Sunday September 29, 2024
Father Ric Serra passed on September 17th. People speak about him as a compassionate leader who cared about people and empowered them. During his tenure at Saint Joachim as pastor, the Parish Center Offices, Stoneman and Nevin Hall debt was retired. Father Serra was also grateful to have had a parish pastoral council, as am I. Our current members know our past, help bear the burdens of today, and have the collective wisdom and faith to discern our shared future together. The boxes below show how our pastoral plan is developing. Previously, we identified Evangelization and Stewardship as the buckets that contain themes identified by members of the council for attention. At our September meeting, we refined our focus for the next two to three years.
The highlighted themes, Youth, Family Faith Formation and Welcome & Hospitality will be our pastoral priorities for the next two to three years. By November, members of the council will form committees for each of these three areas and begin their work. The three-fold task of the council is to research what we are doing, consider enhancements or new possibilities, and then make recommendations to the pastor. The items that are circled in red are elements that are currently being addressed. We will have a parish retreat and speaker series for the year of hope that begins this November (see next week’s bulletin for more details). A subcommittee of our Finance Council on stewardship has already been formed to address our Sunday Offertory. During Fall of this year and next, we will encourage parishioners to make their weekly offertory electronically. We would like to move our enrollment with electronic giving through Faith Direct from nearly 100 to 700. Parish and school administration are actively considering ways to make our school more accessible and affordable to registered parishioners too. Please pray for members of our parish pastoral council and their ongoing work.
In Christ,
Rev. Robert P. Capone
