On Saturday, September 18 Parish Council hosted a joint session with Parish Staff to renew our ongoing Strategic Planning and Visioning efforts. Similar to good stewardship, part of our challenge is to continually improve and enhance the process by honoring the past and planning for the future while being aware of our current situation and present reality.
The next tasks will to be to finalize what framework, including parishioner input and involvement, we as a parish community will use to:
- Review and Affirm our Priorities
- Evaluate and Enhance our Organization Structure
- Conduct Facilities Planning
- Assess Resource Needs
- Cultivate Stewardship Planning
- Develop a Guide for Ongoing Decision Making
The following prayer was
composed by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw, drafted for a homily by
Cardinal John Dearden in November 1979 for a celebration of departed
priests. As a reflection on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Bishop
Romero, Bishop Untener included in a reflection book a passage titled
"The mystery of the Romero Prayer." The mystery is that the words of
the prayer are attributed to Oscar Romero, but they were never spoken
by him.
We Are Prophets of a Future Not Our Own
It helps now and then to step back and take a long view.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete . . . which is
another way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that can be said. No prayer fully expresses our
faith. No confession brings perfection. No set of goals and objectives
includes everything.
This is what we are about:
- We plant seeds that one day will grow.
- We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold
future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in
realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be
incomplete, but is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity
for God's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between
the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen
