Our shared mission

  • To help people deepen their communion with
    Christ by offering them opportunities at the parish
    which give rise to the possibility of ever more intimacy
    with him,
  • and to help people grow & sustain the excitement
    of that conversion within their parish, through our
    sacramental life and intentional formation
    opportunities
  • which lead to works of justice & charity, not on the
    part of the parish as a whole, but on the part of
    individual believers gathered in Christ’s name
  • and which also lead to a life of daily prayer
  • and to the desire on the part of believers to invite
    others to deeper communion as well, which then
    begins this circle again.

As the U.S. Bishops point out in Our Hearts Were Burning
Within Us (see below), “adult faith formation, by which
people consciously grow in the life of Christ through
experience, reflection, prayer, and study, must be the
central task in the catechetical enterprise” (italics are theirs).
Such adult catechesis, they go on to say, should become
“the axis around which revolves the catechesis of childhood
and adolescence as well as that of old age” (paragraph #5).

From the Bishops’ leadership expressed in this Statement,
arises a new resource and tool to assist in writing a pastoral
plan for your parish which helps implement this vision.
Parish Vision 2009 provides a planning process and
framework which is completely adaptable to your own
specific setting. We hope it serves you well! It's available on
this website, and it's completely free. There is one version
for smaller, rural, clustered parishes, and another for
medium and larger parishes.

This web site is loaded with other practical resources, and
recommendations. See below for links to the work of Mark
Fischer and the Conference on Pastoral Planning and
Council Development.
From the US Bishops
Who are the first teachers of the Church.

The planning which this web site helps you do is designed to assist you and your parish to do effective
lifelong faith formation. The purpose here is to help you implement the plan laid out by the US
Bishops for every parish in the church of the United States. This plan was spelled out in a key
Statement, published in 1999 for the new millennium, Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us.

This Statement and the Pastoral Plan it describes lead us to what the Bishops call “a new focus on
adult faith formation.”

Here's what the Bishops had to say, in part:

We, as the Catholic bishops of the United States, call the Church in our country to a renewed
commitment to adult faith formation, positioning it at the heart of our catechetical vision and
practice. We pledge to support adult faith formation without weakening our commitment to our
other essential educational ministries. This pastoral plan guides the implementation of this pledge and
commitment.
                                                                                        Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us, #6


Let us strengthen our commitment and intensify our efforts to help the adults in our communities be
touched and transformed by the life-giving message of Jesus, to explore its meaning, experience its
power, and live in its light as faithful adult disciples today. Let us do our part with creativity and
vigor, our hearts aflame with love to empower adults to know and live the message of Jesus. This is
the Lord’s work. In the power of the Spirit it will not fail but will bear lasting fruit for the life of the
world.
                                                                                        Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us, #183
Bishop Ray Lucker,
(pictured above)
used to tell his parish
leaders that they
shouldn't spend a lot of
time fussing over mission
statements.
"We all really share
the same mission,
don't we?"
he would ask.

"Instead,
let's spend our time
learning how to move from
that mission statement to
pastoral planning,
and let's be fully
committed to that!"

"Then let's implement the
pastoral plan as though
the salvation of the world
depended on it!"

Amen!
Perhaps no one person has done more
to help create educational and formation material for parish leaders than Dr. Mark Fischer.

Mark is on the faculty of St. John Seminary in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles,
and he teaches and speaks in plain English.
His work has helped keep alive the conversation about the role and place of parish pastoral councils
in today's U.S. Church.

Click here to visit a web site which Mark maintains for pastoral councils.
It is the single best resource for pastoral councils I have found.
Note: this is an external link and will take you away from this web site.

You can find some of Mark's books here.
Pastoral Planning
A step-by-step guide:
Dreams & Visions:
Pastoral Planning
for Lifelong Faith Formation
A new book which includes a chapter
outlining those all-important Planning
Team Meetings.

Training
How to teach your parish
about lifelong formation
including excellent PowerPoint
presentations to download and use,
complete with presentation notes.

Implementation
How to state and sustain faith sharing
throughout the parish using the
Question of the Week
With free prayer sheets.

Prayer Services
to accompany faith sharing.
You can download and use these in 5
minutes!

Outlines for adult
Bible Studies
which are in plain English! Download
each session and get all you need in
one item.

Complete plans for
Parish Based Retreats
in several practical scheduling formats.

Background Material
All the current books
you need to better understand lifelong
formation, plus free articles you can
download, copy, and use.

Vatican II
Lots of strong resources
to help you teach about the Council.
We are approaching the 50th
Anniversary of the date on which John
XXIII called Vatican II: Jan 25, 1959.

Twenty-Third Publications
Serving the Church for more than 40 years!
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