 Pastoral Plan |
| Pastoral Plan |
| The Road to Emmaus |
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The Redemptorist\New Orleans Vice Province is embarking on the development and implementation of a pastoral plan that emphasizes true lay collaboration. The pastoral plan is called the Redemptorist Collaborative Ministry Project (RCMP). The RCMP is being developed in response to the Church's call for collaboration in evangelization. "Evangelization is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, the deepest identity." (Pope Paul VI) "In order to meet the contemporary demands of evangelization, the collaboration of the laity is becoming more and more indispensable." (Pope John Paul II). The urgency of this need was addressed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops saying, "For the Church, collaboration is not an option ...collaboration is a means for becoming what God wants us to be." The Bishops also advised that "The Church's pastoral ministry can be more effective if we become more collaborative." The goal of the RCMP is to foster pastoral effectiveness by entering into full partnership and collaboration with laity, religious and dioceses in order to better minister with the poor and those most in need. To make the best use of our personnel, we are making a commitment to and focusing our resources on three areas where there is a long tradition of Redemptorist presence; New Orleans, Houston and San Antonio. Pastoral effectiveness will be accomplished through the RCMP by: 1. Helping Redemptorists, other religious and lay pastoral leaders be genuinely relational. 2. Helping Redemptorists, other religious and lay pastoral leaders be evangelizers. 3. Helping Redemptorists, other religious and lay leaders learn how to partner with one another, share power (not just tasks and responsibility) and collaborate with the poor and those most in need for the sake of the Mission of the Church. The RCMP has begun bringing together groups of lay and religious leaders in the three cities (approximately 150) to collaboratively create a Vision Statement based on the Gospel, the mission of the Church, the Redemptorist charism and local diocesan plans. This Vision Statement will be used to guide the development and the implementation of the pastoral plan which will be formulated in collaboration with all parties involved, arriving at decisions through consensus. The focus of the RCMP is to develop a collaborative form of leadership for Church ministry. In the meetings that we have had with the Redemptorists, religious and laity, we have found that, for some, Collaboration is a new and somewhat frightening concept. For others it is seen as an opportunity that is long over due. In either case, the most apparent need that has surfaced is for education and leadership development for all involved. The other need is for a full-time person to coordinate this process and help bring it to fruition. The long range plan is to hire a full time coordinator who will work in all three cities with the Redemptorists, other religious and laity in implementing the collaboratively developed pastoral plan. We anticipate the development and implementation to take five years. This will allow sufficient time to provide education and training for all the parties involved in the pastoral plan. |
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