Sunday September 10, 2023
Thank you for your interest this third Sunday of the month in reading about what I perceive to be our parish plans and priorities. My role as pastor is to lead God’s people in love. I’ve visited families to get to know you and learn what you value most about Saint Joachim. I am also giving thought to models for collaborative leadership that allow the parish to benefit from the gifts and experience of our members to shape and guide our future. I hope we can establish a Parish Pastoral Council by Pentecost Sunday, May 19, 2024.
Father Mike formed the collaborative Parish Leadership Team (PLT) that inspired our mission statement: “We are a church where people encounter Jesus Christ.” Vision statements followed that emphasize spirituality, evangelization, and leadership. Participants in the Leadership Summit of June 2022 affirmed these three categories and added unity. Additionally, they emphasized that every initiative should be focused on youth, young adults, and young families. I think our mission statement and emphasis on spirituality, evangelization, leadership, and unity is truly inspired.
The Comite Hispano was formed in the 1980’s when Fr. Ken Krause was pastor. Composed of leaders of the different ministries in our Spanish speaking community, it started as a representative model for communication between clergy and Spanish-speaking parishioners. Today, the Comite Hispano is an active group of ministry leaders that carries out plans and initiatives of the PLT and clergy while also formulating some of their own.
I would like the PLT and Comite Hispano to continue as I invite you to join me in a process to create a new Parish Pastoral Council, which will do the long-range planning. Guided by the Holy Spirit, and reading the signs of the times, the Council will ask questions, like what is going on in the world, the Church and in Costa Mesa and discern how best to respond. The PLT, Comite Hispano and staff will strive to implement what emerges from the Parish Pastoral Council.
Sister Kit Gray, CSJ, met with staff in August to begin the educational phase and will accompany us in the months ahead as we plan on how best to select members for the Parish Pastoral Council. I will keep you posted through a regular series called “PARISH PASTORAL COUNCILS 101.” The first installment is the table below showing characteristics of the Parish Leadership Team (PLT) and Parish Pastoral Council.
In Christ,
Rev. Robert P. Capone