Last July, 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. With the first stage of our parish leadership’s coordination efforts underway, we are now entering into the second stage which focuses on the question: Who are we?
Stage Two: Who are we?
During this stage, we will be asking 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 will also help our community explore the opportunities and challenges present in our parishes today. Every parishioner will have opportunities to participate through surveys and listening sessions throughout the different stages of the process.
The first opportunity for all parishioners to provide input for this stage of One Parish Planning will occur at weekend Masses in September. Alternating each weekend of September, between Sacred Heart and St. Monica, Fr. Nagel will be preaching on this topic and asking for you to participate in two brief surveys. Your input will be critical.
Who is leading this process?
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:
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.
