Thank you again to all who participated in the parish survey. We had a tremendous response rate with over 700 individual submissions! Based on our average Sunday Mass attendance, this is more than twice the number of responses the Catholic Leadership Institute (CLI) would normally expect. I am so grateful for your input. Your interest demonstrates that there are many people who love St. Mark’s and want to see us continue to thrive and grow.
I have been meeting weekly with a team of dedicated volunteer parishioners, a few staff members and our CLI consultant to review the survey results and use them to develop a strategic/pastoral plan for our parish. We are looking forward to sharing more specifics with you in the coming months. I promise you that we are looking carefully at the input we have received from you and doing our best to incorporate it into the parish plan.
We want more people to find a home at St. Mark Catholic Church and School. Our goal is to create a plan to make this an even more welcoming community. We need everyone’s help to make this happen. As Pope St. Paul VI reminded us, the Church exists to evangelize. It sounds a little intimidating, but as disciples of Jesus Christ, we are all called to share our faith with others.
During this Lenten season, I ask each of you to consider inviting someone to join you for Mass at St. Mark. Maybe you have a friend or neighbor who is away from the church, someone who is just not regularly practicing their faith, or someone who is thinking about becoming Catholic. We all know people who fall into one of these categories. Sometimes a personal invitation is all someone needs to join us. Please prayerfully consider this and let’s all make a commitment as a parish to join in this evangelization effort.
I have learned that many Catholics who do not regularly attend Sunday Mass, will still “give up” something for Lent and not eat meat on Fridays during Lent. If you have not been attending Mass every Sunday, the best thing you can do for Lent is come to Mass! It is far more important than whether or not you have a hot dog on Friday!
God bless you all, and I look forward to sharing more about our strategic plan very soon.
Peace and prayers,
Fr. Peter