St. Dominic Catholic Church

Pastor's Corner

December 23, 2018

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,the infant leaped in her womb.                                          Luke 1:41

The Parish Pastoral Council has been working for over a year on a pastoral plan for the parish.  The process we are using is the same one used by the Western Dominican Province and is an iterative process, meaning that we will be continually evaluating how well we are achieving our goals and modifying or adding to them as we go.

The council identified three general areas to focus on initially, the first of which is Hospitality. We know that in an age in which people are leaving the Church, others are also seeking God in the hopes of finding peace, meaning, direction, forgiveness and belonging.  The parish staff, independent of the parish council, have also identified Hospitality as an area for improvement, so the Holy Spirit seems to be nudging us in this direction.  A few of the ways we’ll address this priority are:

Better signage around the facility to help visitors find their way around;
A welcome packet and regular gatherings of new parishioners at our Mexican breakfast;
Greeters in addition to ushers at Mass;
Information in the bulletin specifically for new members;
An opportunity to greet people before the beginning of Mass;
Sending out mailers to new apartments with information about St. Dominic’s and our various service projects (HOPE dinner, lunch program, Dolores Mission);

This list is not exhaustive, but gives you an idea of what the Parish Council has recommended after reviewing the results of our surveys and our “town hall” meeting this summer.  Look for some of the yellow cards reminding us of this priority!