In December 2011, at a convocation for the priests of the archdiocese, a proposed pastoral plan to strengthen parishes as primary communities of faith was unveiled for their consultation. The principal thrust of this plan is to “form stronger Christian disciples by strengthening our identity as a Christ-centered, mission-minded, welcoming and evangelizing Eucharistic community of faith.”  This plan seeks to construct a new structure for Mission by developing a Pastoral Service Team   which would provide pastoral services to multiple parishes in a particular area. This team would be a group of priests, deacons, pastoral associates, lay ecclesial ministers, parish pastoral and finance councils under the leadership of one pastor. The proposed new structure does not involve changing the parishes themselves but partnering parishes for the sake of the Gospel mission.

The new groupings of parishes will be called pastoral collaboratives . The criteria used to create these proposed collaboratives are: geographic proximity, a combined Mass attendance of 1600 attendees per week, a combined offertory of $500,000 per year, sacramental index numbers and projections and current demographic trends and projections.  In view of these criteria, it is proposed that Good Shepherd Parish would be partnered with Saint Julia Parish, Weston-Lincoln.

The Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission has begun a series of 25+ consultations around the Archdiocese to discuss this proposal. The commission is seeking the wisdom and insight of parish staff members, parish/finance council members and parishioners over the next several months to see if there is support for this approach. And, if this approach is not acceptable, what approach would people recommend, given the realities and challenges we face. Our Parish Pastoral Council will be discussing ways to talk with you more about the proposed plan. In the meantime you can visit the website www.planning2012.com  for further information about the plan, feedback from the various consultations and the proposed pastoral collaboratives for the various regions of the Archdiocese.