Bulletin Board #6
September 1, 2009
Materials: All of the materials (folders and inserts, DVDs, door hangers and pass-by cards) have been counted, packaged and most of them picked up by parishes at this time. There are extra copies of everything except door hangers if a parish finds that they need a few more. We will try to fill your request. Please call or e-mail Sue French at 419-244-6711 or 1-800-926-8277, ext. 516, sfrench@toledodiocese.org.
Thanks to all those who took the time and in some cases the extra care in picking up the materials from the seventh floor. We look much less like a warehouse now.
Publicity: Billboards have been purchased in the following areas:
Norwalk – SR 20
Sandusky – Perkins Road
Port Clinton -- Downtown
Tiffin -- SR 224
Lima – Rt 309 between Elida and Lima
Wauseon Area -- SR 20A
Toledo – Anthony Wayne Trail
Toledo – Central Ave
Toledo -- Woodville Rd.
Perrysburg-- I-75
Toledo Downtown Digital – Washington Street
A press release will be going out to the newspapers on the media list in mid-September. (Thank you to those parishes who provided updated contact names for various newspapers.) The same press release will be sent to the parishes in the event that they would like to send it to other newspapers in the local area.
The Communications Office is working on TV announcements to be aired mid-September or later.
Parish Follow-up: It is important that parishes are working as hard on the types of follow-up for those visited as they are in preparing the materials to be handed out. The fruits of this initial contact with people will be only as effective as the welcome they subsequently receive. Invitations to parish potlucks or information nights, personal phone calls to people who expressed some interest in learning more about our Catholic faith, and prompt response to requests for assistance with marriages, baptisms etc. all need to be planned so that they may be accomplished with hospitality and grace and in a timely manner. Evangelization efforts change the parish as much as they change the persons who receive the Good News.
Evaluation: After October and the initial contact of the home visitation is achieved, the Diocesan Core Team will be inviting Parish Core Teams or their representatives to regional gatherings where we hope to evaluate how the program worked, what was missing, and what could/should be changed to make it more effective. We hope that this will also be a time for parishes to share how they are following up on the contacts that were made.
Dates, times and places will be announced later. Questions for reflection and response will be sent in preparation for the meetings.
Prayer & Worship: Preaching and worship aids were sent to all priests and deacons in the Diocese. These aids were prepared by the Toledo Diocesan Liturgical Commission and included homily aids, suggestions for proper prayers and a sample Prayer of the Faithful intercession. These aids are also available on the Home Visitation webpage.
The Home Visitor Commissioning service was sent to all pastors/pastoral leaders and Parish Core Team contacts. It is also posted to the webpage.
June 26, 2009
Parish Prayer Cards and Posters
• The parish prayer cards, with The Spirit of Jesus Alive Today: Pentecost in Our Time diocesan prayer will be sent to all parishes in the Diocese in early July. The prayer is intended to be prayed by the parishioners for the success of the diocesan evangelization effort which can be participation in the home visitation process or a local initiative.
• As indicated earlier, each parish will receive the number indicated from last year’s “October count” plus 5%.
• Parishes can choose when to begin the prayer in the parish, but it would be important to begin no later than the first Sunday of September as part of the lead up to the home visitation.
• Two to three posters announcing the evangelization initiative will also be sent to each parish.
Order forms
• Order forms for folders/DVDs, door hangars and “pass over” cards were sent earlier. Participating parishes should complete and return them by July 1. This allows us to get the order to the printers and back to the parishes in a timely manner. If a parish needs another copy of the order form, send the request to spiritofjesus@toledodiocese immediately.
• Please remember to order only as much as you anticipate you will need.
Ecumenical Efforts
• At the time of the Parish Core Team training (and in the manual) parishes were encouraged to contact their local ministerial associations about the use of “pass over” cards by other denominations. The “pass over” cards are designed to ensure that active members of other faith traditions are not unnecessarily contacted in the home visitation process.
• Since the greater Toledo area includes over 400 different churches and since ministerial associations and deanery and parish configurations do not in any way coincide, a letter will be sent to the pastors/ministers of these churches informing them of the Catholic evangelization effort and inviting them to order “pass over” cards for their congregants to display.
Spanish Editions
• The parish prayer card for The Spirit of Jesus Alive Today will be two-sided with an English version of the card on one side and a Spanish version on the other.
• In addition, the poster, the door hangar, the DVD label, the folder and the copies of the faith stories contained in it, and one bulletin announcement and one flyer from the CD of design formats is being translated into Spanish. These are available to any parish that wants or needs them. Send your request to spiritofjesus@toeldodiocese.
Publicity
• The Communication Office, in conjunction with the marketing firm of Funk, Lutke and Skunda, is developing the publicity timeline. Billboards, public service announcements, press releases and TV spots will be developed and rolled out in a timely manner to let the public know The Spirit of Jesus Alive Today home visitation will be happening.
• More information will be sent to the Parish Core Teams as it is developed.
Protecting the Environment
• Recently the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops sent information promoting the “Catholic Climate Covenant and “The St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor.” The Pledge encourages Catholics to pray and reflect on our duty to care for God’s Creation, to learn about and educate others on the causes and moral dimensions of climate change, to assess how each of us is contributing to climate change, to act to change our choices and behaviors and to advocate for Catholic principles and priorities especially as impact the poor and vulnerable.
• As a way, albeit small, of honoring this effort to be aware of and act to change our choices regarding climate change, as far as possible, the paper used for printing the materials will be environmentally friendly. On materials that we have been able to acquire that do so, the environmental symbol will be printed to indicate that fact.
REMINDER
“Train the Trainers” sessions will be held at the following locations on
• Sunday, August 16th, 2:00-4:00 pm at St. Patrick’s of Heatherdowns
• Saturday, August 22nd, 10:00am to noon at St. Paul’s in Norwalk
• Saturday, August 22nd, 10:00am to noon at St. Mary’s in Defiance
• Saturday, August 29th, 10:00am to noon at St. Michael’s in Findlay
• Saturday, August 29th, 10:00am to noon at Holy Trinity in Assumption
Registration forms will be sent to the Parish Core Teams by mid-July.
Parishes are invited to send two parishioners who will take the responsibility to receive the training and take it back to do the home visitor training in the local parish. One or two Core Team members are invited to accompany them so that the Team will be aware of what is expected of the home visitors and the skills that they will receive. We ask that you send no more than four people to a session so that we can accommodate everyone comfortably.
Parish trainers will receive a manual with information and a CD with a PowerPoint presentation to help them provide the training at the local level.
May 14, 2009
Home Visitors Training
The Home Visitors Training committee has been meeting, every three weeks since last fall, preparing training materials. Most recently they set dates for “Train the Trainers” session to be presented regionally throughout the Diocese (see below).
Parishes are encouraged to send two parishioners who would be prepared to return to the parish and provide training to the parishioners who would be going to visit the homes. The Committee also felt that it would be advantageous if one or two members of the Parish Core Team attended as well in order to see how the Team can support the trainers.
In parishes where there is a significant Hispanic population, it would be helpful if one of the trainers was bi-lingual. This would enable the training to be done in Spanish for those who would be visiting Spanish language households. If there is enough need for the home visitor training materials in Spanish, they will be provided.
“Train the Trainers” sessions will be held at the following locations on
• Sunday, August 16th, 2:00-4:00 pm at St. Patrick’s of Heatherdowns
• Saturday, August 22nd, 10:00am to noon at St. Paul’s in Norwalk
• Saturday, August 22nd, 10:00am to noon at St. Mary’s in Defiance
• Saturday, August 29th, 10:00am to noon at St. Michael’s in Findlay
• Saturday, August 29th, 10:00am to noon at Holy Trinity in Assumption
At this time, it would also be good for Parish Core Teams to begin to think about beginning to identify and recruit parishioners to “share the good news” by being home visitors this October.
CD Information
Recently one contact person from each Parish Core Team received a CD containing design formats for use by parishes in preparing for October. The design formats were for name badges, sample bulletin announcements, stationary and a sample pastor letter, etc. It also included information about using and misusing the logo. The logo is meant to be used in the colors indicated (full color, black and red or black and white).
If Parish Core Teams decide that it would be helpful to have the bulletin announcements/inserts or flyers in Spanish, please let us know soon. It takes time to do the translations well and we will translate only what parishes know would be helpful.
DVD Taping
Saturday, May 9, four individuals came to the Catholic Center to share their stories of becoming Catholic or returning to the faith in front of a camera. We would like to publicly thank Barb Layman, Dennis Jarrett, Mario Vargas and Matt Snyder for being willing to be a part of The Spirit of Jesus Alive Today: Pentecost in Our Time evangelization effort. Their stories will appear on the DVD being prepared as part of the folder the home visitors will leave behind.
Order Form
An order form has been sent to participating parishes and to the contact persons for the Parish Core Teams. Although five items are pictured on the form, parishes will need to order only three of them: Door Hangars, Pass-over Cards and Folders/DVDs.
Good stewardship of resources would imply that parishes would work to determine a realistic number and order only what they need. The Diocese in turn will order as many as the parishes order. If there is need for more, these can be re-ordered quickly at the time.
Two other items on the order form will be sent to all parishes: prayer cards and posters. Although some parishes are not participating in the diocesan initiative, all pastors/pastoral leaders have been asked to be part of a diocesan-wide evangelization effort. Our common prayer will be for all parish evangelization efforts.
Orders should be in by July 1 in order to get them printed and to the parishes by September 1.
Follow-Up
The Follow-up Committee continues to gather two kinds of information:
o issues or needs that may be identified or brought up because of the home visitation
o resources available to parishes to meet the needs
These will be posted to the webpage when they have been completed.
Parish Core Teams are encouraged to anticipate what might be needed at the local level and to prepare to meet those needs. When people are invited, there should be something informational that they can be invited to. This can be as unthreatening as tours and history or stories of the parish church (as part of the centenary) to which everyone could be invited. It may be an adult enrichment program like Alpha (contact Father John Blaser at St. Thomas Aquinas/Good Shepherd, Toledo for further information). Or it may be a parish picnic or potluck.
Specific needs like baptismal preparation for older children or information about marriage cases would take more professional training. Staff or volunteer trained lay ministers should to be in place to respond in a timely manner.
March, 2009
Report from Diocesan Core Team:
Materials
Progress is being made on the DVD that is being produced for inclusion in the folder left behind during the home visitation. Individuals have been identified and are being contacted to confirm their participation. Their variety of ages, parish affiliations and personal faith experiences will allow the DVD to address many people’s interests and questions. A grant has been applied for to help cover the costs. Please keep this project in prayer as it continues to go forward.
The folder is in process of being designed. It will have space on one of the inside pockets for the parish to affix identifying information if the Parish Core Team wishes.
Now is also a good time, if you haven’t already done so, to decide what materials from your parish may be of interest to the people you will visit. Whatever is included should be clear and concise and attractive in presentation. Too much material may be overwhelming while too little may not be considered welcoming. Some suggestions will be forthcoming. If you have already addressed this issue and have some ideas you are willing to share, please send them to spiritofjesus@toledodiocese.
Along with materials to be handed out, a poster is being designed that will be available to use in parishes to help parishioners be aware of the October evangelization effort and to keep it in prayer.
Home Visitors Training
The manual is almost complete and the CD with a PowerPoint presentation is beginning production. These manuals will be explained and given to parish home visitor “trainers” at regional “Train the Trainers” sessions. The training sessions will be held in late July and during August. Dates and places will be publicized well in advance so that two “trainers” from each participating parish as well as any members of your Parish Core Teams who wish to may attend. The manual will also be posted to the website for easy duplication. You can include it in your Parish Core Team manual under “Home Visitors.”
Idea Exchange
Besides this Bulletin Board where the Diocesan Core Team will keep you updated about the progress of The Spirit of Jesus Alive Today: Pentecost in Our Time, there is a special place for parishes to share their great ideas and “best practices.” Check on The Spirit of Jesus Alive Today webpage for the “Idea Exchange” for new ideas. And send your parish ideas to spiritofjesus@toledodiocese.. Please include the name of a local contact person in case anyone wants more information.
Follow-up Services
The committee that was tasked with identifying what services a parish may wish to consider as part of the follow-up to the home visitation has sent its work to each deanery to have the pastoral leadership review what they had done. The pastoral leadership (pastors, associate pastors, deacons, religious education directors, youth ministers, liturgists, pastoral associates, business managers and anyone else on parish staff who attends these meetings) are being asked if there were other issues that may need to be addressed and/or if there were resources at parish or deanery level that were available.
These ideas will be posted to the webpage. You can download them and include the document in your Parish Core Team manuals under “Local Initiatives.”
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