Report to the Parish
from the Parish Council
Fiscal Year 1999
(July 1, 1998 – June 30, 1999)
A. Furthering the
Parish Mission | B. Enhancing Parish
Planning and Outreach
C. Implementing Parish Goals | D.
Looking Ahead
Council Mission Statement
Fiscal Year 1999 witnessed significant progress in furthering the mission of St. Charles Borromeo Parish. We strengthened the sense of community through the continued development of neighborhoods bringing the church into local areas to welcome newcomers and to reach out to those in need. A new Hospitality ministry prepared Thanksgiving dinners for low-income families and offered refreshments in support of parish and school activities. CAFE provided enrichment opportunities, including the highly successful Parish Mission, the Come and See Retreats and an ecumenical dialogue on Catholic-Lutheran relations. C’YA and Gathering marked seven years of fostering faith, hope and love through small group interaction. Special events, such as the Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass and Fiesta, the Haiti Carnival, the St. Patrick’s Day Mass and Party and the School Alumni Dinner, further united our diverse faith community.
With respect to social justice, we broadened outreach to our sister parishes in Haiti by adopting 30 children who needed scholarships. Closer to home, we celebrated the tenth anniversary of Borromeo Housing Inc. and inaugurated “Circle of Caring” to extend support in times of illness, death and bereavement. The parish’s Lenten Jubilee Justice lecture series focused our attention on debt forgiveness and affordable housing while SALT and the Northern Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy advocated for these and other justice issues on Capitol Hill and in the state legislature.
In the area of Education, a new Youth Minister coordinated On the WAY and WAY and supported C’YA and VIDA, our Latin American youth group. A consultant and a seminarian led our RCIA program that welcomed 35 new members to our faith community during the Easter Vigil. Besides directing our catechetical activities, which prepared over 100 youngsters (including 62 from the Latin American Community) to receive First Communion this year, our Minister of Religious Education established Elizabeth Ministry for parents with young children.
The parish’s Stewardship Ministry oversaw the upgrading of facilities, including additional telephone lines, a copier and a new heating/air conditioning system for the Rectory. It also shepherded parish finances, which registered an eleven percent increase in first collection income. This support allowed us to extend the Parish Office’s hours of service, hire two new staff members and allocate $76,000 (including a generous bequest of $36,000) toward our parish reserve.
Key to the success of these and other parish activities were vital planning and outreach initiatives. Consistent with our parish goals (see next section for details), we undertook a feasibility study for a parish center. In the course of our investigation, it was determined that any decision vis-à-vis the parish center must be taken within the context of an overall strategic plan for St. Charles. Consequently, we launched an ambitious strategic planning effort that resulted in the development of a parish vision statement and motto, strategic goals and long-range program requirements.
On the short-term horizon, we enhanced our annual planning and budgeting process by strengthening communication between the Finance Committee, the parish council and the pastoral team and by establishing a clear timetable for calendar and budget submissions. As a result, we produced an integrated and comprehensive Fiscal Year 2000 parish calendar (July 1999 through June 2000) and corresponding budget—all designed with ministry, neighborhood and parish school input.
As for parish outreach—perhaps the most important aspect of our work—we published updates of parish council activities in the weekly bulletin and made available copies of our meeting agendas and minutes in the Library and on line. Further, we commemorated the first anniversary of the Parish Web site (www.StCharlesChurch.org) by expanding the section on volunteer opportunities and providing new links and more information in Spanish. We also conducted Parish Town Halls in both the Spanish and English languages and created and distributed a substantive survey to evaluate current programs and identify future ministry and facilities needs.
Parishioners also were invited to identify priorities for 1998-1999 via the “New Year’s Resolution” flyers. Based on these responses, the parish council and the pastoral team formulated three overall parish goals. Our progress in implementing these goals during Fiscal Year 1999 is summarized in the table below.
|
Parish Goal |
Developments Recorded in Fiscal Year 1999 |
|
To strengthen the involvement of parish members through the welcoming and recruitment of volunteers. |
|
|
To consider the feasibility of a Parish Multi-Purpose Center. |
|
|
To reinvigorate the spiritual and liturgical programs in the St. Charles Parish Community. |
|
Guided by our parish mission, we will build on the foundation laid this year and advance plans and programs that respond to parishioners’ needs. Your strong support for a parish center, as indicated in the survey, will empower us to initiate the development of a master plan for space requirements and architectural and fund-raising plans.
Cognizant of the Church’s Jubilee 2000 celebration, we will incorporate the Jubilee themes of evangelization, reconciliation and celebration, in all aspects of parish life. To this end, we envision an outreach project to inactive Catholics, additional ecumenical programs, including one on Islam, and liturgies and activities that foster multicultural awareness.
Moreover, we will strengthen our core ministries and provide formation for ministry leaders and volunteers. We will expand Circle of Caring and the Liturgy Planning Committee whose purpose is to integrate worship and ministry activities.
In our parish neighborhoods, we will nurture the growth of neighborhood-based activities within the HOME (Hospitality, Outreach, Meditation/Prayer/Liturgy and Education) framework. A major project in the Meditation/Prayer/Liturgy area will be the “Crisis Prayer Tree” that will enable parishioners to pray for each other’s intentions. We also wish to further develop Neighborhoods A and F and bolster outreach to Latin Americans in all neighborhoods.
Active participation of our parishioners is at the heart of all our efforts. In this vein, we will broaden volunteer involvement by establishing an inventory of parishioners’ skills and needs and recognize the many contributions of our members at an appreciation dinner in December. The scheduling of another round of Town Halls in English and Spanish demonstrates our firm commitment to promoting an open dialogue between parishioners, clergy, parish council and pastoral team.
It has been our privilege to serve the people of St. Charles over the past year. We ask for your continued prayers and look forward to your ideas as together we open wide the doors to Christ and embrace new horizons in proclaiming the Kingdom.
Fr. Gerry Creedon
Mark Alves, Monica Craven, Mike Grady, Maggie Jones,
Naomi Klaus, John Teem,
Bill Coen, Gilda Ferer, Carolyn M. Gretzinger, Phil Kiko, Janice Prisco,
Regina Trodden
Parish
Council Mission
The St. Charles Parish Council, in conjunction with the Pastor, is a
group of parishioners that: (1) represents the parish as a whole and, in
the light of the parish’s mission, (2) develops a vision and
identifies and evaluates overall needs and plans; (3) assists in the
co-ordination of parish ministries and activities; (4) strengthens
relationships within parish neighborhoods and reaches out to the greater
community; and, (5) collaborates with the pastoral team within the
guidelines of the larger Church.