In July 2024, Sacred Heart and St. Monica were united as a parish family for Partners in the Gospel, the strategic pastoral planning effort taking place across the Archdiocese of Seattle. As we continue our Partners in the Gospel journey together, our parish family is beginning One Parish Planning. This is a process which will help our parish family articulate our gifts and hopes for the future, create a vision and plan for how we will re-invigorate and re-envision parish life, and ultimately set the course for how our parish family will become one canonical parish. All parish families in the archdiocese will be following the same five-stage One Parish Planning process. The timeline below provides a simple overview of these stages, which culminates in a One Parish Plan. Every parishioner will have opportunities to participate through surveys and listening sessions throughout the different stages of the process.
Stage 3: Who do we want to become?
After completing the discussions from the first phases, it is time to move to the next phase: “Who do we want to become?” This phase explores opportunities and challenges while ensuring the vision for the parish family is aligned with the mission of the Church. Most importantly, this phase ensures alignment with what the Holy Spirit is calling us to be. As such, careful listening to the Holy Spirit will be an important part in determining the future of the parish family.
Community Listening Sessions
As we move into the "Who do we want to become?" stage of One Parish Planning, we will be holding two community listening sessions. We encourage you to attend either of these sessions.
- Saturday, May 2, at Saint Monica (Gym/Family Center), at 10:00AM.
- Thursday, May 7, at Sacred Heart (Parish Hall), at 6:00PM.
The listening sessions will have three rounds where parishioners are invited to give input. These rounds will focus on the questions listed below. We invite you to reflect on these questions in prayer and listen to the Holy Spirit on what you are called to share in the listening sessions.
- Who is God calling us to become as a new parish? What is our vision?
- What new groups of people do we want to focus on or prioritize moving forward? Who have we not been serving?
- What new ministries and/or programs do we want to start, or what existing ministries should we expand to fulfill our vision of who we want to become? Is there anything that God may be calling us to reconsider or leave behind so that we may say "yes" to new ministries?
Stage 2: Who are we?
During this stage, we asked ourselves “Who are we?” to help develop an understanding and appreciation of the history, the people, the gifts, and the ministries that have been central to each of the parishes in our parish family. This question also helped our community explore the opportunities and challenges present in our parishes today.
What opportunities and challenges exist for us?
The final step of the "Who are we?" stage of the One Parish Planning process was a series of listening sessions seeking to understand the opportunities and challenges which exist for our parish family. We held five listening sessions in January 2026. After opening prayer, and an overview of the process and relevant information, attendees broke into small groups to share their feedback on these questions:
- What challenges do you see that exist in the wider community? (For our parish family, this is Bellevue and Mercer Island.)
- What challenges do you see that exist within the parish?
- What opportunities do you see (in our parish and in the wider community) to more effectively serve and accompany others?
Click here to view the synthesis summary report for What opportunities and challenges exist for us.
What are our Gifts?
The first opportunity for all parishioners to provide input for One Parish Planning occurred at the beginning of September 2025. During weekend Masses at both parishes, Fr. Nagel asked to hear directly from the members of our parish family about what makes our faith communities unique and special. Parishioners completed a brief survey. Each response was read by at least two members of our Parish Family Advisory Council. The responses were compiled into categories in order to highlight trends in the responses. Click here to view the synthesis summary report for What are our Gifts.
Parish Demographic
The second opportunity for parishioners to help answer the question of "Who are we?" came in the second half of September 2025. During Masses, they were asked to complete a Parish Community Demographics Survey. The data from this survey will help us identify the demographic groups that our parish family serves. Click here to view plots of the data collected in this survey.
Stage 1: Organization & Kickoff
The first stage of One Parish Planning was primarily focused on coordinating and organizing our parish family's leadership. In addition to Fr. Nagel’s leadership as our pastor, two leadership groups have been established to help guide the One Parish Planning process. The first group is a Parish Family Leadership Team, which is the primary staff consultation and action group for executing the activities related to Partners in the Gospel. Our Parish Family Leadership Team is:
Greg Mahoney
PA for Parish Administration
St. Monica Catholic Church
Bridget Darrow
PA for Parish Administration
Sacred Heart Catholic Church
Marybeth Bohm
School Principal
St. Monica Catholic School
David Burroughs
School Principal
Sacred Heart Catholic School
The second leadership group is a Parish Family Advisory Council. This group is comprised of parishioners from Sacred Heart and St. Monica. The photo on the front side of this document shows the members of our Parish Family Advisory Council.
Top (left to right): Catherine Moe (St. Monica), Joanna Collins (Sacred Heart), Reed Nagel (St. Monica), Tony Brooks (Non-member, assisting this council as St. Monica staff), Charlie Herb (Sacred Heart), Stephanie McIntyre (Sacred Heart), Fr. Nagel (Leading this council as Pastor), Bosco Lau (St. Monica & President of the Seattle Chinese Catholic Community), Bottom (left to right): Magdalena Brooks (St. Monica), Ethan Granlund (Sacred Heart), Ryan An (St. Monica), and Crista Solaro (Sacred Heart)
The Parish Family Advisory Council is the key consultive body for One Parish Planning. It represents both parishes in our parish family. The council’s focus is to help our parish family discern its future parish life. During the stages of planning they will assist with various tasks including listening sessions, synthesizing input from parishioners, and creating an initiative report.
Our efforts to create a One Parish Plan will be ineffective without first turning to our Lord in prayer and asking the Holy Spirit for guidance. Thank you in advance for your support in this process.
