Dear friends,
In late September we had two fruitful gatherings related to Partners in the Gospel – our Saturday Q&A session and the formal input session the following Thursday. Over one hundred parishioners spread across thirteen groups offered thoughtful feedback coming in at about twenty-one pages. Foremost, I want to share how proud I am of our community’s thoughtful and charitable feedback on the proposed family. Thank you for taking part in this process so far.
As you heard this weekend – and you can read in the archbishop’s letter (click here) – the feedback given by parishioners around the archdiocese has not only been received but carefully considered (click here to read the archdiocesan Feedback Report). The result has been significant changes in more than a third of the parish families, including ours. The new proposed configuration for parish family 12 (a new number!) is Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, and Saint Pius X parishes. The archdiocese has kindly provided a summary of their reasoning, available online (click here).
And our part in this discernment isn’t done; the archdiocese would like us to go through a round of feedback for this new proposal. To give the archbishop and his team time to consider the results, they must be submitted by the middle of December. Mindful of both that and upcoming events, we will hold our parish-wide feedback session on Saturday, December 9th from 11 am to 1 pm in the school gymnasium. Please plan on attending – as we have seen, your feedback matters!
You can prepare by reviewing the feedback questions & process from the archdiocese (click here):
- Round one: What concerns do I have about the proposed family grouping? What challenges might this pose?
- Round two: What hopes do I see in the proposed family grouping? What opportunities or possibilities might this offer?
- Additional feedback: What does or doesn’t work with the proposed parish family configuration? What alternatives might the archdiocese consider (and why)?
The archdiocese will also have an online form available for those who can’t come to the in-person session. For those who so desire (especially if you can’t come on December 9), you may provide feedback directly to the archdiocese (click here). In the meantime, let us continue to pray for each other, the people of the archdiocese, and our archbishop – that we may together discern the call and will of the Lord.
yours in Christ,
Father Maurer
