Commencing in the summer of 2009, the Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) began the work of developing the next five-year plan for the parish. The PPC reviewed the process that took place in the previous plan, the accomplishments that took place and areas that still needed to be addressed. To gather knowledge, the PPC also reviewed the processes of other Diocesan plans and focused on assessing the parish’s strengths and needs into seven theme areas. They are: Worship, Christian Community, Evangelization, Teaching, Service, Leadership, and Stewardship. The next step was to gather information from our parishioners to identify those areas of St. Mary of Vernon they considered strengths as well as those perceived as needing greater attention or development for this parish to become a better community and family.
The PPC accomplished this through two diverse methods: (1) the U.S. Congregational Life Survey that was conducted in our parish in October 2008, which had over 1,100 respondents, and (2) one-on-one interviews with volunteer parishioners. In addition, the PPC reviewed the Archdiocese of Chicago demographic study for our parish that was conducted in December 2008.
All this information was gathered, studied and shared by PPC and staff members at various sessions held during the winter months of 2009-10. Participants at these sessions worked together to summarize the input of our parishioners to identify: (1) the strengths of our parish to be reinforced, (2) the challenges to be addressed, and (3) ideas for accomplishing the “vision” of what our parish can become.
During the spring, PPC members refined all this information to craft a simple and straightforward pastoral plan to serve the parish over the next five years. The hope is to capture a parish vision for areas such as welcoming, building community, enriching Catholic faith for all ages, caring outreach to others, and stewardship. We will also be working towards a smooth pastor transition during this period.
St. Mary of Vernon’s pastoral plan reflects the themes and ideas that have been suggested. We hope that this plan will guide us and provide a mutual inspiration for all of us to work closely together, as well as encourage and involve newcomers and all God’s people as we seek to live the gospel.