PPC Day of Reflection
February 20, 2016
On Saturday, February 20, 2016, members of the St. Ignatius Parish Pastoral Council, Finance
Council, and staff gathered for prayer and reflection with our incoming pastor, Fr. Joe
Costantino. We spent some time discussing our sense of the parish right now, our hopes and
dreams for the parish, and the challenges we face.
Right Now…
THE BIG PICTURE
Our community is diverse,
welcoming, and open.
Our parish is always
welcoming of those on the
margins.
We have a strong Jesuit and
Catholic identity.
Our Hopes and Dreams…
Barriers to Achieving our
Hopes and Dreams…
We want to stay this way.
We want to continue this
tradition.
Retain and expand our Jesuit
identity through
programs/experiences.
Our parish is filled with great
energy and many life-giving,
vibrant programs.
We have many model
programs that other parishes
could learn from.
Our parish is experiencing a
pastoral leadership transition.
We hope that the programs
and energy that are now
present and will continue.
We would like to share our
programming models.
We have a unified identity as
members of St. Ignatius Parish.
We hope to strengthen
connections and community
bonds so that everyone feels
part of one parish, one church.
We are an intentional parish,
and most parishioners do not
live in the Chestnut Hill zip
code.
We hope to maximize
parishioner involvement and
their sense of belonging and
connectedness.
We hope that parishioners stay
with the community through
the transition, and find God in
the transition.
Current and past treasured
experiences, relationships,
and expectations. An
understandable resistance to
change.
We have distinct and
separate identities as
members of each Mass (8
AM, Latino Community,
Family Mass, 5:30 PM, etc.).
The distance people travel is
a barrier to participation in
events/activities.
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Strong music, visual arts,
dance.
Sometimes we rely on the
same people and the same
ideas.
Some people stay in the same
volunteer positions over long
periods of time.
Some volunteers in leadership
positions are aging.
LITURGIES
We have vibrant, inspiring,
nourishing liturgies. Our
presiders are wonderful, and
our different liturgies provide a
variety of experiences.
We are enriched by the many
guest presiders that celebrate
liturgies with us.
FINANCES AND PHYSICAL PLANT
Parish finances are perceived
to be good but not great.
Continue to support and
celebrate the arts, because
they enrich our liturgies and
offer us many ways to worship
and express our faith.
We hope to involve increasing
numbers of new people in the
planning and implementation
of our parish ministries. We
hope to strive for greater
openness.
We need to encourage a
constant flow of new
volunteers.
We need to capture their
institutional knowledge and
create leadership transition
plans.
Sometimes we rely on the
same people and the same
ideas.
Some people may assume
that no volunteers are
needed.
Let’s maintain this and add a
teen Mass.
We hope this will continue.
We need to improve our
parish’s financial health and
better take care of our capital
needs and operating expenses.
Those who contribute
Increase number of donors,
financially to the parish are
especially those who make
not as numerous as they could pledges.
be, given the size of the parish.
Low reserves, deferred
obligations/capital needs,
rising operating expenses,
untapped capacity. The
perception that we are well
off financially conflicts with
reality.
There are barriers in
communication that’s not as
clear as it could be, and we
don’t make contributing as
easy as it could be. E.g., we
could have a “donate”
button on the website.
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We have some urgent building
preservation needs as our
physical plant ages and
deteriorates.
We have limited parking space.
We hope to bring the aging
church building back to good
health.
Financial planning and
outreach are needed.
Help parishioners understand
the available parking options.
Keep working to maximize
options.
Find/create more space.
Available parking space
competes for many uses.
We are a very busy parish, so
sometimes there is not enough
meeting space.
We have accessibility
Redesign or rethink the space.
challenges. For example, it’s
hard to easily move from the
Upper to the Lower Church
(two small elevators, tiny
stairway, or need to go
outside).
LATINO COMMUNITY
Strong Latino community
We hope for an even larger
Latino community, with
leadership who can help knit
this diverse community with
many cultures into one.
Currently there is a rotating
roster of Spanish-speaking
priests.
There is limited training in
ministry for our Spanishspeaking parishioners.
We are building up faith
formation for our Latino youth.
We hope for a permanent,
Spanish-speaking priest.
Where?
The church was designed at
a time when accessibility
was not considered in the
way it is today.
Parishioners come from
many different countries.
Generally speaking, the
custom in their home
countries is not to belong to
a specific parish but to travel
from parish to parish, week
to week, depending on their
schedules and preferences.
Staffing challenges.
We hope for increased training
in ministry for our Spanishspeaking parishioners.
We would like to build deeper
connections between our
English- and Spanish-speaking
youth, and to develop Latino
youth leadership.
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BC AND JESUIT PROVINCE
Our relationship with Boston
College is good – we benefit
from their programs, staff.
Students enrich our parish.
The future of our relationship
with BC is unclear.
Young Jesuits enrich our parish
and are mentored by our
parish leadership.
We have a good relationship
with the Jesuit Province.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Our social justice/outreach
ministry is strong.
Sometimes our sole approach
to social justice is writing a
check.
There are many volunteer
opportunities.
Some people volunteer
“officially”, and others
volunteer as individuals.
FAITH FORMATION/FAMILIES
Faith Formation is dynamic
from elementary through
Confirmation.
We hope for a positive, lifegiving, mutually supporting
relationship with BC. We want
to communicate the benefits
of our relationship to the
parish. We want to maintain
our identity as a parish,
regardless of what may
happen in the future.
Maintain these enriching
relationships.
A perception that BC will
take care of our financial
needs. Uncertainty regarding
the future of our relationship
with BC.
We hope to strengthen our
ties.
We hope for more volunteers,
more integration with other
parish groups, and even more
outreach opportunities. In
particular, families with young
children and teens would like
more opportunities to serve
together. Youth would like
more opportunities to serve.
We hope to encourage a more
face-to-face approach to social
justice.
We want to provide more
opportunities and attract more
volunteers.
How can we better network
our volunteers?
We need better
communication to the parish
about these opportunities,
and more integrated
planning/coordination with
other parish groups.
Keep this program strong, and
also create programs for youth
after Confirmation. We need to
increase the engagement of
our young people.
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We have a number of
gatherings/continuing
education programs for
parents.
Youth and children have
opportunities to participate in
music ministry.
OTHER PARISH GROUPS
Young Adult programming no
longer exists.
We provide support for those
who are grieving, those who
are unemployed, and others
living through major
transitions.
COMMUNICATION
Communication is good
(bulletin, website, parish
booklet).
Sometimes it is hard for
parishioners to know how to
reach the right person, submit
the required form, etc.
We collect and maintain
parishioner data.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH
St. Ignatius parish is the center
of many people’s lives,
nourishing and informing their
faith journey, giving them
hope and strength to turn
their faith into action.
We strive for the magis, the
Ignatian philosophy of doing
more, for Christ, and therefore
doing more for others.
We’d like to improve
catechesis for the parents.
We’d like to increase these
opportunities.
We need to build up a
consistent, thriving, group of
young adults.
We hope to provide better and
more thorough support
parishioners who are going
through major transitions.
Who will staff and/or lead
this?
Planning needed.
We hope that our
communication can become
great, with better use of the
website, social media, and
other strategies.
We need to communicate
directions and procedures and
contact information more
clearly.
We hope to do a better job
keeping current records on
parish membership.
We want to encourage greater
numbers of people to turn
their faith into action, outside
of official parish programming.
We want to support each
other to become evangelists.
We want to plan for growth, as
we do more and better.
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