OVERVIEW
The parish-wide effort Growing In Faith Together is an embodiment of an ideal of the parish as a single unified faith community.
Borne out of the Pastoral Council's recognition of a sense of fragmentation expressed by some parishioners, the two G I F T events have had rich content but have not achieved a broad understanding of how G I F T serves the needs of the parish, or enhances the work of individual ministries. The G I F T planning team has candidly reviewed the experiences of the last two years and is prepared to move forward with a more sustained effort to engage more parishioners and ministries, culminating in another parish-wide G I F T event in 2010.
The success of that event will be determined by the degree to which G I F T is (a) recognized as helping to knit together our parish, (b) noticeably involves a broad range of ministries in event planning and execution, and (c) provides content and an experience that enhances our faith.
ORIGINS
- from 2007 parish Leadership Day presentation by John Roberto on inter-generational catechesis 'breaking through silos', through cross-ministry participation in a catechetical event, preceded by parish-wide preparation for the event
- grew out of common feedback in Parish about 'fragmentation'
- Pastoral Council efforts to increase sense of unity in parish + provide for catecheis
EXPERIENCE: Year One + Year Two
Companions on the Journey 2008 (based on Ignatian Spirituality and the parish's identity as 'a Jesuit apostolate')
- event was a fair (the main part presented 8 experiences of Ignatian Spirituality of which participants could select 2) followed by liturgy and a dinner
- event was preceded by 4 presentations of different experiences with Ignatian Spirituality (George Drance creation of his ikon, Ignatian Schola presentation of music, Rose Allocca talk about Ignatian Spirituality, a gallery of images reflective of Ignatian Spirituality)
- large planning team met multiple times
Gathering the Graces 2009 (based on the experiences of four spiritual graces)
- event was planned as presentations / experiences of the graces of Call, Gratitude, Co-Laboring, Healing to be repeated four times so that participants could experience each Grace (given the small group, it became a sequence of presentations in which all participated as a single group) followed by liturgy and dinner
- planning for the event was decentralized, with the 4 groups of ministries involved in each Grace meeting to plan each Grace presentation
FEEDBACK: What Did We Learn?
- there is still very limited understanding in the parish of what G I F T is (and is not: 'another ministry')
- much more sustained + aggressive outreach is needed to engage specific ministries in G I F T (Mission Outreach and Family Faith are key ministries for greater awareness + involvement)
- we talk too much in our events (verbal presentation / 'preaching' is our all-too-dominant mode; we need more art, play, visual and other varied modes)
- we will not engage children (and their parents) without experiences and content geared to them
- the build-up for Companions on the Journey was more effective for the parish (with four preparatory events)
- the preparation for Gathering the Graces by the four groups of ministries was meaningful for these four groups of ministries
- timing of the event remains a concern (length of the program, conflict with family vacations / school break)
- the process (how we plan) and the output (the event) both are opportunities and have value
GOING FORWARD
- planning team is prepared to go forward
- ideally, one event (post-Easter?) with significant preparation work across ministries / generations (as in typical Roberto scenario)
- must devote greater attention to the planning process, and have deeper + longer involvement by different ministries
- whether or not there are 'pre-events' (such as in Year One), there should be stages of ministry outreach, engagement + preparation
- one subject-matter idea is to focus on The Social Gospel, raising questions such as 'what is (should be) the response of the parish to Jesus' call to feed / clothe / visit / comfort my people?' (we have discussed alternative ideas for content, such as A Year Of Paul, but the how is probably more complicated than the what)
- there is a natural tie-in to the May 16 day devoted to ministry development and formation, in stimulating ministries to think about G I F T as reflecting the parish Mission Statement
GREAT work, Luz and Sandy! (and ALL!)
ReplyDeleteI am very proud to be a part of G.I.F.T. Thanks for all your work! I like the idea of doing some "big" thing after Easter, and some more deliberate prep work to include more of the parish in the journey, and also in the "event day".
My "primary role" (if you can call it that) was to keep the website going. I am happy to continue this as a potential means of outreach and communication to the parish. This year the website wasn't mentioned much in publicity, and got very few visitors other than the days it was publicized (see my chart!), which tells us that simply having a link on the Xavier webpage without some further "go visit our new webpage!" publicity is not effective alone. I'm not sure if the team wants to continue the website, but if so, I am willing to help with it. I know websites are not for everyone, but if we have a variety of ways to publicize the event, we'll hopefully ultimately reach more people!
I also still like the idea of opening some sort of feedback forum (this blog? Invite for emails or paper comments, advertised in the bulletin?) to see what others in the parish want, will attend, etc. Just a thought.
Thanks again for all your work!!!!!
Actually, Kathleen, your point about publicity applies to much of what we do in the parish -- the bulletin turns out to be a pretty limited medium for actually informing many people about things (including, even, notices in the bulletin that link to other things, like the web).
ReplyDelete'Tis a conundrum, indeed.
I agree, it's tough to inform people in ways they will listen/read! Just an idea, have you (the PC) thought of a parish email list (people can sign up voluntarily)? Not just for GIFT but for regular parish stuff? I don't know how feasible it would be, and I know not everyone has email. It's just one more way to reach people. I know there's no easy solution. Or I wonder if the bulletin could be reformatted to be more reader-friendly, like have the first inside page be a sort of bullet list or "table of contents" of what is going on in the parish, and then have the rest of the bulletin be like it is now, with whatever text/photo/ad/info is associated with each bullet point. Just a thought. I know it's tough!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the draft, I think that it is excellent. The Webpage is included in Xavier Webpage, if people have not been interested in entering GIFT webpage, is because people “still” are not interested in GIFT. I think that we must continue with the Webpage! Kathleen is doing an incredible work! My experience tells me that people respond quickly through emails. I commit myself to send the GIFT webpage Link to all the emails addresses that I have filed.
ReplyDelete