News - January 2020 RSS Feed

Dear Parishioners, Last year, in response to a directive from our Bishop, we began a journey to build a new faith community using a model called the "Family of Parishes". As you well know, this decision brought Most Precious Blood, Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Juan Diego of Guadalupe, St. Theresa and Sts. Cyril & Methodius together as one community called The North Central Windsor Catholic Family of Parishes.  In any venture that brings people from different backgrounds and communities together, change is necessary if we are to meet the mandate of discipleship in a way that encourages spiritual growth, interest and involvement - especially as we strive to become mission oriented parishes forming disciples of Jesus.  The task has been daunting. In less than one year's time, we created a preliminary budget, established a temporary pastoral plan, reformulated our staffing, made decisions regarding programming, aligned our ministries to support mass time changes, developed a new logo, and introduced a new website and bulletin that broadcasts the activities occurring at all of our churches so that you can take advantage of opportunities within the family.  The Transition Team became our new Parish Advisory Council, a new Finance Committee was formed and Parish Life Committees were created at each site to ensure that clear lines of communication continue to guide us. And while all of this was going on, we began construction of a new Parish Hall at Our Lady of Guadalupe, a search for a new priest for our Hispanic community, renovated St. Theresa's rectory to accommodate our priests, addressed significant space issues for our Administrative Team at Most Precious Blood and worked with our Slovak community to ensure longevity for their cultural centre. It has been a very busy beginning and we thank you for your patience and your support.  Throughout the process, as changes were implemented, we promised that we would pause in six months time to gather input from each of you. That time is now. We need a sense of how you think we are doing so that we can determine our next steps. Next weekend, February 8th and 9th, we will celebrate 'Survey Sunday' a time to share, to communicate, to have your say. We want to know what has worked, where we can improve and how we can better meet your needs. To that end, we ask again for your support. During Mass, immediately following a brief homily, the survey will take place. It is short, easy to complete and allows you to express additional ideas or concerns for our confidential review. For those who respond to the invitation to fill in their name at the surveys end, you will be helping us avoid a costly census exercise and give us a good idea of our current population - another way we can plan to meet the needs of our growing faith community. Once completed, the surveys will be collected as you leave the church.  You have been a constant source of encouragement, and we invite you once again, to help us move forward by taking a moment to reflect on the past six months in preparation for next weekend's survey. While change is difficult, we have also been told of unexpected blessings that have occurred throughout the transition. We want to hear those stories too as we ponder new directions to better serve you and your families.  Thank you so much for your ongoing support and prayers. With thanks and blessings!  Your Pastoral Council