Using Renewing the Vision for Parish 5 Year Plan

Imagine creating for your Parish an Office of Faith Formation & Youth Ministry? I believe it can be done because when using the teachings of Renewing the Vision, I was able to make it work. It focused on the Parish Name that strengthened or created a Parish Mission. I focused on the following areas of Faith Formation: Baptisms, First Communion, Continual Faith Formation, Confirmations, Children’s and Adult Faith Formation (RCIA, now named OCIA), and Marriage. I later created the Youth Ministry by strengthening the groups that existed, created a central youth group to build on vocations, and I created new groups that were needed for the Parish.

 I began to restructure the existing Religious Education Program, making it into a School of Spiritual and Religious Formation for our Parishioners using the Diocese of Brooklyn as a template. I took the image of Queen of Angels and made it the central mission. Here is where the Youth Ministry grew holistically. (Acts4:32-35)

1.       As the Pastoral Associate, the Pastor, Rev. Vincent Daly (1999-2009) [SEE Video], asked me to look into the Parish Mission and make necessary changes. I looked into the Parish Missions within our Deanery and found that each one of the missions used the same words that lacked Parish identity.

2.      Spoke with Diocesan representative who aided the Parish in developing its Mission as they encouraged me to work on the Parish Mission and presented it to the Parish Council.

3.      I worked closely with the template offered to us by the Secretariate of Evangelization within the Diocese of Brooklyn and I networked with the Office of Vocations, Pro-life, and Social Justice to get our Parish Community involved.

4.      I discussed strategic plans with the Pastor and the Pastoral Staff. (SEE Five Year Plan)        

5.   Using the teachings of Renewing the Vision, we worked on the Parish network of groups, ministries, and organizations as partners in evangelizing Sunnyside. 

6.   I developed the mission with Queen of Angels, using the word “Angel” to help our parish leadership become “Echo of the Gospel”. The word “Angel” in Greek means “ángelos”. The word “Catechize” in the Greek katēcheîn, which means to teach orally. Écheîn is the word used for “Echo”. Queen of Angels Faith Formation was born. I believed that strategy would give birth to the Youth Ministry, since many of our children and teens were participants of our Faith Formation Program.

Questions:

1. Have you sat down with your Pastor and the Pastoral Staff to develop the Parish Youth Ministry?

2. Do you work closely with the Director / Coordinator of Faith Formation?

3. Have you connected with Diocesan representatives to help envision your plan?

4. Have you read through your Diocesan Plans for Faith Formation &/or Youth Ministry?

5. Have you created a Mission for your Youth Ministry? Does it connect with Faith Formation or Catechists' work?