“As you’ve heard the theme for our pastoral planning process “All Things New: Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future,” is centered on the virtue of hope as we begin a process that will undoubtedly not be an easy one. As a diocese, we will pass through moments of grieving together, and grief often involves intense sadness, feelings of shock and numbness, as well as feelings of denial and anger.
What I would like to place before us is broader sense of what it means to be the Church. When St. Teresa of Calcutta was asked how she would define the Church, she said, “But who is the Church? You and I…The Church are those who follow him.” The Church is not primarily a church building but people who are disciples of Jesus Christ.
…What I hope for is a vision that enables us to fell that no matter how many church building we have , we are welcome in all of them. I want us to see that we are blessed with just over 100,000 Catholics in our diocese and that we are all one family in faith. We all know that in our families, there are times when we disagree, times we hurt each other’s feelings and times where we have to lay down our own wants for the good of those we love. Our church family is no different. As a family of faith, we will all have to make some changes, some sacrifices, to build healthy communities, healthy priests and pastoral teams, healthy budgets and healthy liturgies.” -Bishop Patrick Neary, C.S.C.
The members of our ACC Planning Committee include:
Scott Wallner scott.wallner1@gmail.com 320-247-9532
Tess Koltes faithformationstjohnthebaptist@gmail.com 320-250-6728
Julie Ortloff jortloff@csbsju.edu 320-492-2835
Dan Backes dlbackes@gmail.com 320-428-2895
Sandy Scholz srscholz56@gmail.com 320-250-7540
Jacob Fink jfink.me@gmail.com 218-296-0337
Kristin O’Donnell kodonnell@bernicks.com 320-267-7441
Lisa Barton business@churchstjoseph.org 320-363-7505 Ext. 531
Fr. Brad Jenniges pastorosb@churchstjoseph.org 320-363-7505 Ext. 532