Beginning July 1, 2021, our Parish will be joining with Guardian Angels, Christ Our Light, St. Anastasia and St. Lucy in what is called a “Family of Parishes”. Families of Parishes are groups of parishes—generally three to six working together.  The goal of the Family of Parishes is to allow the parishes to share resources and unite in cooperation with one another.  This new model will allow the priests, deacons, religious and lay staff associated with each parish to better share their gifts and talents with the whole Family of Parishes.

Our faith is rooted in the sacraments.  It is no secret that there are fewer priests, so developing creative plans will better prepare our parishes to serve all the faithful.  It is critical for us to renew the way parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Detroit are organized and structured.  Families of Parishes allow priests to work together in groups and coordinates lay staff to work together to better support all the parishes within a family.  The mission of “Unleashing the Gospel” and caring for the people of God continues to be the focus while bringing all people to know Christ’s love and mercy.

Everyone will still be part of their own parish community and parishioners will have the opportunity to connect with others by working, praying, and gathering together in a family network.  Parishioners can become part of a larger faith family, working together and sharing resources in pursuit of the mission.

Our parish will maintain our own name, location, and identity.  We will have intentional events and opportunities to share and collaborate with other parishes within our family.


 

Our Family of  Parishes launched on July 1, consisting of the parishes of Christ Our Light, Guardian Angels, St. Anastasia, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Lucy Croatian.  On Tuesday, July 13, the staffs from our parishes came together in a spirit of fellowship to talk about some important steps in moving forward as a newly established Family.  It is an exciting time for all of us to rebuild and renew our shared commitment to the mission and ministries of our parishes.  We are collaborating together to assist you to be able to live out your baptismal call and serve God and one another.  Listed below are some important initial steps for the parishes and our new Family. 

Step One: The priests in our family are currently working on our Priest Covenant/Agreement.  This agreement between the clergy in our Family is to be completed by August 15^th. 

Step Two:  To continue to welcome back parishioners in our parishes, as well as revive and build up our ministries as we rebuild after COVID.

Step Three:  To continue to renew mission-based ministries and to develop new opportunities for the baptized to participate.

Step Four:  Coordinating collaboration with the family ministries.  In this step we will examine areas of possible collaboration between parishes.

Step Five:  Assigning Family chairpersons for the ministries of:  Discipleship Formation, Engagement, Evangelical Charity, Family Ministries, and Worship.  These assignments will be completed by October 1^st.

Step Six:  Develop a Missionary Strategic Plan for our new Family.  The target date for the completion of this plan will be January/February of 2022.

We’ve all heard the phrase “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”  This is also going to be true of our new Family.  The meeting had a sense of excitement with opportunities.  All the parishes have gifted and talented staffs.  When I looked around the room at our meeting last Tuesday, my heart was filled with hope because of the loving servant leaders we have on each parish staff.  The future is very bright!

Peace,
Fr. Tony Richter
Family of Parishes Moderator

"Come together with our new "Family"
and learn more about the Family of Parishes on
Thursday, September 23, 2021,
at St. Lucy Croatian Parish
(220 E. Wattles Rd., Troy) at 6:30 pm.
We will be revealing the "Family" name,
learning about what "Family of Parishes"
means for our family, and
how our parishes can cooperate together in ministry.
The meeting should last only about a half hour
and a social with desserts will immediately follow.
Other upcoming Family of Parishes
gathering dates are
Tuesday, September 28th @ 6:30 pm
at Guardian Angels and
Monday, October 4th @ 6:30 pm
at St. Anastasia."

Peace,
 
Fr. Tony Richter
Family of Parishes Moderator