PRAYER:
O Great and Almighty God! Grant me the wisdom of my state of life, that I may accomplish everything that You desire, grant me the insight to understand my obligations and allow me to fulfill them as needed and required of me unto Your glory and for the welfare of my soul. Grant me the wisdom of your ways, and the wisdom to follow in the footsteps of Your holy will; grant me the wisdom of success and of failure, that I may not exalted myself in one and despair in the other, grant me the wisdom of joy and the wisdom of sorrow; may I only find comfort in that which leads to You, and may I find sorrow only in that which leads me away from You. Amen.
(From the Prayer of Metropolitan Andrey on the Wisdom of God)
WHY PASTORAL PLANNING?
We might say that the aim of Pastoral Planning is to help our parish communities and all their members BECOME WHO THEY ARE CALLED TO BE!
The following questions can help us focus on the basics:
Who are we? WE ARE CHRISTIANS, MEMBERS OF CHRIST’S CHURCH.
What do we believe? WE BELIEVE IN A TRIUNE GOD WHO DESIRES THE SALVATION OF THE HUMAN RACE.
What is our mission? TO GUIDE THE COMMUNITY OF GOD’S CHILDREN TO THE FATHER, THROUGH THE SON, IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.
How can our community fulfill this mission? BY BEING A VIBRANT PARISH – A PLACE TO ENCOUNTER THE LIVING CHRIST.
Pastoral Planning – is the process of recognizing human, spiritual and material gifts and coordinating their activity within the Christian community (an Eparchy or parish) in order to better fulfill its mission. In this process, conducted in a spirit of prayer and an awareness of the signs of the time, all members of the Christian community are called upon to participate under the guidance of their local Bishop and the pastor appointed by him.
Pastoral Planning is not just limited to preparing a calendar for a given year, (although the liturgical year is a very important element of pastoral planning). Pastoral planning always centers on the mission of the Church, and subordinates all natural and professional, spiritual, and material resources to a higher spiritual purpose: participation in Divine Life.
In 2005, our Synod of Bishops under the leadership of His Beatitude Lubomyr defined as a goal for our church: “Holiness of the united People of God.” Every initiative concerning the revitalization of our Church seeks to achieve this goal.
“THE VIBRANT PARISH – A PLACE TO ENCOUNTER THE LIVING CHRIST”
Characteristics of a “Vibrant Parish” of the UGC Church):
- The Word of God and Catechesis / Kerygma
- Liturgy and Prayer (and Eastern Christian Heritage)
- Service to one’s neighbour / Diakonia (and Focus on the Person)
- Leadership – Stewardship (and Spirit of Renunciation for Christ’s sake / Kenosis)
- Communion – Unity / Koinonia (and Witnessing and Serving Unity with the Successor of St. Peter)
- Missionary Spirit (and Accessibility and Openness)
Having these priorities, the question naturally arises: “How can these priorities be realized in my parish?
We invite you to envision a process of Pastoral Planning in four stages:
1) Count our blessings: How are we already fulfilling our mission as Church?
2) Dare to Dream: Imagine what might be possible to better fulfill our mission as Church?
3) Evaluate / Prioritize: What can be done and will have the greatest impact on our mission?
4) Design / Commitment: Concrete Plan of Action in fulfilling our mission as Church.
DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
FOLLOWING IS OUR PLAN.
- Daily Divine Liturgy as the source of Christian life.
- Confession before and after the Divine Liturgy, or by appointment.
- Matins Service before the Divine Liturgy on Sundays.
- First and Third Sunday of the month will be a catechism for all kids, after Sunday’s Divine Liturgy.
- Second and Fourth Sunday of the month, we will have Preparation for the First Confession and Solemn Communion for 2nd-grade students, after Sunday’s Divine Liturgy.
- Catechism for adults will be every third Wednesday of every month following Divine Liturgy.
- First Friday night vigil. Each month will change the focus of our prayer. For example, the first month we will display the miraculous icon of our Lady of Zarvanytsia, relics of St. Luke the next, and relics of St. Charbel the third month. During first Friday vigils we will have the Confession, Moleben, Rosary, Divine Liturgy, Sanctification of oil, prayers for healing, and anointing by Holy Oil. Our night vigils will start at 4:30 pm.
- Classes for Altar Boys will be every second Wednesday after the evening Divine Liturgy.
- During Great Lent time and Philip’s fast we will have a retreat (spiritual lectures for three days by an invited priest).
- The potluck will be once a month after Sunday Divine Liturgy.
- In the summertime we will have a family picnic outside town once a month.
- Every third Tuesday of the month we will have a pizza party for children with an activity such as a craft, game, movie or cartoon.
- We will try to organize a children’s choir.
- We continue to issue our bulletin.
- We will develop our website www.stlukecody.org, Facebook page, and YouTube channel.
- We have created parish and economic counsels blessed by Bishop Benedict.
- For solemn occasions we will invite Bishop Benedict and priests, especially our local priests of the Roman Catholic Church to join us in Divine Liturgy.
- We will collect the dates of birthdays for prayers on these days and weekly greetings after Divine Liturgy with singing “Many Years”.
- We would like to establish a group of individuals dedicated to praying for the intentions brought to them. This will be through a text group where members can share prayer intentions and prayer for the intentions brought to them. For this, we will need your phone number. Every participant can send text messages with requests for prayers.
- One time in a week we need to clean our chapel. We will announce after Sunday Divine Liturgy the day and time.
- We will begin to organize our parish library.
- We are planning to do some repairs in our hall and children’s room.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRESENCE IN OUR LIFE, AND YOUR SPIRITUAL AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT.
ONLY WITH GOD AND TOGETHER WE CAN LIVE IN LOVE IN PEACE AND BUILD A BEAUTIFUL HOUSE FOR OUR HEAVENLY FATHER.
ST. LUKE, PRAY FOR US!
THE VIBRANT PARISH PRAYER
O Lord Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd, You
became incarnate to find the lost sheep of Your
flock and preached the Gospel, so they might
recognize Your voice. So also today graciously
look down from heaven upon our parish community, and send down on it Your Holy Spirit, that it might be a place to receive the joy of
Your Good News. Strengthen us with Your presence, and always gather us together in prayer.
Grant us the spirit of serving others, so that in
our parish all might encounter You, the merciful
God. Bless our spiritual leaders with Your wisdom, and inspire us to generously give of our
time, talents and treasure for the building up of
Your Kingdom. Unite us in peace and harmony,
as befits Your community of love. Instill in us a
missionary spirit, and let our parish community shine with the light of the Gospel, with prayer
and good works, inviting all to share in the divine life, so that Your Name, O Savior, may be
praised, together with Your eternal Father, and
Your most-holy, good and life-giving Spirit.
Amen.
