2022: More than Welcoming and Celebrations

2022: More than Welcoming and Celebrations     

Welcome to 2022! Because of publishing deadlines, I am writing this column in advance of our Christmas celebrations, not knowing how many or few will join us this year.  But I do know our celebrations of our Savior’s birthday will be a blessing – for those physically present, and for those tuning in via video.   Our volunteers, ministers, and active members of the congregation make our collaborative great parish families with whom we celebrate the faith that gives us peace, hope, joy and love in Christ!

Looking back over the past year of pastoral initiatives, “The Welcome Back Initiative” stands out as a “win” for our parishes. We worked together to help parishioners rejoin or stay connected with their faith family through the peaks and valleys of the pandemic. You helped us to reconnect with so many, and we were able to do so much together that we were not able to do the year before, namely:

Return of Youth Altar Servers  -
Revival of our “Catholics In Action” youth ministry  - 
CYO Basketball -
Fresh-Air Concert Series  - 
St. Joseph Family
Fun Days -
Restoring the Communion Outreach Ministry -
Gift Bag Outreach  - 
“The Big Event” Masses and Collaborative Celebration

Many people felt welcomed, joy-full, and supported by sharing time with their parish family. And we are still focused on welcoming back any who we couldn’t reach, due to outdated contact information, or just limited resources of time and volunteer power.

Now… to get them to stay!   That takes a deeper connection.  Something that brings them back after the social event is over, or after the completion of a parish program or project.   We need to ask ourselves:  what special outreach can we offer that keeps people coming back;  that invites graduates of our Faith Formation or CIA youth group to return after high school and college?   As participating adults, we need to be more than “consumers” of ministry, going to church for what we get out of it.  We need to ask ourselves what we can contribute to it! 

 Faith is ‘caught’ more than taught. We want to help people to experience their need for Jesus, and seek Him together through an active faith, and a church community. The more we grow in grateful discipleship, the more people will ask, “What is it about those parishes in Plainville and Wrentham?” Or even better,

“What makes the people from those parishes
so alive and joy-filled?
I wish I had that in my life…”

This will be the start of what 2022 has in store for our Plainville-Wrentham Catholic Collaborative. I will share more on this in the coming weeks… Meanwhile, let us give thanks for all that God and our parishioners have done in the year past, and pray for openness to God’s will.

-Fr. Joe