Parish Covenant Development Meetings
Creating and Listening Together
Throughout the Archdiocese, an ongoing process of renewal has been taking place called Renew My Church. Many may know this for the announcement of neighboring parishes that have closed or merged. In the case of Saint Andrew Parish, the Archbishop instead invited us to proceed with a process of renewal in a different way. We would have a partner, Saint Benedict Parish, and together we would develop a “covenant” agreement to demonstrate co-responsibility with one another for the Catholic mission in our neighborhood.
This process is different than what has happened at other parishes in the following ways:
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We are working with nationally recognized Catholic facilitators from Leadership Roundtable.
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A merger our parishes (Saint Andrew and Saint Benedict) is off the table.
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We are not defending our operations or pick at our failings, but rather we are trying to look at the ways we can transform our parishes.
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Our work lays the foundation for the success of both parishes now and in the future.
A joint group of parish leaders have met with Leadership Roundtable for the last two months in this process. The facilitators of Leadership Roundtable have now asked that we share some of the ideas, dreams, methods, proposals, and excitement that the team has prayed about and entreat other parishioner to contribute to the process. This will be done through small gatherings of parishioners in which all can listen, pray, discern, and contribute to the end work of developing a covenant between Saint Andrew and Saint Benedict Parishes. Hence these meetings are called “Parish Covenant Development Meetings – Creating and Listening Together”
Existing groups or points of contact in the parish have already been contacted to participate in Parish Covenant Development Meeting over the next 3 to 4 weeks at times that align with their normal meeting. To ensure that everyone has the chance to participate in a Parish Covenant Development Meeting, a few meetings have been scheduled which are welcome for anyone to participate.
If you cannot attend a meeting or feel like you have more to offer than could be given in the survey that will be available later in October, feel free to contact David Heimann (david@standrew.org) to set up a time to talk to a member of the team.
Upcoming times for
Open Covenant Development Meetings
for Saint Andrew Parish:
Wednesday, October 26, 2022 at 7:00pm over Zoom
Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 10:00am in person in the Chapel
An open survey will be available from the end of October to November 6
