SMART Goals & Volunteer Thanks

Friends, peace be with you.

It’s with great joy that we welcome one of our native sons back to celebrate Masses this weekend, Fr. Jacob Rouse, son of Deacon Dan and Jayne Rouse, is here to celebrate his fifth anniversary of priestly ordination. I’ll be taking his place in Cresco. Please make him feel welcome. I long for the day when I get to travel to many other parishes because there are so many vocations coming out of St. Patrick’s Church and so many priests wanting to thank you all for the formation you helped God do for them. This is one of the many reasons our vision to be a parish that cooperates with God in shepherding seekers to him is so pivotal.

I had a chance to meet with parish leadership on a recent Thursday to plan some SMART goals. SMART goals stand for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based. It is an acronym that makes sure we are seeking to achieve goals and not just doing pet projects of people. After two hours, we had the beginnings of two goals but we couldn’t quite refine either enough for it to be SMART. So, with a pastor needing to pack for vacation and a group needing a break, we decided to stop and return to it in August. The two areas we are working on are helping our parishioners get involved (stewardship) and seeking out the lost (evangelization). Both fit well with our vision to cooperate with God in shepherding seekers to him, It was the specifics of each that was bogging us down. I have every faith that a couple of months will help to get things back on the right track and by the end of August I’ll be writing here about how our SMART Goals will guide parish “programing”.

Lastly, I want to thank the volunteers who have been cleaning the church and sitting at the front desk. I had a question from a parishioner whether this was being done because of finances. The definitive answer is NO! We need volunteers because this is your parish and we need your help, not just during fish fry season, but all the time. A parish isn’t just a place people come for “professional” church workers to do all the work. It is a place where we all chip in and use the gifts and talents God gave us to build it up. Whether that is praying for an hour in adoration, serving donuts on Sundays, or any of the other ways you serve St. Patrick’s, Thank you!