Respect For Life

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St. Alphonsus Parish: Pastoral Plan III

Goals and Objectives: 2006-2007

Worship

Achieve greater and more meaningful participation, for the entire parish community, in the celebration of the mass.

To foster greater participation of young parishioners in the liturgy, with a special emphasis on the music used

To assist the ministry of greeters as they begin their work by using all avenues of communication to explain who they are and why they do what they do.

Continue to enrich our worship experience with greater spirituality, through sacramental participation and expanded prayer opportunities.

To examine all aspects of Eucharistic adoration at St. Alphonsus in preparation for its resumption in the Fall.

Evangelization

Identify and develop evangelization programs to reunite all parishioners with Christ and our parish community.

To reanimate the evangelization committee and encourage them to reevaluate the approach taken by the parish to reach out to the unchurched, or "fallen away" Catholic.

Create a greater sense of belonging for each parishioner to a larger St. Alphonsus community.

To support the welcoming committee as it continues its efforts to make a home visit to each new parishioner.
To explore the possibility of forming "pure ministries" -- small group of faith community's within a larger parish family.

Improve communications to keep the St. Alphonsus Parish and local community informed and involved in parish-wide activities.

To recruit a parishioner, with a background in communications, to supervise the publication of the parish bulletin, the parish newsletter and the parish web site.

To complete the parish planning process by conducting an open meeting of the Parish pastoral Council in April 2007 to evaluate the effectiveness of our third year pastoral plan.

Broaden our service and share our resources with those within and beyond the St. Alphonsus community.

To support the work of the St.Vincent DePaul Society in its effort to reach out to the less fortunate in our community.
To foster interaction between adult service projects and those of our Youth Group and younger members.

Educate and encourage parishioners to work towards social justice and peace.

To develop a parish committee charged with the responsibility of providing information to and encouraging participation of parishioners, young and old, in the many issues central to Catholic social teaching.

Enhance the preaching and teaching of the word.

To assist the coordinator in developing an Adult Faith Formation Committee to review the parish’s overall program of religious education formation for adults.

Establish a volunteer structure that will encourage parishioners to use their time, talent and treasure to strengthen the parish.

To establish a steering committee to prepare the parish for a comprehensive stewardship program.
To assist the parish in its attempt to reduce the parish debt by way of its "Growing in faith... Through the grace of giving.” campaign
To sponsor a time and talent fair in the Fall in conjunction with catechesis on the true meaning of stewardship.

Recognize and develop the lay leadership potential of our parish members.

To explore lay leadership/formation programs within the archdiocese and to develop a budget for such activity, with a special interest in the Church Ministry Program situated at Lansdale Catholic High School.
To request all parish organizations to prepare a mission statement (a statement of purpose) for their organization to submit to the pastor. The mission statements will be used in the parish handbook.

Develop an atmosphere to inspire and encourage vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and religious life.

To assist the vocations committee implementing the ideas suggested for parishes by the Office for Vocations of the Archdiocese.