Per Aspera ad Astra

Why did we choose this name? “Through hardships to the stars” Our parish response to ‘Quo Vadis, Domine?’ ‘Lord, where are you going?’ (*2014 Pastoral Letter) We are being asked to undertake a hard process to ultimately discern our direction for the next 5 years

Phase 1 (2014) October 23 rd - gathering of priests and staff to review Pastoral Letter October 24th – gathering at St Vincent de Paul of various reps from the local parishes (attending from our parish – Cathy Camp, Ken & Joanne MacMillan, Charley Vaughan, Pat Bowser, Bob & Cathy Young). November 1st – parish was asked to select a team to oversee this process in the parish, it was decided at our Parish the overseeing body would be Pastoral Council with Diocesan contacts to be Fr Irek Bem (Pastor) and Cathy Camp (Pastoral Council Chair). November 10th – meeting of Pastoral Council to review first draft of responses to questions from the ‘Mission’ section of the document. November 22nd – meeting of a group of people to review what was pulled together by Pastoral Council in an effort to have input from others and to gather more information on what is being done in the parish. Each member was provided with all the information gathered by council and selected a question to review and go deeper with. December 3rd – Ministry Assessment Reports gathered from all Ministries in the parish along with a Parish Statistics Worksheet which were completed and subsequently sent to the Diocese. December 8th – Discernment Surveys for ‘Mission’, ‘Community’ and ‘Formation’ completed for the parish by the leadership group and submitted to Diocese

Phase 2 ( ) October 24 th - Regional Study days to discuss Pastoral Letter with Dartmouth-Eastern Shore parishes December 31 st – Ministry Assessment Reports will again be gathered from all Ministries in the parish along with a Parish Statistics Worksheet which will be sent to the Diocese. January 2016 onwards– parish will develop their own 3 year action plan using results from the Discernment process (to be completed by June 30 th, 2016) February 28 th – Lenten mission on “Mission’. March 6 th – Lenten mission on “Community’ March 15 th – Lenten mission on ‘Formation’ May 13 th – ‘Assembly of the People of God’ June 30th – Our Pastoral Plan is complete

What have we learned so far?

Executive Summary The parishioners of Saint John XXIII Parish generously contributed ministry hours through 33 different ministries in At Saint John XXIII, there was a significant exception to these categories: the CWL, who contributed 2686 hours. Due to the extremely varied activities of this very active group, it is difficult to fit them into a single category - the group serves all three of our diocesan pastoral themes in significant ways. Therefore, for the time being the ministry has been excluded from the ministry categorization, and its ministry hours categorized merely as "NA.“ From the 2015 Lenten Series, Saint John XXIII submitted 60 individual discernment surveys for Mission, 48 for Community, and 53 for Formation. Given the small sample size, it should be noted that the survey responses do not necessarily reflect the views of the entire parish. However, even with the small number some clear patterns do seem evident and can be used as a starting point for pastoral planning.

How is our ‘Mission’ time spent 2721 hours – Ministry to those in need 628 hours – Sharing Christ with others 3349 TOTAL HOURS Ministries falling under ‘Mission’ – CWL, Funeral Reception, Hospitality (Greeters), Hospitality for New Families, Outreach, Pastoral Care, Refugee, Senior’s Outreach, St Vincent de Paul

How is our ‘Community’ time spent? 292 hours – Community Life 6993 hours – Sacramental Life 850 hours – Systems & Structures 8135 TOTAL HOURS Ministries falling under ‘Community’ – Altar Society, Arts & Environment, Baptism Prep, Choirs, Communications, Eucharistic Ministers, GEM, Hospitality (ushers), Lectors, Maintenance, Mass Coordinators, RCIA, Responsible Ministry Protocol

How is our ‘Formation’ time spent? 4025 hours – Discipleship Formation 370 hours – Leadership Formation 117 hours – Service Formation 4512 TOTAL HOURS Ministries falling under ‘Formation’ – Adult Faith Formation, Altar Server training, Religious Ed, Human Resources Committee, Living Your Strengths, Stewardship, Youth

1.) WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES DO YOU PRESENTLY FEEL YOUR MINISTRY CONTRIBUTES THE MAJORITY OF ITS TIME TOWARDS AND WHICH ONE WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONTIBUTE MOST OF YOUR TIME TOWARDS? DO YOU WOULD LIKE TOCOMMUNITYMISSIONFORMATION 2.) HOW DO YOU SEE YOUR MINISTRY CHANGING IN THE NEXT YEAR, 3 YEARS AND 5 YEARS? 3.) HOW HAS YOUR MINISTRY CHANGED IN THE PAST 5 YEARS? 4.) WHAT ONE THING, THAT YOUR MINISTRY DOES NOT CURRENTLY HAVE, DO YOU FEEL YOUR MINISTRY COULD BENEFIT THE MOST FROM? 5.) WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE YOUR MINISTRY DO IF YOU HAD MORE TIME? AND IF YOU HAD MORE TIME WOULD YOU DO IT? 6.) WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE YOUR MINISTRY DO IF YOU HAD MORE VOLUNTEERS? AND IF YOU HAD MORE VOLUNTEERS WOULD YOU DO IT? 7.) WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE YOUR MINISTRY DO IF YOU HAD MORE FINANCES? AND IF YOU HAD MORE FINANCIAL RESOURCES WOULD YOU DO IT? 8.) IF THE PARISH COULD OFFER YOU ONE ‘THING’ WHAT MOST WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE? 9.) HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR MINISTRY? ARE YOU PROUD OF THE WORK YOU DO? 10.) WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAY TO US? Questionnaire