Sunday School for Disciples will not meet this Sunday, as I want to take the time to meet with those parents in our faith community who are looking for help in the religious formation of their children.  Of course, parents are always going to be the primary religious educators of their children.  If the faith is not a lived experience in the home, we can have wonderful religious education programs and make the sacrifices needed for Catholic education, but there will be little hope of a child growing into an adult faith.   I always say that while I was blessed with twenty years of formal Catholic education (grade school through graduate school), the gift of faith was nurtured in me by my parents, Dan and Irene Ragan.  I rejoice in those families who are able to provide a Catholic school education for their children.  For a variety of reasons I know that not every family is able to make that choice.  It is our obligation as a Faith Community to help and give good guidance to all our parents as they pass on the faith and Good News of Jesus Christ to their children.
 
Our demographics are such that we only have a tiny number of children who need Religious Formation.  I have talked to the Pastoral Council about how best we can assist our parents and I look forward to working with our families so that we can form our children for the road ahead where people of faith have so many more challenges than I ever did as a child.
 
At our most recent Pastoral Council meeting I also shared with our parish leadership these
Five Components of Parish Vitality:
 
1.  Mission Focus – Most years as a pastor, I’ve encouraged a particular mission focus. I am so very grateful that we are getting our buildings and grounds in good order.  There is still some work to be done, especially in the sanctuary (e.g. pulpit and flooring).  Yet these would be considered maintenance issues.  They are important but having a clear vision of what our mission is as a Faith community is even more important.
 
2.  Dynamic Parish Plan – The focus of our long-range planning committee has been on maintenance issues.  Again, it is very important and necessary work, but our planning needs to be mission driven.  So, if we were deciding to build something, we’d first need to ask, how does this fit into our mission.  Those of you in business, medical, or education fields will no doubt have much more to offer in this area than I do, particularly with goals and performance measurements.
 
3.  Consistent Communication – I like to write and so have something to offer in the bulletin, but there is a whole world of new media out there that we need to explore. Mary makes good use of our web-site and e-mail blasts.  But there is still so much more to learn and use.
 
4.  Financial Health – We are so very blessed.  Things are so different from 10 years ago. Thanks to Mark Schroder and all who have helped as good stewards of our resources.
 
5.  Lifelong Faith Formation – Mary Chapin and some of our parish leaders participated in a webinar this past Tuesday about Formed.org.  I expect the parish will soon subscribe to this amazing faith formation internet platform.  In the 21 ^st Century Faith Formation is focused on helping Adult Catholics be aware of the call to be intentional Disciples.  So, when Sunday School for Disciples returns next Sunday at 10am, I hope many of you will join us in the parish meeting room.

Fr. Jerry Ragan