St. John the Apostle Pastoral Plan 2015 2018
A Framework for Pastoral Action Diocese of Joliet Released in 2014, the Diocese of Joliet document, Go and Make Disciples: A Framework for Pastoral Action presents a vision for pastoral action using the three pillars of discipleship, evangelization and charity. These pillars allow us to center our discussion around key areas of focus, and how our parish can uniquely respond to this call for a renewal of pastoral action. Those areas of focus include: Discipleship Cultivate a personal encounter with Jesus in order to joyfully share the Gospel as a knowledgeable and responsible disciple. Inspire young adults to participate as lay leaders in the mission of the Catholic Church. Embrace immigrant Catholics and encourage their development as leaders in the Church. Evangelization Seek, invite, and welcome Catholics who have drifted away from the Church. Emphasize and outwardly proclaim the importance of the sacraments. Charity Go outside your church doors to care for people in need. Advocate for and with people in need as the Gospel instructs you to do. St. John the Apostle Parish Mission Statement The Catholic Community of St. John the Apostle Parish commits to live out the teachings of Jesus Christ, nourished by the Eucharist, guided by the Holy Spirit and rooted in prayer. Together we continue the mission of Christ through Evangelization, Discipleship and Charity.
Parish: Pastor: Planning Chairperson: Diocesan Contact: St. John the Apostle Rev. Mark J. Rosenbaum Deacon Ron Madsen Mike Bava Progress Check Schedule: Review at each parish council meeting and update as needed. Parish Pastoral Council Commissions: Administration/Finance Adult Faith Formation/Education Building/Environment Communication Hispanic Ministry Outreach Worship Parish Pastoral Council Members: Rhonda Kollman, President Fred Schwardt Dora Marquez Raquel Alfaro Eric Soriano Adele Martins Phil Duncan Deacon Ron Madsen, ex officio PLAN RATIFIED ON SEPTEMBER 12, 2016
DISCIPLESHIP Cultivate lay discipleship / personal encounter. Task or Action Strategy / Result Next Step(s) Commission Est. Cost Time Frame Establish seven commissions led by Create a draft of the parish Pastoral Council members: organization chart Education, Adult Faith Formation, Communication, Approve a structure at September Building/Environment, Worship, 2016 council meeting Hispanic Ministry, Administration/Finance, Outreach Improve the effectiveness of the Parish Pastoral Council Support community building with parishioners. Parish Survey - Parish Directory Create survey. Recruit four couples to help administer survey and tabulate results. [Committee] Create committee. Hospitality Sunday Volunteer Appreciation Dinner Parish Picnic B & E Improve parish infrastructure Improve parish gathering space (inside narthex area via improvements and cleanliness) Create committee to review and make recommendations. B & E Create a prayer space outside with Stations of the Cross or grotto? B & E Improve music / choir area Add AC to another meeting space Electrical / Cabinetry? B & E B & E Complete a plan and timeline for parish capital improvements. B & E 2016-2018
Increase the involvement of men in parish ministries Men s Ministry initial interest survey was completed. 14 men showed an interest. Initial meeting date stalled. Focused on recruiting more men for the parish Men s Retreat at Bellarmine. Worked to recruit new members for the Knights of Columbus. Encourage vocations to priesthood and the diaconate. to recruit new members for the Knights of Columbus. Publish information for vocation and diaconate information days. Improve communication tools Upgrade parish website Did not complete research on website vendors in. Complete website upgrade. COMM $1000 2000 annual Establish Parish Google Calendar Improve parish bulletin Included Deanery Calendar on parish Create parish Google calendar so website. events and locations can be seen by all pastoral council members. Added two pages. Weekly bulletin includes a section for Deanery events. COMM Free to improve as needed. COMM Develop a small prayer group program throughout the parish. New task. Recruit and train small group leaders. Introduce program to parish. Create small prayer groups. Use and resources through Ascension Press. Actively recruit the women of New task. the parish to participate in CCW. Invite all women, especially those in the Latino community. COMM
Recruit and educate Lectors and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion Call to Ministry Weekend, bulletin articles, interest sheet efforts. WORSHIP Support the Legion of Mary Ministry [The Legion sees as its priority the spiritual and social welfare of each individual. The members participate in the life of the parish through visitation of families, the sick, both in their homes and in hospitals and through collaboration in every apostolic and missionary undertaking sponsored by the parish.] Actively recruit new members using personal invitation, bulletin articles. WORSHIP DISCIPLESHIP Inspire young adults. Task or Action Strategy / Result Next Step(s) Commission Est. Cost Time Work closely with the RE Director to support the catechists and students. Offered First Communion and Confirmation Retreats with speakers. Currently looking for speakers for 2017 retreat. $500 Frame Work with RE at other cluster parishes to offer a combined Confirmation Retreat. Offered a combined Confirmation retreat with St. Joseph (2016). Will look for other opportunities to combine our RE youth -- Community Service Project? Create a Teen Group for young adults (8 th grade and above) Offer an initial program and invite teens to attend in order to find out how many teens are interested. Find facilitator(s) for this group and set up regular meetings. EDUC
Improve Altar Server program and recruit additional servers. Developed a server schedule, trained to recruit and train servers WORSHIP additional servers, and completed a fellowship event. Offer program for teens that includes Theology of the Body. [Facilitated by Young Adult mentors] New task. Use Ydisciple program through formed.org. Schedule parent meeting (9/27/16). Part of ongoing DISCIPLESHIP Embrace Immigrant Catholics. Task or Action Strategy / Result Next Step(s) Commission Estimated Time Trained catechist and have two to offer and promote. $120 Cost Frame catechumens in the program. Offer RCIA in Spanish (year round) Offer monthly Baptism Prep class for Spanish speakers. Offer Baptism in Spanish. Number of baptisms has increased. Train additional leaders. Part of Offer monthly Holy Hour Rosary and Benediction in Spanish First Friday evenings Pastor and Deacon rotate dates. to offer and publicize more. HISP None Offer parish office hours with bilingual staff to assist parishioners. Fridays 6p - 8pm and Saturdays 11 am 2pm More baptisms, quinceañeras to offer. PT employee(s) Support Hispanic traditions Our Lady of Guadalupe Novena and Celebration, Three year old blessings, Quinceañeras, etc. Increased participation at the Spanish Mass, community building to offer. HISP None
EVANGELIZATION Welcome the lost and drifting Renew the Faith Task or Action Strategy / Result Next Step(s) Commission Est. Cost Time Frame Increase parishioner s knowledge of Catholic faith via home study New task Purchase parish to $1550 annual Parish Mission combine with other cluster parishes to host a good speaker / share cost Offered a Lenten Mission (English and Spanish) for three parishes St. Alexander, St. John and St. Joseph. Pastors and Deacons will meet and discuss mission dates and possible speakers for 2017. Shared Adult Bible Study (Thursday evenings) Increased participants (15) through bulletin article and personal invitation. Offer a new study for Unlocking the Mysteries of the Bible None Adult Bible Study (Monday evenings) Offered Renew Your Faith series (10 wks) in English and Spanish (average attendance 40-50) Offer a new study for A Quick Journey through the Bible in English and Spanish None Men s Weekend Retreat offered through Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House. Increased participation with three new attendees. (7 total) The obstacles to greater attendance are cost and work schedules. Consider scholarship? Select new dates for and increase attendance. Participant pays Women s Retreat Day of Reflection offered through CCW 20+ women in attendance Dr. Schedule a date for and Mary Amore/speaker for. publicize for all the women of the parish. COMM Participant pays Eucharist for the Homebound Established ministry leader and recruited ministers for the team. to offer this ministry, recruit and train new ministers to assist. WORSHIP
EVANGELIZATION Proclaim the sacraments. Increase awareness of the availability of sacramental preparation (RCIA, Sacraments of Initiation, Marriage / Convalidations). Also through Religious Education For Children and the Annulment Ministry St. John the Apostle Pastoral Action Plan Task or Action Strategy / Result Next Step(s) Commission Est. Cost Time Frame Created a Call to Sacraments Bulletin articles, update website None information area in the narthex. information. Hosted a Call to Sacraments and Ministry weekend. Host this weekend once or twice a year. None Increase participation in Reconciliation Pastor and Deacon have included this topic in homilies. Published local area church hours for Reconciliation in bulletin. to encourage participation through homilies and other opportunities. COMM None Combined Divine Mercy celebration as a cluster 350+ confessions. WORSHIP Baptism Preparation Program (offered in English and Spanish) Using as an opportunity to bring families into full sacraments. Result - Increased participation in RCIA program, increased enrollment in RE, and additional marriage convalidations. Providing Baptism Prep in English for St. Joseph Parish. to offer Baptism Prep in Spanish on a monthly basis. Search for new volunteers to train as facilitators for baptism prep in English and Spanish. Announce baptisms monthly in the bulletin. COMM
Offer Marriage Preparation Program for couples Offer a Marriage Preparation Day Seminar for groups of couples. Result - Increased number of weddings Two couples put together the program and facilitated the day-long seminar. Create a Marriage Ministry Team. Recruit and train volunteers to facilitate marriage preparation (English and Spanish). to offer one seminar a year along with those offered at our cluster parishes. FOCCUS $15 per couple Together for Life Support Marriage Enrichment Renew vows for key anniversary dates for parishioners. Quarterly blessing for married couples. to maintain actions and look for other opportunities to support marriage enrichment. WORSHIP Have parish reps in the Deanery Marriage Enrichment Ministry Group Promote Marriage Encounter speaker and brochures Improve curriculum for Religious Education Program Research and review new textbook/workbook series Make decision and purchase new books. EDUC Bring the resources for RE on formed.org into the classroom Provide opportunities for catechist training Train catechists on the use of formed.org Utilize new catechist training resources on formed.org Catechists to review results with DRE Use formed.org data to measure catechist training results EDUC Create/develop/expand GIF [Growing in Faith] classes Publicize the availability of these classes in the bulletin and in the Mass announcements. Find and train catechists to teach a multi-age class EDUC Host RE Parent Formation opportunities Offer parent programs when students are in RE class Renew Your Faith series Quick Journey through the Bible Topic TBD EDUC Ascension Press
CHARITY Care for people in need. St. John the Apostle Pastoral Action Plan Task or Action Strategy / Result Next Step(s) Commission Est. Cost Time Frame Feed the hungry Casserole Ministry provide casseroles once a month at the Recruit volunteers for casserole collection as well as Missionaries of Charity Soup Kitchen. additional drivers. Volunteer at the soup kitchen on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter mornings. Hosting and providing volunteers for the Mobile Food Pantries at St. John and St. Joseph to support Catholic Charities in this effort. Maintain an emergency food pantry Holiday Meals Program Parishioners donate to provide 40 families with meals at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Support families in need Work with Catholic Charities Provide Community Services information to those in need Provide volunteers at Northern Illinois Food Bank during the year. Parish wide collection for Undy Sunday through Catholic Charities Coat and toy drive during the holiday season. (RE) Respond to the call from Catholic Charities for various collections and events that need volunteers. Created a Community Resources binder for the rectory staff. Staff uses the information to refer those in need to the proper agencies (if the parish cannot meet their need).
CHARITY Advocate for and with the voiceless. St. John the Apostle Pastoral Action Plan Task or Action Strategy / Result Next Step(s) Commission Est. Cost Time Frame Support Pro-Life Efforts Baby Bottles For Life Waterleaf to support this group through COMM (formerly Women s Choice Services the CCW. Representation at the March for Life (Pastor attends) and increase representation. WORSHIP Pro-life Prayer Service to offer. WORSHIP Support local hospital and nursing homes with communion to patients Pastor has an assigned day at hospital and ministers bring communion as scheduled. to support.