Parish Vitality
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As part of the continued emphasis on parish vitality in the Archdiocese of Dubuque, each parish has been asked to submit 1-3 written goals. Goals should focus on supporting effective ministries and the future viability of the parish and should be specific to efforts/action steps for 2024-25.
In 2023-24, the parishes in the Heart of Mary cluster engaged in a "Year of Care and Healing" as our vitality goal.
In 2024-25, we have identified two goals. Our first goal which we will call "Outreach and Invitation" is a spinoff from the "Year of Care and Healing" and will challenge us to continue to reach out in service and love to others. Our second goal, "Deepening Our Prayer" was inspired by the document "Teach Us to Pray" published in preparation for the upcoming Jubilee year and is aimed at helping parishioners of all ages deepen their prayer lives. -
Goal #1: Outreach and invitation
We will engage in intentional acts of outreach and service, continuing efforts that have been successful while also looking for new opportunities to make a positive impact in our communities.
A “stretch” component of this goal is to find a way to positively communicate that it is our faith that motivates us to serve others and invite those we encounter in our efforts to join us both in service and worship.
Why was this goal chosen?
We are convinced that to spread the Gospel and grow our Church, we need to go into the community, meet people where they are at, identify their needs and/or questions, and then respond in service and love while pointing the way to Jesus.
In addition, parents have expressed a desire to do community service projects as a family. Through our “Outreach & Invitation” initiative, we hope to actively engage and form deeper relationships among our own parishioners as well as those who might be looking for or open to joining a community of faith. -
Goal # 2: Deepening Our Prayer
Inspired by the document “Teach us to Pray” published by the Dicastery for Evangelization in preparation for Jubilee 2025, we will be focusing on helping our parishioners develop and deepen their prayer lives. We will do so by offering different types of prayer experiences, providing resources for individuals and families, assisting catechists in teaching our young people about prayer, planning a cluster mission/retreat on prayer and evaluating our worship spaces.
Why was this goal chosen?
As people’s lives become increasingly busy, it seems that taking time to pray is often one of the first things that people set aside – whether it be personal prayer time or coming to Mass to worship as a community. We often fail to recognize the value of prayer. Prayer can provide us comfort, hope, and insight. Most importantly, prayer is the foundation of our relationship with God.
Like the disciples, we sometimes say “Lord, teach us to pray!” We recognize that we can improve upon how we teach prayer to our young people. We also acknowledge that there many ways to pray and the way we pray changes over the course of our lifetime. We want to expose our parishioners to different prayer forms and help them discover what type of prayer is most fruitful for them.
Finally, we know that the celebration of the Eucharist is the source and summit of our lives as Catholic Christians. We desire to help those who worship with us to have a fuller experience of the Mass by increasing their understanding of what we do and why we do it and to evaluate the worship experience in our parish.