In order to share the “best practices” from parishes around the Diocese of Toledo, an Idea Sharing place is being opened on the website.  To help you get started, here are several questions that might sort out the different kinds of things you could share.  Remember, no idea is insignificant – in the hands of the Holy Spirit it may be the seed of something bigger and greater.

What to share???…give a short description of

• any process you used to verify or update your parish registrations (e.g. inviting people to re-register, sending registration forms to households, having parishioners check their registration after Mass)
• ways you invited people who attend the parish but had yet not registered
• how you invited inactive Catholics back to Sunday Mass
• adult formation you offered specifically in evangelization, e.g. homilies, adult formation classes, letters to parents of school children
• what kinds of materials that you are planning to hand out during the home visits
• your ideas for involving youth in the evangelization process
• any suggestions for working with ministers of neighboring local congregations
• collaboration with other parishes in evangelization
• publicity that you are using to let your parishioners know about the process
• follow-up activities to invite those who respond to home visitation invitations

Please also include the name of your parish as well as the person to contact when another parish is looking for more information about what you are doing.

E-mail your Ideas to spiritofjesus@toledodiocese.org

Ideas:

June 7, 2009

Father Charles Ritter writes:
 
At Bryan and Montpelier--as a way of broadening awareness of the project and gathering hands-on ownership--we put out a sign-up sheet this past weekend with a "menu" of jobs that need to be done.  We actually tried to create as many distinct "jobs" as we could, in the hopes of drawing more people into personal involvement with the process.  We distributed these at mass and asked people to fill them out NOW and leave them at the doors.

We got 96 volunteers at Bryan and 47 at Montpelier--first shot. If anyone would like a copy of what we used, please e-mail Fr. Charles Ritter at critter@cityofbryan.

May 12, 2009

Prayer banner

Jamie Klausing of Ottawa, SS Peter & Paul writes:

“Our plan is to get each and every person that currently attends mass, to begin to pray for at least one person they know, that does not attend mass and that needs a church home. We are then hanging the first names of theses persons on a a prayer banner in church...we believe in the power of prayer and we want to get as many people fired up and involved as possible...and so our journey begins...”

May 9, 2009

Blessed Sacrament Parish, Toledo, OH

The Parish Core Team at Blessed Sacrament has been working at the home visitation project for the past seven months.  As their work unfolded, the following plan emerged according to Matt Yaeger, Parish Core Team contact person:

“We have defined the following:
There are 180 blocks in our demographic area
There are 14 Churches including our own that serve the area
And we have about 1500 parishioner families.

With so much to cover in such a short period of time "October 2009" we would like to get started early and call on our own parishioners starting in August.  We would use those successes and failures as learning experiences before we call on the unchurched people in our neighborhoods.

We will report to our parishioners through the bulletin and at the end of masses with announcements focused on the witnesses, sharing in their successes so as to build a positive image of the door to door evangelization process.

We feel this first step can be accomplished in 30 days. Our measure of success will be through Mass attendance and volunteers to "adopt a block" for the October event and beyond.”

Matt Yeager:  myeagor@realtor.

March 19, 2009

For parishes with schools:

Once home visitors have been identified for the parish home visitation, some or all of the grades could be assigned to pray for specific teams of home visitors.  The students could continue the prayer daily (perhaps using the parish prayer provided by the Parish Core Team (received from the Diocese) throughout the month of October.  After the home visitation, one or more members of a home visitor team might come to the classrooms to share about their experiences of evangelization.

For further information, contact Carolyn Schmidbauer at the CYSS office; cschmidbauer@toledodiocese..

Father Jim Cryan, OSFS, pastor of Gesu Parish, Toledo offers the following resources and ideas:

A good book, among others, for an understanding of evangelization in the 21st century is “From Maintenance to Mission” by Father Robert Rivers, published by Paulist Press.

After working with updating the parish census, Gesu parish turned to evaluating and re-writing its mission statement to reflect the current situation.  This was done in concert with reorganizing the Pastoral Council and the parish flow-chart to better identify  the parish and its purpose.

One of Father’s comments is striking

“An uncertain trumpet does not gather troops.  The parish itself needs a sense of mission.  That mission must be as clear and simple as the Mission Statement says it is, and it must be evident in what they perceive about us.  That requires a concerted effort to get the message across to the parish itself for its own good.”

He also added:

“People who join the Church are most often people who know other Catholics and admire their lives and enjoy their friendship.” 

March 12, 2009

From Alyce Reinhart at St. Mary Catholic Church, Defiance, OH

Alyce writes that The Spirit of Jesus Alive Today:  Pentecost in Our Time” home visitation materials are part of a larger evangelization effort at St. Mary’s parish in Defiance.  Alyce write about other materials they have found helpful in both studying and planning for evangelization in the Defiance area:
    One such resource is on-line courses from Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association (PNCEA) such as:
    Keys to Reaching Inactive Catholics
    The Evangelizing Catholic
.
“Evangelization:  A Parish Planning Workbook” by Father Frank DeSiano, CSP can be used by a parish for study and evaluation.  Another resource by Fr. DeSiano with Father Kenneth Boyack, CSP is “Awakening Faith:  Reconnecting with Your Catholic Faith”

Information about the courses and other beneficial materials can be found at

pncea.org.

St. Mary’s Parish also has an active Evangelization Team which is presently evaluating “the existing practices of registering new members.  This evaluation includes a review of the “Welcome Packet” share with new members  The theme of Welcome and Hospitality is the central focus of … all ministries, new member registration, parish events, Liturgical celebration.”

“Team members are in the process of creating a more welcoming-attractive packet of parish information.  Cover designs and information to be included in the packet will be determined by the Evangelization Team, Pastoral Staff, Parish Office Staff and Pastoral Council.”

“The new Census forms (for parishioner re-registration) will include the names of all Catholic parishes within the Deanery.  Parishes will receive the (updated) census forms that were checked by Catholics visiting in another parish.”

To establish a foundation of acceptance, care, wellbeing, involvement, peace and happiness in the parish, and to enhance being a welcoming community, parishioners are committed to exert a concerted effort to get to know ONE new person by name each time they come to Mass.  And at each parish event, the parishioners attempt to meet the challenge to step out of their comfort zone ONCE at each event to make the effort to introduce themselves to another and to enter into a meaningful conversation with that person, especially those who may seem shy and alone.  This stage of evangelization is to motivate the community to “See how they love one another”

It is hoped that this attitude will provide a positive response to “What are we welcoming people back to?”

To contact Sr. Mary Carroll:  cschem39@verizon.net