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ST.
THOMAS MORE
PRESENTS
PLANNING RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE DIOCESE
FOR
FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION
All of the parishes of the diocese,
including St. Thomas More
have been working to determine the best ways to serve our
communities with our available material and human resources as
demographics change, populations shift, and the number of diocesan
priests available for ministry continues to decline.
Representatives from our parish
planning team met several times early in the year under the guidance of Monsignor
Morgan and our parish chairperson, Terri
Conway, to review our parish data and to review data from other
parishes within our deanery.
The members of the parish planning team were:
(Parish
Pastoral Council Members)
Bill Carrozza, Pat Daly, Sheiila DeCrescenzo, Joyce DeMichel,
George Erickson, Marie Enny, Sister Mary Gough, Deacon John Harrington,
Ellie Mayfield, Dan Miller, Gaye Pino, Denise Radziwill, and Ann Vigrass.
(Parish
Finance Council Members)
Antoinette Andraka, Robert Crawford, Charles MacAdams, John
Mohan, Robert Sagedy, Sheila Tartamosa.
(Other
Parishioners who volunteered)
Pat Beaney,
Regina
Broadbelt, Michael Czajkowski, Liz DeYoung, JoAnn Gadren, Marianne Gorin,
Jane Kenney, Frank Krenslak, Sheila Mohan
Under the leadership of Monsignor
William Brennan, the Dean for our area of the diocese, and with a
trained facilitator, Mr. Frank Sinatra, our pastor and chairperson,
along with representatives
from our parish planning team, met several times with
representatives from the other parishes in our region for Regional
Meetings to begin to formulate planning recommendations for our region.
Our planning partners are:
Deanery
Three:
Camden
Central
Region
6:
Christ the King, Haddonfield, St. Vincent Pallotti,
Haddon
Township
, Holy Saviour,
Westmont
Region
7:
Holy Rosary, Cherry Hill,
St. Pius X, Cherry Hill, St. Mary, Cherry Hill, St. Thomas More, Cherry
Hill, St. Peter Celestine, Cherry Hill, Queen of Heaven, Cherry
Hill, and St. Andrew, Gibbsboro.
At these Regional Meetings, the
planning representatives considered various models for parish
configuration that would strengthen parish life within our region.
Full descriptions of each of these models for configuration have
been published in past issues of the Catholic
Star Herald and can be found at www.GatheringGodsGifts.org.
Meetings were held this spring at the
Deanery level with representatives from the region.
At these meetings, planning recommendations were formulated for
all the planning partners in the deanery.
These deanery recommendations, which were submitted to the
diocese by May 15, will be reviewed and evaluated during the summer
months by Bishop Galante with the Diocesan Planning Commission.
In the fall, Bishop Galante will visit each deanery
representative group to give feedback and pose questions.
Following Bishop’s visit, the
planning representatives in deaneries will have the opportunity to fine
tune or adapt their planning recommendations.
During December and January, Bishop Galante with his advisors
will review the final draft of recommendations submitted by each
deanery. It is
expected that Bishop Galante will announce the diocesan plan in February
2008.
PARISH
PLANNING RECOMMENDATION
The
Pastoral Planning process
of the Diocese of Camden, Gathering God’s Gifts, has as its
major work the revitalization of parish life.
In order to move toward our diocesan pastoral goals for parish
vibrancy, the following model of parish configuration is being
recommended to Bishop Galante for
St. Thomas
More Parish:
Director of Parish Life Model
We
recommend that our parish will not have a resident pastor, but a
Director of Parish Life, a canonical pastor, and a sacramental priest
appointed by the Bishop.
In
addition to the recommended reconfiguration model noted above, the
planning process has been addressing the number of priests available for
ministry, the ministries needed for vibrant parish life, financial
feasibility, and facilities. These
factors are contingent on the acceptance of the model of configuration
being recommended. For
additional detail on our planning recommendations, see our parish
website a http://stthomasmorenj.org/
As we complete Phase II of
“Gathering God’s Gifts” and enter Phase III (see www.GatheringGodsGifts.org
for a complete timeline), we thank all of the clergy, religious, and lay
men and women who have collaborated so faithfully in this process and
who have brought their gifts to the service of our Church.
We ask you to continue to pray daily for the success of this
process that, with God’s grace, it will help us grow into the dynamic
communities of faith, hope and love that we strive to be.
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