Review of Parish Council Priorities (5:45-6:50pm)
All members have 5-7min to share their ideas
- Use of resources
- Recognize those who spend their time volunteering and encourage others to do the same, use of parishioner skill/talent
- Certificate of gratitude for volunteers
- Promoting our faith in the community
- Postcards during certain times of the year, with messages that remind them about their church community and reminds them to come back
- Enhancement of our worship space
- Include suggested image/design?
- Helps create a space that motivates parishioners to come consistently
- Reflection day
- Hire someone for liturgy, speeches to the community, help make us better leaders
- Young adult group
- Have them convene 2-3 times a month at our church and express their feelings with bible scripture
- Space to share about daily life, be proactive and spread their faith
- Community
- Youth group and Young Adult group
- Partnerships with other parishes in OC, maybe host monthly bible studies?
- Create a space for people to convene
- Youth room?
- Convocation -> learned that there is a grant proposal we can participate in to earn funding for a specific project related to our parish
- Field trips to take youth to community service projects
- Attend conferences
- Youth group and Young Adult group
- Formation
- Have retreats for parents to learn about their faith and how to raise their family in faith
- Tutoring services for children, help educate our youth
- Worship
- Parish Music group – encourage our community singing as one, brings us together and creates a more welcoming environment for others
- Community
- Building community with St. Joachim School
- Start a Day of Adoration with the school
- Encourage members of the church to get involved, use of parishioner skill/talent
- Liturgy is priority, doing it well, will invite more people to get closer to the church
- Help people feel welcome and connect the parishioners with the St. Joachim School community
- Find ways for more people in our community to receive Eucharist, no one should feel left out
- Educate parents about raising their children in the Catholic faith
- Focus should be on our new generations
- Alpha is a great group to raise more awareness of for building community within our church
- Scholarships for kids within the church
- Renew our faith with our parishioners through retreats maybe?
- Focus on evangelization
- Community
- Should be more than just sharing our faith, should be our community becoming one
- We should welcome everyone, so that they want to come back and spread the word
- Have a community that is open to encounter Jesus
- Worship
- Action of the faith
- Service of prayer to bring together communities
- Community and worship go hand in hand
- Formation
- Focus should be on parents (and catechists), just as much as we do with children
- Leadership and stewardship
- Leadership creates community and stewardship
- Make use of the talent in our community
- Create a checklist of needs in our church and share with community
- In this way, we can reach out to parishioners and see them use their skills/talents
- Not only makes them feel like they are part of something important, but also keeps them closer to the church
- Community
- Create a welcoming feeling for new and current parishioners to join as one
- Create events and/or activities that can foster a family atmosphere, gets everyone involved, no matter what age
Reflection: What did we each hear as a common theme? (6:50-6:56pm)
- Importance of community to make people feel welcome, and to those that are already here, create a sense of community. Also, seems to be lack of programs for youth, formation for parents/families, creating community between school and church
- Pray together with all communities, more profound connection to sacraments, and create space of community
- Need for us to be a community, youth need our help and make them feel part of our parish, every single person, regardless of age, feeding our souls and making our home (the church) look clean and welcoming, eucharist focus
- Welcoming space where people feel beloved and part of the church, and encouraging parishioners to share their talents
- Focus on community, building a welcoming and comfortable environment within the church for people to come to worship, and encouraging the talent and skill from our community to get involved
- Feeling of belonging in our community, devotion to worship and Eucharist, environment for young people to stay in the church
- Worship, creating a welcoming space, build our community, share our intense joy for the love of Christ, more activities for people to share their experiences, people want to be heard
- Building community, strengthening our physical, emotional and spiritual connection to the church, create a welcoming environment
Closing remarks from Father Capone (6:56-7:05pm)
Setting up pastoral priorities for our council (2-3 total) as a group will be discussed in next meeting
Common themes within all our ideas
Briefly review finances of the church: cash flow funding, no funds towards extraordinary programs at this time, actively exploring ways to enhance revenue streams
Closing prayer