February 2025
Our Steering Committee met this past Saturday (2/1) and covered several items as we begin to plan for the official release and communication of our newly named strategic plan: “St. Mary Vision – Love, Pray, Grow” in late spring 2025. Below are highlights from our meeting:
- New plan name & Patron Saint – In an effort to create a more parish friendly name for our strategic plan, the committee landed on: St. Mary Vision – Love, Pray, Grow. St. Joseph Most Faithful was identified as our patron saint and we ask him to pray for all of us as we continue our collaborative efforts to create and implement positive improvements within our parish.
- Knights of Columbus Connection – Don Jasurda provided an overview of how he sees many of the actions of several of our committees directly lining up with the mission and work of our local Knights of Columbus chapter. An intentional effort will be made moving forward to ensure the Knights are updated regularly on our progress.
- New Chairs for the Culture Committee – Father Peter & Marianne Mast are now heading up the Culture Committee. They will continue to guide this committee by exploring activities that provide additional opportunities for more parishioners to become more involved.
- Evangelization Plan Finalized – Our Worship and Evangelization Committee has finalized the Evangelization portion of their plan and identified 4 metrics that they will be tracking over time:
- At least 10 fully initiated Catholics per year through OCIA
- Increasing weekend mass attendance by 5% every year, each year, over 5 years (about 100 people total)
- Adoration at the end of 5 years will be 24/7 with at least 2 adorers per hour
- 50 youth consistently involved in youth ministry within the next 5 years
- New Flooring Work has Started! – As part of our Facilities Committee Plan, the work to install the new flooring in the church and hearing aid loop started this week and will continue over the next couple of weeks. While we know it is a bit of an inconvenience during the construction phase, we feel that once completed, the new flooring and hearing aid loop will provide all parishioners with an enhanced worship experience.
- Marketing Plan Complete – Our School Committee has completed their marketing plan and will be working on inputting it into our plan template. This coincides with the upcoming communications and efforts to maintain and grow our student enrollment for next school year.
- Budget Season is Upon Us – The Finance Council is in the beginning stages of the budget process. The Council is also discussing staffing for both the church and school as we look towards another new year.
Please review our agenda with meeting minutes for additional details.
Thank you to everyone for your commitment and involvement in St. Mary Vision – Love, Pray, Grow. These are definitely exciting times for our parish and we are so appreciative of everyone’s efforts. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out!
January 2025
| Our St. Mary Parish & School Strategic Planning Steering Committee met this past Saturday (1/4). As part of our agenda, we reviewed the feedback that was shared at the meeting of all committee members on December 14th. The activity was called “Stars” and “Wishes”. The full results are in the tables below. Each table contains the feedback that was provided by participants. Overarching themes of the feedback are listed below:StarsAppreciation for the work & those individuals who are leading itAppreciation for additional fellowship opportunities & adoration hoursWishesA more meaningful name for our Strategic Plan, specific to St. Mary Parish and SchoolCommunicationConnection – looking into why some parishioners have left St. Mary ParishSchool related itemsCultureWorship and EvangelizationIn order to address the feedback that was shared, several of the items have already been assigned to our committees (the items in the tables below are color coded by committee). We feel like many of the items in the “Wishes” will be addressed as we begin the implementation of our plan. Since December was a light month for Committee meetings, the updates from each Committee Chair were very brief. All Committees are meeting over the next week, so we will have a more thorough update after our February meeting (2/1). If you are interested in joining one of our committees, please see this weekend’s bulletin for a cut out sign up form that can be dropped in the collection basket or turned in at the Parish office. If you’d like to sign up online, you can do so with the form linked here. Suggestions of Potential Names for our Strategic Plan: St. Mary’s Path to Glory Cross to Glory “His” PathVision 2030 St. Mary’s Vision Charlevoix Catholic Suggestions for the Patron Saint of our Plan: Mary Star of the Sea St. Ignatius |
STARS
| 1. Improved annual report. Important to provide transparency to the parish. | 2. Really excited about Evangelization & Worship Committee’s work | 3. Christmas in Guadalupe – multi-level parish evangelization community event |
| 4. Sports & enrichment & outreach to home school community | 5. Facilities & organization | 6. Great idea to change the name of the strategic plan to something more accessible/ meaningful/ friendly to parishioners. |
| 7. Father Peter – Happy we are retaining him. | 8. Scott Koziol’s leadership | 9. All the accomplishments so far, of every committee, I celebrate & appreciate & hope all will continue. |
| 10. The presence of the Holy Spirit is Alive & Apparent in the works of our committees. | 11. Emphasis on communication with transparency. | 12. This many adoration hours is an awesome thing (He is the source of the miracles we are asking for in the strategic plan). |
| 13. Thank you, Scott!, Maria!, Joe!, Liz!, & always Father Peter! |
WISHES
| 1. Send a card/invitation to each parishioner asking if they would like to be a member of a committee. | 2. That all members of our parish can realize the same Vision & Intent (spirit) of our committee members. | 3. Bible study is very important to our parishioners spiritual life & relationships (weekly, year long every year is the goal. Could begin with term classes to promote desire). |
| 4. Communication – What about a small pamphlet in pews (i.e. like “online giving” currently in pews for updates, etc.)? | 5. School – What actual steps have been taken to increase enrollment? | 6. Father & Son evangelism through group chats/seminars/outings/team building. |
| 7. A robust process for welcoming & connecting with new parishioners. | 8. Evangelization – Outreach to community Divorced Catholics Unwed mothers | 9. Facilities – Prioritize needs & copy to Finance Council. |
| 10. Culture – Greeters at the end of mass? | 11. Culture – Do greeters reach out to new people? | 12. More events (specific topic) in the garden. Father Peter inviting entire parish (shows the community they are welcome). |
| 13. More & more connection with home school parents. | 14. Preschool or toddler programs – reach out to young families. | 15. How can we achieve adding more storage? |
| 16. What financial support is needed for improvements (indoor & outdoor) – Fundraising. | 17. Culture – Do greeters reach out to house bound parishioners? | 18. Culture – Social events |
| 19. It’s important to change the name of the strategic plan to a mission name that speaks to more people. | 20. Comment: From a parishioner – Keypad on choir loft for safety reasons | 21. Bring back former St. Mary parishioners who are worshipping at other nearby parishes. |
| 22. Theme, logo, name, & intercessors for the strategic plan. | 23. Be even more respected & appreciated in the community. Be relationships with more people in the community. | 24. School – What is the school marketing plan? |
| 25. Communication – Theme for plan. | 26. I know personal invitation is best, which I have done, but I would still recommend inviting parishioners to both committees & implementation in a variety of other ways. If this has been done, I haven’t seen it…. | 27. Communication – Develop a method for those not physically here throughout the year to participate (online, Zoom). |
| 28. We probably need to separate the group/team/ committee for outreach to both the Catholics who have gone to other parishes & to former members who have gone to incandescent churches. | 29. For each lay ministry, need to share names & phone numbers so that members can contact in case need for sub. | 30. Sign up sheets or better communication on areas we need help. Who to contact if you want to help. |
| 31. When major planning events happen or are completed, have Father Peter announce it at mass during announcements (ex. Results of survey to be implemented, Flooring in church). | 32. Outreach to: Parish members hurting, mourning, etc. Members fallen away Benevolence for communities | 33. Find a Saint to serve as a patron for our Strategic Plan |
October 2024
Our Strategic Planning Steering Committee and consequent sub-committees have been working hard over the past year. All committees have been meeting at least once a month, with clear goals in mind and working toward the vision statement outlined from our strategic planning session developed in October 2023.
Below is a recap of the vision statement, along with bulleted reports from the sub-committees on what they have accomplished and are planning for the next 6-12-24 months. We are very pleased with the good work that has been achieved thus far, and are excited about what is to come in the near future!
St. Mary Parish and School Strategic Plan Vision Statement
I) By the year 2028, St. Mary’s Parish will reflect a strong, united Catholic Christian Community working together to live out our inspirational mission every day. To do this we will offer more frequent access to the sacraments, 24/7 adoration, and other prayer opportunities that will serve as the source of our interior life. Formed and strengthened in this way, we will build community by developing a warm welcoming culture, by deepening our identity around our common beliefs and by providing a full faith formation experience. We will develop our relationship with the broader Charlevoix Community and will have a well-respected and favorable reputation throughout the area. We will be a community that seeks to spread the Gospel offering many ways for people to come to know the faith and to reconnect with the faith.
II) We will have increased the number of fully engaged parishioners in an environment that is easy for newcomers to join and will offer a full range of activities and services in beautiful and appropriately sized facilities. Our school, through eighth grade, will have over 100 students and will provide a strong classical education. We will have 50 youth consistently involved in our youth ministry programs. We will establish ways for every school family to be involved in our Parish ministries. We will work in a positive partnership with public schools and home-schooling families.
III) We will be successful financially, encouraging 100% of active parishioners to tithe. We will effectively communicate our mission, our vision, and our needs with a goal to inspire parishioners to give at least half of their weekly 10% tithe to our parish. This will result in robust savings and endowment funds, a fully funded mission, and prorated funds for all capital projects with no need for special campaigns.
Committee Reports/Goals/Progress
Culture Committee
The recent parish survey was developed by this committee. They are currently reviewing and analyzing the results
- Developing plan to become a more welcoming parish
- Improved greeter and usher training
- Addition of welcome desk to Parish hallway for weekend Masses
- Improved messaging
Worship and Evangelization Committee
- Additional hours of adoration
- Rosary said during adoration
- Grow our Parishioners’ understanding of the different ministries St. Mary Parish offers and the important role they play in Parish life
- Bridge “Pause for Prayer” initiative – began summer, 2024, ongoing
School Advisory Committee
- Focus on marketing and retention of students by continuing to offer different opportunities (i.e. athletics, enrichment, small school advantage)
- Additional security measures have been put into place (grants from Michigan State Police)
- Installation of a playground gate
- Growth in fundraising efforts
- Addition of enrichment programming, outreach to homeschool and public school community
Facilities Committee
- Went through an evaluation process of the current state of the church, school, rectory, and grounds. This process has resulted in a 5 year facilities plan. The committee is currently working to prioritize the identified projects
- The Committee is also working on the development of a safety/security plan that will align with the school’s plan. Part of this work included submitting an application for the State Police Grant. We were recently informed that our application has resulted in an initial award of $143,000. A majority of funds will be focused on secure entrances. Much more info to come regarding the projects identified in the grant
- Projects to begin in the next 6 months:
- New flooring in the church, funded by donors
- Air conditioning, funded by donors
- New Sound System
Finance Council
- This is a long standing council within our parish and was incorporated into the strategic planning in an intentional effort to create greater efficiencies
- Continues to meet monthly to review parish finances and budget
- Creating a greater understanding of parishioners tithing
- Improved annual report
- Working closely with Facilities committee on short and long term improvements to the Parish & School Campus
