Central Vicariate Inter-Parish Leadership Meeting

The title sounds like a mouthful, but the meeting itself was a very important step toward the future of our diocese. An important part of the strategic planning that is taking place in our diocese is the setting up of a 5-Year Plan to be operable from 2008-2013.

The plan will include a new model of church which takes into account the declining numbers of priests, the sharing of ministries and resources by inter-parish collaboration, and parish participation in the planning process.

Saturday's meeting took place at St. Michael's Church in Glen Allen. The large meeting area was packed with representatives from the parishes in our Central Vicariate. St. Elizabeth's was represented by our official representatives, Fr. Andrew, Barbara Vaughan and Frances Pope, as well as parish members, Mildred Green, Barbara White, Ethel Cooley and Mary Ann Allen.

I was amazed at how many parishes already collaborate with other nearby parishes; either by sharing priests and some administrative personnel like our own cluster of St. E's, Holy Rosary and St. Patrick's, or through social outreach programs like Caritas and food/clothing banks for the needy, to Christian Formation programs for the youth of our region.

Participants were encouraged to express what they felt their parishes lacked and also what their parishes had to offer to others in their area. One of the needs that many parish representatives spoke of was how to keep our youth and our young adults in the church. Too many young people are being lost to other Christian traditions because parishes are not able to offer programs that challenge them. Here was a perfect example of where a sharing of resources among parishes could make a difference.

This meeting was a very important one because it provided an opportunity for parishes to have input into the process of creating the Five Year Plan. You will certainly hear more about this plan in the next months after the Pastoral Planning Commission reviews all the findings these local meetings have produced.