Our Pastoral Plan: Life

This Fall we will begin to roll out our 3-Year Pastoral Plan. The Plan is made up of 3 Collaborative Priorities: Eucharist, Life, and Vocations. Our Pastoral Council has spent the past year focusing on these priorities and how we as a Collaborative can engage each other, build community with common goals, and enhance our Christian Faith through outreach and education.  

While working on the Priorities we began to form teams to guide the process and help set up a plan to move forward. During this process I had decided to join the Respecting Life Team. This was something I had wrestled with for a while as it seemed on the surface to be outside my “comfort zone”. We all witnessed the Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court and then the turmoil that ensued, I thought it would be crazy to even try to engage and evangelize anyone in this current climate of disdain. I kept thinking about my comfort zone. As we engaged each month on Respecting Life Goals, I began to hear more and more opinions and new approaches. I began to challenge my own thought process and research other Christian approaches to Respecting Life. I really began to come out of that “comfort zone”, in fact I’m not sure why we “come out of our comfort zone” when in fact we allow more things into our comfort zone. So, I’m making my zone bigger! 

When Jesus began his ministry his twelve Apostles felt the same way, they each had their own comfort zone. So many times, in the Gospels do we read the overwhelming tasks and challenges they faced, even uncertainty. Whenever they questioned Jesus, he replied with a parable or even a question of them. Slowly he pulled them to expand their comfort zone! 

So here we are expanding our comfort zone. Our Respecting Life Team has set these goals to help in all aspects of life. We are focused on the whole life, from conception, natural death, and all aspects in between. We are most familiar with the conception piece and more recently with natural death and church teachings. We are also bringing into the mix the “everything in between”. We have all experienced various aspects of disruption and uncertainty under the “Covid” years, and we have learned that we all need more help than we would let on. So, this is where you can help us expand our comfort zones! 

Respecting Life Goals:  

1. Select and train 3-5 Stephen Ministers annually and have a trained group of 18-24 ministers that are at least 75% engaged with a care receiver.   
2. Organize and offer 3 to 6 opportunities to learn how to have meaningful end-of-life conversations based on Catholic beliefs and to accompany participants as they have these conversations.
3. Engage 10-20 people to participate in the national (January/DC) and state (October/Boston) walks for life in 2024 and increase that by 20% for each of the remaining years of the plan (2025 & 2026).   
4. Curate a list of resources of practical assistance for pregnant mothers, single parents, and young families in 6 months, and then engage parishioners to develop and implement 3-6 initiatives to support the needs of these special groups. 
5. Create 3-6 intergenerational activities that will encourage greater respect and support between different generations as they grow in faith, celebrate life, and serve others.   
6. Expand the St. Vincent de Paul Conference in Hull to include both parishes in the collaborative, educate parishioners of its value and create 3-5 opportunities for support of the Conference. 

Well, that’s the list! We have already started, and the best part is you have too! You’ve started by attending, by joining in, by signing up, and by just being active in our Parish. When Jesus began his ministry, the first thing he said was "Follow Me." He didn’t say believe in me, or trust in me, he said “Follow Me”! He said “Follow Me” because it requires action on our part. He is asking us to put our Faith into action and our Pastoral Plan is all about putting our faith into action. When we put our Faith into Action, we are helping others expand their “comfort zone”!