Go Out Into the Deep: Growing as Disciples

Today we continue with a guest blog by one of the Parish Priority Planning team members. We hope her post will further inspire your to serve God and "Go Deep" for our faith and parish.

It probably took me a lot longer than most, but as I age, it has become more and more important to me to find ways to give back. Sharing the many gifts that God has blessed me with has become a primary path for my efforts to grow in the love of Christ. 

Serving on the Priority Planning Committee with Father Jack and the other good members over the past year has given me another opportunity to focus on giving back to my Saint Mary parish family. It has been an honor to participate in the process of assessing and prioritizing the needs of our parish over the next three years.  Gaining the input and opinions of all through the parish listening sessions was very meaningful and helpful. 

Now we have identified the three priorities that rose to the top with specific needs and improvements identified by parishioners. The priorities that the parish will focus on over the next three years are Facilities, Formation, and Service and Outreach.  Each of these priorities has two Smart Goals associated with it; specific tasks that will be accomplished by focused committees working toward completion of the goals.

I’m excited to have been asked to facilitate the overall Service and Outreach Priority and the accomplishment of its two Smart Goals. The first goal is to augment the parish Peace and Justice Ministry by expanding the service opportunities in the parish and in our neighborhood community over the coming year.  I’ll be working with and supporting the new committee leader Barbara Pontius. The second goal is convene a Senior (55+) Leadership committee to create and implement and action plan to better meet the varied needs of this large portion of our parish population. I’m looking forward to lending a hand to Bill and Dottie Tennant as they lead this new Encore seniors group.

Saint Mary is a Stewardship parish. We follow Christ as disciples and seek activities to share our time and talent and treasure with our fellow parishioners and with our broader community. My involvement in the Service and Outreach Priority gives me another opportunity to grow in discipleship and to grow my love for Christ by seeing Christ in each one of you. Join us by getting involved in your parish ministries and working with us to show Christ’s love in everything we do.

Dan Eshom, parishioner, member of the Priority Planning Team