Core Team Update #16

Reconciling Love

“Whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” –   2 Cor 5:17-21

 In the second reading for the 4^th Sunday of Lent, St. Paul writes about the activity of God reconciling all things through Christ.  Not only does he say that we are new creations, but he points out our call to become “ambassadors for Christ” spreading the good news of God’s reconciling love.  Everyone and everything this sacrificial, reconciling love touches is transformed.

This reconciling love of God has the capacity to transform the way we see things and how we behave.  It allows us to look beyond differences, and look beyond the competition that often mars the relationship between one parish and its neighbor.  The power of God’s reconciling love helps to perceive how the kingdom of God is breaking into our experience and into the life of our parish communities.  If we ask for the grace, the reconciling love of God will allow us to imagine new ways of being Church together and give us the courage to be prophetic in our planning for the future.

Dear Core Team Members,

We are coming to the end of the first phase of Faith in Our Future as core teams complete the parish evaluation process and prepare to move on to the next phase:  “Cohort Conversations and Evaluation.”  Many of you are reporting good feedback from town hall meetings and parish surveys about the strengths and challenges of your parishes’ life as well as a greater understanding of theFaith in Our Future process.  We encourage you to continue communicating with your parish about what is going on in each phase of Faith in Our Future so that everyone moves forward together.

The next phase of Faith in Our Future will kick off with the training sessions on March 15-16, 2016 at the following sites:

BURLINGTON COUNTY COHORTS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 16, 2016 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Saint Isaac Jogues Parish Center, Evesham, NJ

MERCER COUNTY COHORTS 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 15, 2016 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Saint David the King—The Great Hall, West Windsor, NJ

MONMOUTH COUNTY COHORTS 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 15, 2016 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Saint Mary’s Parish Center, Colts Neck, NJ

MONMOUTH COUNTY COHORT 16, 17, 18, 19

WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 16, 2016 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Saint Mary’s Parish Center, Colts Neck, NJ

OCEAN COUNTY COHORTS 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 15, 2016 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

St. Luke’s Parish Center, Toms River, NJ

Other comments:

1.)  Core teams need to complete these steps before March 15^th:

a.) Plan to complete your work evaluating the 4 areas of parish life in ways that involve the whole parish (e.g. surveys, task forces, work groups, town hall meetings, etc.).

b.) Finalize the four report forms:

1.) Your Parish Evaluation Form – Pages 13-39 Section II (please download from the website)

2.) Your Parish Summary Report Form – Pages 40-42 Section II (download from the website)

3.) Your Parish Input Checklist – Page 43 Section II (sent electronically tosspore@DioceseofTrenton.org)

4.) Your Data Verification Form with the trend column filled in – stable, increasing or decreasing

c.) Implement your communications strategy to keep your fellow parishioners involved.

d.) Contact your Reid Group consultant with your questions and concerns.

2.)  In preparing for the March 15-16 training sessions, we request that core team secretaries bring hard copies to exchange that evening of the Parish Summary Report and the Data Verification Form for all members of your cohort. For example, if you have 3 other cohort partners, bring 15 copies and so on. The Parish Evaluation Reports will be shared electronically following the meeting. Cohort core teams will be provided contact information for everyone in their cohort to make communication easier.

3.)  We ask that you not contact your cohort partners before the March 15-16 training sessions. The reasons for this request are two-fold: the focus for now is on the parish evaluation process and many parishes need the next four weeks to complete their work; it is best to understand the expectations of the cohort phase of Faith in Our Future before meeting with each other. In fact, cohort teams will have nearly an hour to meet and begin their important work during the March training sessions.

4.) As you move from the parish evaluation phase to the cohort conversations phase of Faith in Our Future, it is very important to keep up your regular communications with parishioners through bulletin announcements, announcements at Mass, messages on your website and more.

FAQs about Faith in Our Future:

What should we do if we are asked for an interview by our local media?

If you are contacted by reporters from newspapers, television, or radio stations, particularly reporters outside your local community, please refer them to Diocese of Trenton, Office of Communication, Rayanne Bennett, Executive Director, rbenne@dioceseoftrenton.org.

Please let us know what other questions you have and we will answer them in future updates.  Thank you once again for contributing your time and energy to Faith in Our Future.

FAITH IN OUR FUTURE STAFF & COUNTY CONSULTANTS

Diocesan Office Staff

Msgr. Leonard Troiano, ltroiano@dioceseoftrenton.org

1-609-403-7159

Sherrie Sporek, sspore@dioceseoftrenton.org

1-609-403-7193

FAX: 1-609-406-7413

MAILING ADDRESS:

Faith in Our Future,

Diocese of Trenton

701 Lawrenceville Road

Trenton, NJ 08648

The Reid Group Consultants

Burlington & Ocean Counties Consultant

Tom Reid, TReid@TheReidGroup.biz, 1-206-947-2990

Monmouth County Consultant

John Reid, JReid@TheReidGroup.biz, 1-206-947-1055

Mercer County & Bi-Lingual Consultants

Karen Castellon, KCastellon@TheReidGroup.biz, 1-908-240-9941

Cleo Molina, CMolina@TheReidGroup.biz, 1-206-383-2536