismal promises, we practice a life of prayer, minister to the poor, and remain open to God s call to change. I. Pastor s Vision Statement. As we strive to live the message of Jesus Christ and implement our mission statement we do so using a relational strategy. This strategy encompasses seven pastoral areas: worship, education, faith formation, evangelization, outreach, stewardship and administration. Council members are tasked to be liaison and points of contact in addressing the (5) national and (2) diocesan priorities entrusted to us as they relate to our local community. II. III. Financial Environment of the Parish a. Offertory and budget comparison for FY2012 and Offertory from FY2012 to FY2013 remained stable and the parish ended the FY on budget. As a result of our parish wide Capital Campaign project (Church, parish hall renovation, and parking lot) we have a $2 million debt to the diocese. Our projected income for upcoming FY is $1.5 million (Offertory) and $1.2 million (SPCS revenues). b. Key school numbers. The parish school has been a challenge during the construction of the new parish church. The Family Life/Gymnasium was used as the temporary worship space for two years which challenged the growth of the student body at the school. From 2011 to present our beginning school year enrollment (excluding the part time Pre-K) has been: 2011: 215 students 2012: 193 students; 2013: 186 students. Enrollment for the fall of 2014 is currently at 202 students. c. Economic impact. The downturn in the overall economy over the past several years did not adversely affect the overall financial stability of the parish. With the completion of our new church and parish hall and stable offertory we feel confident in our financial stability for the coming year. d. Parish Growth. Saint Patrick formally dedicated the new church in the spring of 2014 with a 1200 capacity worship space. We currently average faithful souls attending our four Sunday liturgies. 276 new families have registered during the past FY. We also had 219 families un-register. Mass attendance has remained steady throughout the year with no noticeable increase/decrease during the vacation months. Priorities and Goals Promote the Life and Dignity of the Human Person Page 3 Focus on Faith Formation and Sacramental Practice Page 4 Promote Cultural Diversity Page 5 Promote Vocations to the Priesthood and Consecrated Life Page 5 Implement the Pastoral Initiative on Marriage and Support Family Life Page 6 Practice the Effective Stewardship of Resources Page 6 Plan for the effective Management of Growth Page 7 2

3 1. Promote the Life and Dignity of the Human Person (Pastoral areas of Evangelization & Outreach) Goal A: Maintain a Respect Life committee and promote Respect Life in the parish. 1. Annually participate in the January National Right to Life Rally and March in Washington, D.C. 2. Annual participate in the parish Meet and Greet program (in February) in conjunction with Youth Pro-Life group. 3. Provide a booth at the Cumberland County Fair in 2014 (and subsequent years). Goal B: Provide pastoral care to the deceased of our parish 1. Recruit ministers to serve at funeral liturgies. 2. Recruit and train volunteers to lead various services. 3. Renew the experience of LEAN ON ME by providing a more structured program to this experience for widows and widowers. Goal C: Promote outreach to assisted living, nursing homes and homebound through our Saint Camillus Ministry. 1. To ensure that all St. Patrick parishioners that are homebound and/or assisted living residents are visited by members of the parish 2. To continue stronger lines of communication with homebound/nursing home residents at least on a quarterly basis. 3. Visit Cape Fear Valley Medical Center on a more frequent basis. Goal D: Provide parish representation to the Fayetteville Deanery Catholic Charity Outreach Center. Attend quarterly meetings and report at the following PC meeting. Goal E: Provide assistance to seniors in need within our parish and our community. 1. To provide simple meals for parishioners who are returning home from a hospital stay and need a little temporary help until they can get back on their feet. 2. To provide transportation to and from doctor s appointments to those of our parish who have no means of getting there. 3. To offer respite time for those who are the caretakers of spouse/family members. Goal F: Promote the dignity of individuals through stronger families (Family Life Ministry) 1. To offer Family Honor programs, such as Changes & Challenges for sixth graders and their parents and Real Love & Real Life for seventh and eighth graders, that focuses on upholding the virtue of chastity and encourages communicating effectively on important life values. 2. To organize family teams to implement family programs such as Active Parenting Today series, Family Talk and STEP. 3

4 3. Work with the Pastoral Associate, the Coordinator of Youth Minister and the Principal of Saint Patrick School to enhance parent-child communication allowing an increase ease and ability for parent/child communication skills. 4. To build up community among the maturing adult members of the parish, Seniors 55+ Ministry by offering programs of fellowship and spirituality. 5. Develop a Family Faith Time Program. 6. To minister to those suffering from failed marriages with a Separated and Divorced Ministry. Goal G: Provide outreach to the Poor through Home Works of America 1. Work on twelve houses using approximately100 volunteers during the Fayetteville Home Works session, June 2014 and each subsequent year. 2. Develop the necessary organizational structure for successful completion of the Home Works of America mission. Goal H: Outreach to homeless families in the greater Fayetteville Area by providing temporary housing and meals in a Christian environment to homeless families every thirteen weeks through our Nazareth House Ministry. Goal I: Continued support of prison ministries in Cumberland County. 2. Focus on Faith Formation and Sacramental Practice (Pastoral areas of Faith Formation & Worship) Goal A: Continued implementation of Vatican II, USCCB, Diocesan Bishop and local parish vision and expectations for worship. 1. Provide on-going formation for liturgical ministers. 2. Establish and development of Ministries. 3. Write guidelines and instruction with an explanation of the tasks for the liturgical ministries of a) Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, b) Reader, c) Sacristan, d) Altar Server, e) Ministry of Hospitality (Usher/Greeter). 4. Develop a Liturgical Ministries Team that will oversee the formation/scheduling and concerns for each liturgical ministry. Goal B: Provide music and develop music ministry program to enhance our worship experience during Mass. 1. Encourage full and meaningful participation by the assembly at liturgy. 2. Maintain and improve the effectiveness of all Parish Choirs (Adult, Handbell, Children s, & Spanish). 3. Purchase an organ for the new sanctuary. 4. Re-institute the organ scholar program. 5. To coordinate with and provide support to the school music teacher with regard to the liturgical preparation of the school choir and cantors. 4

5 Goal C: R.C.I.A. Programs. 1. Reevaluate the Catechumenal formation process for those already baptized in order to better serve their needs. Form a sponsoring community (instead of an individual parish sponsors) of five to six parishioners to pray, study, and serve with each baptized Candidate. 2. Expand the use of this Rite for children of catechetical age. Goal D: Develop an on-going process for those seeking to return to the Catholic Church. Goal E: Provide continuing opportunities for Faith Formation and Sacramental Preparation. 1. Insure Saint Patrick School provides faith formation as part of their curriculum. 2. Vacation Bible School (Pre-school through 5 th grade). 3. Provide adult Faith Formation for Adult programs Goal F: Conduct annual parish mission and days of reflection. 3. Promote Cultural Diversity (Pastoral areas of Outreach) Goal A: Increase awareness of our Hispanic community. 1. Use the model of ministry called Pastoral de Conjunto. This indicates that all parish ministries work together for the good and well-being of the entire parish. 2. Draw more people into responsible participation as a response to their baptismal call, for missions and work of the Catholic faith community. 3. Develop and maintain a wide range of pastoral and Sacramental ministries that include the areas of Word, Worship, Service, Education, and Stewardship. 4. Promote Vocations to the Priesthood and Consecrated Life (Pastoral area of Faith Formation) Goal A: Support the vocation initiatives developed by the diocese Goal B: Continue our parish contact programs for seminarians. Goal C: Continued bi-monthly/monthly vocation awareness bulletin announcements to highlight the call of saints, vocation opportunities, etc. Goal D: Promote the Year of Consecrated Life ( ) and parish awareness of priest shortage in diocese during coming years. 5

6 5. Implement the Pastoral Initiative on Marriage and Support Family Life (Pastoral areas of Faith Formation & Outreach) Goal A: To organize and train married couples to be marriage sponsor couples (MSC) to walk the journey with the newly engaged to help prepare them for living the life long vocation of marriage, this will raise the number of MSC to six. Goal B: To maintain the program called Newly Married Ministry, designed to bring newly married couples, couples married for 3 years or less with common needs and concerns to support each other and to strengthen their faith commitment. Goal C: The formation of the ministry of marriage sacristan, these people involved in this ministry will be responsible for opening, setting up and closing the church for the marriage rehearsal and the ceremony itself. Goal D: Offer marriage enrichment programs throughout the year to strengthen married couples beginning with one program series the first year and working up to three programs annually. An example includes offering programs such as The Third Option marriage enrichment program ( This program is a support group that discusses ways of strengthening and improving marriages that are strong or need some encouragement or support. 6. Practice the Effective Stewardship of Resources (Pastoral areas of Stewardship and Administration) Goal A: Highlight and promote parish organizations/ministries on a regular basis using the parish bulletin, website and Facebook media. Goal B: Conduct an annual Ministry Fair during the fall of each year. Goal C: Develop an aggressive Tuition Assistance/Endowment program that will increase participation and funding to support SPCS children seeking financial support. Goal D: Collaborate with Parish Finance Council in understanding future vision of parish, initiatives and relative costs. Goal E: Develop Excel spreadsheet matrix of the various fundraisers within the parish (Church and School). Goal F: Restructure/enhance the parish bulletin and website to become as user friendly as possible. Goal G: Show care and concern for our environment by participating in the Fayetteville Adopta-Street program. 6

7 Objective: 1. To provide an opportunity for St. Patrick parishioners to be good stewards of their environment and to enhance the appearance of one of the gateways to our city by monthly removal of litter from both sides of Person Street starting at Liberty Point (Bow Street), the original home of St. Patrick Church, to Highway Plan for the Effective Management of Growth (Pastoral areas of Stewardship and Administration) Goal A: Develop and implement an aggressive marketing strategy that seeks to increase in school enrollment. Goal B: Use of automatic bank draft and offertory envelopes as the preferred way of financial stewardship in the parish. 1. Welcome packet to all newcomers highlighting and encouraging the above. 2. Stewardship messages in the bulletin encouraging identified stewardship. 3. Publish the financial status of the parish in the bulletin highlighting specific goals and objectives e.g. above/below offertory projections; financial support to the needy during the previous quarter; major initiatives, improvements or repairs. 4. Linking identified parish participation to the Catholic rate for school tuition. Goal C: Promote and encourage tithing as financial stewardship to the parish. Goal D: Establish a welcoming committee for new parishioners. Pastoral Council will take leadership role in this initiative. Goal E: Maintain and promote the history of Saint Patrick Church (History and Archive Ministry) 1. Collect and maintain church s historic documents and artifacts. 2. Prepare, maintain and update historical displays in 3 display cases in the St. Brigid Hall and church. 3. Work with Historic Properties Manager for City of Fayetteville and Cumberland County for the historic preservation and archeological survey of the Saint Patrick Catholic Church cemetery and other sites. 4. Reach out to the Fayetteville faith community and share the rich and diverse Catholic history and heritage of Saint Patrick Catholic Church with other churches, civic organizations, professional organizations, and ministries. We place our trust in God and through the intercession of Saint Patrick our patron, we hope that our liturgies, prayers, education and good works will accomplish the goals set forth in our Parish Three Year Plan of