What kind of community do you envision St Martin de Porres becoming? Does the following statement ring any bells with you? “We are a welcoming community, open to all who seek to encounter the love of Jesus.” Or how about “Our mission is to create opportunities for every person to experience Christ’s living presence, igniting hearts with His love.” Does that make you just a little bit excited, wouldn’t you love to be part of a community that lived by that vision?
Not long after I arrived in the parish I began to talk to both you and the parish leadership about the renewal of the parish, not because the parish was bad in any way, but because I am a firm believer that all of us want more for our faith community and from our faith community, even though we may not know how to articulate it, or how to go about doing it. I invited the parish leadership to learn more about the Divine Renovation process, and particularly the Genesis Compass program for parish renewal. I have written about this before in one of the parish bulletins.
Part of the Genesis Compass program is for the leadership team of the parish to formulate a vision for the parish based on prayer and shared reflection on our experience of God’s action in our lives and the life of our community. Put differently, I believe that our vision is a God inspired picture of the future that fills us with hope and passion. This is the vision that we want to share with you, to see if it also inspires hope and passion in your own hearts.
Over the next three Sundays I will be sharing aspects of that vision as I break open the word of God for you, and I hope it will be as mouth-watering and appealing to you as the smell of freshly baked bread broken open for the feeding of the hungry. Our vision sharing will conclude with two events where all the pieces of the vision are put together in a coherent whole and you are given the opportunity to give the parish leadership team some feedback on how the vision sits with you.
Saturday 27 September, 18h00: after our evening mass parishioners are invited to come to the hall for a listening and sharing session on the proposed vision statement of the parish. I and the Genesis Compass group will be there to answer questions and receive feedback. We hope to provide some light refreshments and a glass of wine afterwards, so that we can continue to enjoy one another’s company and get to know one another better.
Sunday 5 October, 10h30: after morning mass and our morning tea we will gather in the hall for another listening and sharing session. This session is a repeat of the Saturday session, so while you would be welcome to attend both, you do not need to.
