Master Planning Communiqué Saint John the Evangelist Parish        May 18, 2004

The Words We Use

The words we use to communicate are important.  They have meaning.  The challenge in communicating is that the same words often mean different things for each listener.  How we use our language also reflects our own values and biases.  Communications in a parish are particularly challenging.  The parish is really a community of communities.  These various small communities have an identity, a purpose and vision, and their own jargon.  As part of our master planning process we want to find a language that will unite all the communities that make up the parish and avoid language that tends to separate or isolate.  One example of language that separates is the common use of the terms "school" and "parish" to distinguish the school ministry of the parish from the other ministries.  

We on the Master Planning Committee want to use the term "parish community" to mean all of the communities that make up the one, united community of St. John The Evangelist.  Included under the term parish community are the seven ministry areas that are coordinated with the help of a commission.  These include our liturgical ministry, our school ministry, our social justice and Christian service ministry, our faith formation ministry, our youth ministry, our gifts ministry, and the care of our physical plant through our facilities commission.  Two councils, the pastoral council and the finance council, help unify and coordinate these ministries.

Many committees and programs exist under the councils and commissions that add to our parish community being a community of communities.  There are too many to give a complete list, but some examples are members of Faith Sharing Groups, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, those who work on the school auction, liturgical ministries.  

The most basic communities that make up our parish community are the families and households that constitute the parish.  This includes YOU! We have approximately 1,100 registered households.  In addition, any baptized Catholic who lives within the geographical boundaries of the parish or who regularly takes part in the life of the parish is part of the parish community.  Christians of other faith traditions who are spouses of parishioners or who participate in a parish ministry are also part of the parish community.  About 25 percent of our school enrollment comes from families that are not parishioners, many with non-Catholic faith traditions.  They are welcome and valuable participants in our school ministry.  We have individuals in our Homeless Women's Shelter Committee that have served for years who are not parishioners but are integral to the ministry.  Our St. Vincent De Paul Society responds to anyone in our parish boundaries who is in need.

In our community of communities, the most basic thing that unites us is the celebration of Sunday Eucharist.  So important is Sunday Mass that we speak of it as an obligation, for without it, the various groups in the parish would tend to spin off on their own.  Through our pastor we are united with one another and united to our Archbishop and the entire Church.  Another important unifying element is the parish Mission statement.  This gives all the councils and commissions and all their committees a common vision and direction.  The parish mission statement was purposely developed without reference to any particular ministry.  Each ministry advances the whole parish toward the parish goals as articulated in the Mission Statement.  The various ministries of the parish are the TOOLS, not the END, of the parish mission.  All ministries serve critical functions.  Each complements the other, and we all suffer when any one ministry can't function properly.  The Master Planning Process is meant to help each ministry, united to the whole, carry out its work by the best use and development of our facilities.

The following is a list of all the councils, commissions and ministries of the parish and their members.  Please talk and work with them in this planning process.

Note:  Names in bold are members of the Master Planning Committee (MPC). 

The MPC also includes George Williams and Mike Alvine.