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Subcommittee Report: Recommendations to Leadership
Welcome
to our new staff
Fall, 2007
We wanted all of our parishioners to get to know our new parish staff members better, so we asked them to give you a brief idea of who they are. We asked them to respond to four questions:
- What attracted to you to St. Francis of Assisi?
- What inspires you?
- What areas of responsibility will you be working on?
- Something you’d like the parishioners to know about you.
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-My family and I have always felt
that the welcoming and hospitality we’ve received at St.
Francis was an invitation to spread God’s love to others. This
is motivating force behind our active role in the parish. - Involvement in a variety of ministries at St. Francis for the past eight years has provided me with a deep understanding of the needs of our faith community. It is this need that inspires my commitment. - My role at SFOA will be to help bring the efforts of the entire staff focused on the lay-clergy partnership which energizes our vision. This participation will enable us to reach out and to realize spiritual growth. - I believe that my involvement at St. Francis of Assisi is an answer to God’s call to give back to the community the gifts I have received from God, and in doing so, spread His love for everyone.
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-I came to St. Francis of Assisi
for spiritual development and for the opportunity for personal
growth. -I am inspired by my children. I thrive on reading and learning about God and His people. I’m also interested in travel and cooking. -My role at St. Francis is to streamline office procedures and the overall administrative flow to ensure the optimum level of efficiency in support of the parish mission. -Parishioners should know that I enjoy my interactions with people and learning new things. I also believe that it’s important to create a happy and open environment. I look forward to meeting each and every parishioner. |
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-What truly attracted me to this community was the vision in the parish of the spirit of St. Francis which is present in the community. -My Catholic faith tradition inspires my work, especially how I have been loved in the Communion of the Saints. -My main role at St. Francis will be leading our faith formation efforts for all ages through our Generations of Faith program. I will also have the overall responsibility for RCIA, the youth and young adult ministries and the Confirmation program. -I enjoyed six years experience as a Franciscan Brother prior to ordination before I followed my call to be a catechist . |
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February 3, 2006
Dear Parishioners,
Our parish is growing and changing in important ways, and as a steward of this parish community I want to share these new directions with you—as we are all stewards.
First,
as many of you know,
Joe and
Elaine Swyt who have been serving the parish for many
years will be leaving soon for Oregon. Joe with his broad
experience in business and finance has been a great gift to our
parish and our Deanery. He has established sound practices that
will serve the parish well into its future. Elaine has developed
and maintained our website, helped our Diocese, and recently taken
a leadership role in establishing our Stephen Ministry Program.
They both have given their gifts generously and abundantly.
Second, Joe's departure coupled to longer term staff planning, presented an opportunity to restructure current roles to ensure continuity and stability. To assist in this effort, last November, I asked the Pastoral Council to help develop a strategy. Together we explored ideas and models from the Church and business, and we focused on the specific needs of St. Francis. The staff and the committee have completed the plan, and we have begun implementing its recommendations. The key elements include:
• I will serve as pastor of the parish until I
retire in 3-4 years. In the next few months, I will take a leave
to have knee replacements. When I return I will focus my energies
on the pastoral needs of the parish and fulfill my role as pastor
in a different way—I will be less
involved in the day to day management and administration of the
parish but still ensuring that the overall vision and mission of
the parish are accomplished.
• We have established a new staff position of Parish
Administrator who will have responsibility for directing the
staff, managing the temporal affairs of the parish and ensuring
efficient and effective collaboration among staff, parish
leadership and parish programs/ ministries.
Will Sousae
will serve in this new position, and is accountable to me and the
Pastoral Council for overall administration of the parish.
• Fr. Loi
will continue as our full time Parochial Vicar. We are also
fortunate to have
Fr. Joseph Benedict rejoin the parish as a part time Parochial
Vicar until June 30th to provide assistance while I am on medical
leave.
•
Ginny
Hinkle will continue as the Director of Ecclesial
Communities and assumes the new responsibility of managing the
parish office and administrative support services.
• We are planning and consolidating staff positions and
responsibilities so that our staffing costs will decrease in FY07
without imposing staff cuts.
• We will continue to build and develop a parish community of
clergy, staff, and parishioners; one that is collaborative and
diverse, utilizes the unique gifts and talents of each, and
involves as many of you as possible.
I encourage you to discuss these issues with other
parishioners, lay leaders, staff, and myself. These changes
support the work of the entire parish, and I welcome your help in
moving forward. For those interested in more data, the
committee report and the new
organizational chart are posted on the parish website at
www.stfrancisofassisi.com. I am very grateful to the
Pastoral Council, staff, and parishioners who have worked with me
over the past months to develop this new plan. I ask you to
continue to keep all of us in your prayers.
Sincerely,
Fr. John Sandersfeld
Pastor