Senior Concerns
“Senior concerns” surfaced in our Parish Survey and Assembly as deserving more of our attention. These concerns run the gamut of issues “seniors” have for themselves and issues facing adult children as they care for their parents. Two “listening sessions” have been scheduled to name specific issues and to get a better understanding of these issues. The first is for “seniors” themselves at 12:45PM on Wednesday, February 10. The second is for seniors and others (e.g., adult children, care-givers) on Wednesday, February 10 at 7:15PM. Cristina Hendrix, a parishioner and a Nurse Researcher/Practitioner at Durham VA’s Geriatrics Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC), and a Senior Fellow at Duke’s Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development will facilitate our discussion. Please spread the word!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Immaculate Conception Parish
Strategic Plan Goals
VISION
From our worship to our world in the spirit of St. Francis, Immaculate Conception will be a grateful and giving parish making a difference in the lives of others.
STRATEGIC THEMES
• Communicating thoroughly
• Establishing a united parish
• Providing opportunities to serve
• Building community
GOALS
The Sunday Mass Experience
Goal: Immaculate Conception will plan and celebrate Sunday mass as the source and summit of our lives through the full, active, and conscious participation of our people.
Accessibility
Goal: The Immaculate Conception leadership team will be characterized by an understanding of, and a willingness to meet, the needs of parishioners, as well as having a dedication to providing timely assistance to those wishing to access information and services available within the parish and the community at large.
Inclusion
Goal: Immaculate Conception will be a parish where all are invited, welcomed and affirmed, and where diversity is celebrated and a sense of intimacy is cultivated.
Social Justice
Goal: Our parish community will develop and implement a comprehensive and sustained education effort to form laity for living the Church’s social teaching.
Communications
Goal: Immaculate Conception Parish will establish and maintain a progressive, multifaceted and coordinated communications program designed to build community; promote parish unity; and provide timely information on planning, parish activities, and opportunities to serve.
Adult Faith Enrichment
Goal: Immaculate Conception will survey leading adult formation programs to identify best practices, and then implement exceptional and appealing adult faith enrichment opportunities in the Parish.
Stewardship
Goal: Our Parish will seek to deepen its understanding of stewardship as a way of life by promoting a grateful and engaged community of parishioners generously giving of their time, talent and treasure.
Senior Citizens
Goal: We will develop and implement a strategy that is founded on listening to, and providing care for, the senior citizens of our community to assure they are fully vested in, and contributing to, the life of the parish.
Young Adults
Goal: The Parish will nurture and build support for young adults, in both the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking communities, by providing theological and spiritual formation, leadership development and service opportunities to assure they are welcomed and encouraged as they come together to connect socially and explore living out their Catholic faith together.
Grieving
Goal: Our community will expand the present bereavement program into a more comprehensive ministry to broadly serve the related pastoral needs of our parishioners who grieve the loss of a loved ones.
Facilities
Goal: Immaculate Conception, by year end 2011, will have organized for, and begun the process of, developing a facilities use and building plan designed to accommodate the growth of faith formation activity and our office/meeting space requirements.
Strategic Plan Goals
VISION
From our worship to our world in the spirit of St. Francis, Immaculate Conception will be a grateful and giving parish making a difference in the lives of others.
STRATEGIC THEMES
• Communicating thoroughly
• Establishing a united parish
• Providing opportunities to serve
• Building community
GOALS
The Sunday Mass Experience
Goal: Immaculate Conception will plan and celebrate Sunday mass as the source and summit of our lives through the full, active, and conscious participation of our people.
Accessibility
Goal: The Immaculate Conception leadership team will be characterized by an understanding of, and a willingness to meet, the needs of parishioners, as well as having a dedication to providing timely assistance to those wishing to access information and services available within the parish and the community at large.
Inclusion
Goal: Immaculate Conception will be a parish where all are invited, welcomed and affirmed, and where diversity is celebrated and a sense of intimacy is cultivated.
Social Justice
Goal: Our parish community will develop and implement a comprehensive and sustained education effort to form laity for living the Church’s social teaching.
Communications
Goal: Immaculate Conception Parish will establish and maintain a progressive, multifaceted and coordinated communications program designed to build community; promote parish unity; and provide timely information on planning, parish activities, and opportunities to serve.
Adult Faith Enrichment
Goal: Immaculate Conception will survey leading adult formation programs to identify best practices, and then implement exceptional and appealing adult faith enrichment opportunities in the Parish.
Stewardship
Goal: Our Parish will seek to deepen its understanding of stewardship as a way of life by promoting a grateful and engaged community of parishioners generously giving of their time, talent and treasure.
Senior Citizens
Goal: We will develop and implement a strategy that is founded on listening to, and providing care for, the senior citizens of our community to assure they are fully vested in, and contributing to, the life of the parish.
Young Adults
Goal: The Parish will nurture and build support for young adults, in both the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking communities, by providing theological and spiritual formation, leadership development and service opportunities to assure they are welcomed and encouraged as they come together to connect socially and explore living out their Catholic faith together.
Grieving
Goal: Our community will expand the present bereavement program into a more comprehensive ministry to broadly serve the related pastoral needs of our parishioners who grieve the loss of a loved ones.
Facilities
Goal: Immaculate Conception, by year end 2011, will have organized for, and begun the process of, developing a facilities use and building plan designed to accommodate the growth of faith formation activity and our office/meeting space requirements.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
A Few Words About Our Vision
From our worship to our world in the spirit of St. Francis, Immaculate Conception will be a grateful and giving parish making a difference in the lives of others.
Our parish Mission Statement tells who we are. Our Vision Statement tells what we aspire to.
As a parish we are who we are (Roman Catholic community in downtown Durham) and we do what we do (proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ) hoping to make a difference in the lives of others.
We aspire to be a parish that draws its energy from our worship, especially the Sunday Eucharist. In celebrating our Communion with one another and with God, we grow in gratitude for the serving life and saving death of Jesus, and we seek to show our thankfulness in our generosity.
At the conclusion of each Sunday Mass, we are sent (“Go in peace to … “) to our world – the world of family, school, city, work. We’re a parish that understands that what we do is mean to form us as relatives and friends, citizens and workers.
We look to take up this mission in the spirit of St. Francis, a man who found in the Incarnation (the Word made flesh, Jesus) and the Passion, God’s love for us. As Francis advised the friars, we proclaim the gospel first and foremost by personal example, and only after, by preaching.
Our parish Mission Statement tells who we are. Our Vision Statement tells what we aspire to.
As a parish we are who we are (Roman Catholic community in downtown Durham) and we do what we do (proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ) hoping to make a difference in the lives of others.
We aspire to be a parish that draws its energy from our worship, especially the Sunday Eucharist. In celebrating our Communion with one another and with God, we grow in gratitude for the serving life and saving death of Jesus, and we seek to show our thankfulness in our generosity.
At the conclusion of each Sunday Mass, we are sent (“Go in peace to … “) to our world – the world of family, school, city, work. We’re a parish that understands that what we do is mean to form us as relatives and friends, citizens and workers.
We look to take up this mission in the spirit of St. Francis, a man who found in the Incarnation (the Word made flesh, Jesus) and the Passion, God’s love for us. As Francis advised the friars, we proclaim the gospel first and foremost by personal example, and only after, by preaching.
Monday, January 18, 2010
IC's Mission
As our communication team gets up and running, I wanted to have something, in addition to face-to-face conversation, for conversation about our emerging plan and the Mission and Vision of our parish this plan aims to serve.
As I mentioned in the January 24 bulletin, it's important that we’re a parish well-wired not only to what is happening but to why it’s happening, appreciating how our various activities and programs are all in service of our parish Mission and Vision.
Our parish Mission is printed each week on the front cover of the bulletin.
Immaculate Conception Parish is a Roman Catholic community in downtown Durham pastored by Franciscan friars. We are a multicultural and stewardship parish called, gifted and sent to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ through worship, parish-wide faith formation, our parish school, pastoral care, and living the church’s social teaching.
I don't think we've ever had a chance to comment on some key words and phrases.
Parish If, like me, you're a transplant from up north and grew up in a "thick" Catholic culture, you probably think of parish as a piece of territoty. A short drive and you're in another parish. But the church's Canon Law describes a parish as a 'portion of the people of God.' So IC is flesh and blood and not geography.
downtown Downtown here refers both to geography and culture. We're obviously a stone's through from what everyone calls downtown Durham. But "downtown" also refers to a culture that's different from the suburbs or rural parts of Durham. There's a grittiness to the notion of "downtown" as the place where the customs of and courtesies of neighborhoods don't apply. Folks who have lost their berings typically gravitate downtown. That's why Urban Ministries is ideally located where it is. Downtown is also where things happen. It's usually the seat of government and where people gather to make the decisions that shape city/town life. An apt location for our parish.
pastored "Pastor" is Latin for "shepherd." It's an image Jesus used to describe himself. It's both a consolation and a challenge for the friars.
multicultural We are a portion of the people of God composed of folks from a host of cultural backgrounds. In many ways, we're like the Corinthians whom St. Paul loved dearly but who needed constant reminders that theirs was first a unity of faith.
stewardship The core of our spirituality is gratitude. We're ever aware of our blessings, some that have come to us through no effort of our own and others that have come from the hard work we've been given the capacity to accomplish. Our gratitude makes us a generous people, often sacrificial.
called, gifted and sent We share a common vocation ( = calling) to share in Jesus great venture, and we've been gifted (= graced) with the talents we admire in Jesus. Each Sunday, nourshed by Word and Sacrament, we're sent ( = "The Mass is ended, Go ...." ) to fulfill our calling with the graces given to us.
the gospel of Jesus Christ The gospel hangs over our altar. "God so loved the world ... " If our lives don't somehow say that, a lot of people will never know it.
As I mentioned in the January 24 bulletin, it's important that we’re a parish well-wired not only to what is happening but to why it’s happening, appreciating how our various activities and programs are all in service of our parish Mission and Vision.
Our parish Mission is printed each week on the front cover of the bulletin.
Immaculate Conception Parish is a Roman Catholic community in downtown Durham pastored by Franciscan friars. We are a multicultural and stewardship parish called, gifted and sent to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ through worship, parish-wide faith formation, our parish school, pastoral care, and living the church’s social teaching.
I don't think we've ever had a chance to comment on some key words and phrases.
Parish If, like me, you're a transplant from up north and grew up in a "thick" Catholic culture, you probably think of parish as a piece of territoty. A short drive and you're in another parish. But the church's Canon Law describes a parish as a 'portion of the people of God.' So IC is flesh and blood and not geography.
downtown Downtown here refers both to geography and culture. We're obviously a stone's through from what everyone calls downtown Durham. But "downtown" also refers to a culture that's different from the suburbs or rural parts of Durham. There's a grittiness to the notion of "downtown" as the place where the customs of and courtesies of neighborhoods don't apply. Folks who have lost their berings typically gravitate downtown. That's why Urban Ministries is ideally located where it is. Downtown is also where things happen. It's usually the seat of government and where people gather to make the decisions that shape city/town life. An apt location for our parish.
pastored "Pastor" is Latin for "shepherd." It's an image Jesus used to describe himself. It's both a consolation and a challenge for the friars.
multicultural We are a portion of the people of God composed of folks from a host of cultural backgrounds. In many ways, we're like the Corinthians whom St. Paul loved dearly but who needed constant reminders that theirs was first a unity of faith.
stewardship The core of our spirituality is gratitude. We're ever aware of our blessings, some that have come to us through no effort of our own and others that have come from the hard work we've been given the capacity to accomplish. Our gratitude makes us a generous people, often sacrificial.
called, gifted and sent We share a common vocation ( = calling) to share in Jesus great venture, and we've been gifted (= graced) with the talents we admire in Jesus. Each Sunday, nourshed by Word and Sacrament, we're sent ( = "The Mass is ended, Go ...." ) to fulfill our calling with the graces given to us.
the gospel of Jesus Christ The gospel hangs over our altar. "God so loved the world ... " If our lives don't somehow say that, a lot of people will never know it.
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