Did you know that Ascension was invited to participate in Amazing Parish?
If you missed the first article in the series, we recommend you read it first.
Our Updated Purpose Statement
A parish purpose statement should articulate why a parish exists, expressing its primary mission. One could argue that every Catholic parish should have the same mission or purpose statement, i.e., the one given us by Jesus Himself – “Go make disciples of all nations… baptize… teach all that I have commanded you… love as I have loved you, feed the hungry, clothe the naked and worship the Lord, your God.” Yet, most parishes craft a purpose statement (sometimes called “mission statement”) that captures the parish’s reason for existing. Such a statement serves as a constant reminder of our main purpose and assists staff and volunteers in evaluating their efforts. Missions can sometimes drift and personal agendas or cultural pressures can influence priorities. A good purpose statement helps to keep us focused on what is most important.
Our parish leadership team and staff, in consultation with the parish Pastoral Council, has revised our parish purpose (mission) statement.
Proclaim
The statement affirms that Church of the Ascension exists to proclaim the Gospel, i.e., to announce the Good News that God so loved the world that He sent His Son, Jesus to save us; that in Jesus we have the Way to salvation. In the Lord Jesus we find forgiveness of sins. As a parish, we must proclaim this truth in all we do.
Worship
We are called to worship the Lord wholeheartedly, loving Him “with all your heart, soul, strength and mind” (see Lk 10:27). Jesus, at the Last Supper, commanded His disciples to “do this in remembrance of me” and so we celebrate the sacred liturgy, making the one sacrifice of Jesus present to us until He comes again in glory, we offer the One Saving Sacrifice to our heavenly Father as our act of worship. Our Eucharistic worship is at the heart of Catholic life.
Serve
But our worship must renew us and equip us to serve generously. To say we love God, and yet fail to love our neighbor in need, makes us liars. When Jesus washed the disciples’ feet on the night before He died, He said, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
Love
The Lord said that all the Law and the Prophets are summed up in His command to love like He loved. Jesus’ love is freely offered, sacrificial, rooted in truth and enduring. We must strive to imitate Jesus’ way of loving, always wanting the ultimate good for the other and continuing to love even when we are not loved in return.
All parish ministries are encouraged to come to know well the revised purpose statement and include it in their materials and correspondence. All parishioners are invited to take ownership of the parish’s purpose as a guiding principle for all we do in parish life.
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