Survey Team Members
Kelli Antonson SJ
Katherine Coster HM
Georgette Dionne SJ
Francis Fedrizzi SJ
Catherine Gentile SH
Mark Kostin SH
Sharon Leskanic HM
Joseph Powers SH
Jennifer Runge SH
Annemarie Salzberg SG
Trisha Scott HM
Patrick Spagnoletti SG
Fr. Daniel Greenleaf
Deacon Dennis Popadak
 

Click here to access DMI Survey as a PDF

POTHE Parish Team Completes the First Phase of Planning for a Healthy, Vibrant Parish 

April 15, 2018
Dear Parish Family,

In this joyous season of Easter, I am excited to announce that the Parish of the Holy Eucharist Parish Survey Team has completed the first phase of its exciting journey to discover how the mission of our parish can be lived more fully. The goal was for us to better meet the needs of our parish community and those we serve.

As part of a diocesan-wide planning effort, led by Catholic Leadership Institute of Philadelphia, the 14-member planning team was comprised of parishioners and clergy. The team graciously offered their time and talents to participate in an eight month process of drafting a priority plan geared towards helping to better make our parish a healthy and vibrant place of welcome and growth.
 
The planning process consisted of four primary areas of discernment which included constructing our:

1. Parish Purpose Statement
2. Parish Vision for the future
3. Primary Goals for achieving this Vision
4. Implementation strategies within a five-year time frame

 During this planning process…

• Our parish  team met on a regular basis to accomplish the goals of the process along with members from All Saints Parish (who were participating in the same process)
• The members studied the results of the survey completed by parishioners in the Spring of 2017. This survey gauged where parishioners are on their individual faith journey and how the parish can better foster their personal growth.
• Our plan has recently been approved by Bishop Deeley. We will soon be presenting it to the parish.

Bishop Deeley has made planning a priority throughout the diocese to ensure that all parishes are healthy and vibrant places of worship, evangelization, and service. To-date, twelve parishes in the diocese have either completed or are working towards completing a Priority Plan. This process is being led by Catholic Leadership Institute (CLI) which has more than 20 years of experience with parish and diocesan planning and leadership training. CLI’s Kate Sell has been working directly with the POTHE  planning team, guiding us through this proces every step of the way.
 
The Bishop and his staff have published a diocesan-wide strategic plan that details his larger vision for the diocese. If you have any questions, please contact me or any member of the Priority Planning team. We are happy to answer any questions and share where we are in the process. We are interested in getting your feedback on your hopes for our parish and how we can best serve our parishioners and those in our larger community.

As we continue in this process we ask the intercession of our patron saints: the Holy Martyrs of North America, St. Gregory, and St. Jude to guide and help us on our journey of conversion.

Parish Survey Coordinator,
Deacon Dennis Popadak

Statistics and graphs of those who took the survey and where we are on our faith journey

July 1, 2018
Dear Parish Family,

In this second phase of our exciting journey to discover how the mission of our parish can be lived more fully we are showing how the responses to the survey helped the Survey Team (members listed in the box to the right) focus on the areas that led to development of three goals which are geared towards making our parish a healthy and vibrant place of worship.

Of the 1,450 surveys that were issued by email, on-line at the parish website, or in printed form, a total of 799 were returned for a 55% ratio, which far exceeded the typical 8-12% return nationally. Congratulations and a heartfelt thank you for showing your support as an active parishioner! In conjunction with these numbers, 30-35% of registered members in each of the four churches responded, again way above the national averages. The team worked from the survey responses that showed that even though 84% agree that the parish helps them grow spiritually (as shown in graph #4) over 68% feel that they have areas to grow in and can deepen their practice as Catholic (as seen in graph #12).

The implementation process will unfold over the course of the next 5 years. We will be sharing more information and outlining the goals and priorities developed by the Survey Team in upcoming bulletins. Concurrently we have been forming Leadership Teams at each of our churches. They are comprised of a cross section of 10-14 members, who regularly attend that particular church. It will be the work of each Leadership Team to develop SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time specific) to help achieve the goals and priorities priorities, as it honors the unique qualities and aspects of each church. We will be introducing the parish to the Leadership Team members in subsequent bulletins.

The responses to the survey also indicated that everyone is open and willing to work to achieve the goals, knowing that it will help our parish to see an increase in participation across all ministries. The parish staff is developing strategies to meet with each of the major ministries to assist them in aligning their goals and priorities with those of the parish. It is our hope that everyone will do their fair share in helping to achieve the short and long-term objectives through 2019, as we focus our energy and resources to achieve them. Later this summer, we will roll out the priorities and goals that were approved by Bishop Deeley. 

Yours in Christ,
Deacon Dennis Popadak

How you can continue to support the process:

Pray.  The most significant way for you to support this process is to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide the process, as we move to implement our goals.

Participate.  Throughout the process you will have the opportunity to offer feedback to Deacon Dennis and other planning team members.  Each parishioner will also have the opportunity to take the Survey (Disciple Maker Index) again, at a later date. This tool is one of the ways we will be able to gauge where we are as a parish, discover areas of improvement, and discern new opportunities for growth. Your feedback is vital to this process so please participate and encourage others to do so.

Share. In addition to the parish survey that was done in the Spring of 2017, we will also be scanning the overall environment of our parish's foundational ministries - Sacraments and Worship, Education and Formation, Governance and Finance, Social Services and Outreach, Vocations and Evangelization. We encourage you to share your experiences with these foundational ministries with our planning team to aid the process.

Encourage. Parish planning is a long process and often does not bear visible fruit as changes and new initiatives are implemented.  Encourage the planning team and your fellow parishioners by reminding them that the seeds of a bountiful harvest are often slow to sprout, but yield ten-fold in due time.