Dynamic Parish

10-06-2019Pastor's CornerRev. Robert J. Deehan, V.F.

As you may know, our parish has recently entered Phase 7 of the Archdiocese of Boston Pastoral Planning Process called Disciples in Mission. A number of parishes have been chosen in stages to enter the process over the last 6 years, and it is now our turn to begin planning in a particular way for the mission of evangelization, the work of reaching out to our brothers and sisters, and drawing them more fully to Jesus Christ and to His Church. With the help of our parish Evangelization Commission, Holy Family has been already undertaking several evangelization initiatives, including offering periodic witness talks at Mass, having a Welcome Weekend for people who do not ordinarily attend Mass here regularly, Ash Wednesday – Day of Open Doors, among other efforts. As we formally begin our participation in Disciples in Mission, we will position ourselves more solidly for the task of evangelization, always keeping in mind the mission given by Jesus to the Church: "Go and make disciples." (Mt. 28:19) Each element of the planning process is aimed at enabling parish communities to fulfill this Gospel mission.

Special training will be provided to our staff and parishioners. We will write a pastoral plan, which will focus on goals specifically tailored to the evangelization needs of our community. Parishioners will be challenged to reimagine their role as intentional disciples so that participation in the life of the Church does not remain merely self-focused, but also, other-focused. In this way, we will be more docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to cooperate with God's grace in the mission of proposing to others the blessings and possibilities of a fuller life in Christ. There will be opportunities to learn how to share our faith, to explain it, as well as to offer stories of "God moments" that have touched our lives.

I'm delighted to tell you about a very special opportunity that has been presented to our parish as we begin this special endeavor. Holy Family has been chosen among approximately 15,000 parishes in the U.S. to be one among 60 parishes in the country privileged to partner with Matthew Kelly's organization, Dynamic Catholic, to roll-out a new evangelization initiative called Dynamic Parish. Our parish will benefit from the expertise and resources of Dynamic Catholic while assisting with the development/fine-tuning of this new, powerful, multidimensional program intended to revitalize Catholic faith and practice in parishes throughout the world. It builds upon the resources we have already utilized from Dynamic Catholic. To learn more about this special partnership that we'll have with Dynamic Parish, visit www.DynamicParishInvite.us. Please pray for our parish and for the wider Catholic Church, that God will bless each of us with a renewed vigor and zeal to live our faith in an intentional and dynamic way so that more people will be drawn to a more meaningful and joy-filled life in Christ within His Church.

God bless you!
Fr. Bob

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