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As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, let me take just a moment to thank the thousands of parish leaders - pastors, vicars, deacons, lay staff, parishioner leaders - who have been working so hard during these first few months of Phase 1 of Beacons of Light. Your talent, your passion, your openness to the workings of the Holy Spirit, and your collaborative approach are key to our success here. Your leadership of the faithful in your Family of Parishes is valued and appreciated, despite the many challenges we face.

We hope that your good work in pastoral planning will continue over the coming months, but we in the Pastoral Center are very mindful that Advent and Christmas are very busy times for all those in parish leadership roles. So, we'll leave you alone a bit over the coming months, and look forward to serving you even more effectively after Christmastide, as we continue our work together in Phase 1 and even getting started on Phase 2.

That being said, know that the staff of the Center for Parish Vitality is here for whatever you need even during this holiday time: please let us know how we can support you.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

"Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right and just."

Jeremy Helmes
Director, Center for Parish Vitality

A vision encapsulates inspiration and provides a rallying cry, a clear goal, for parish leadership and members. A clear vision helps prioritize allocation of parish resources, facilities, and funds. This tool is designed to help parish leaders prepare to create a vision for their Family of Parishes by assessing current and future state of parish life measured against the Pathway principle vision points. A separate visioning tool and process will build on this vision assessment as part of Phase 2.

As we continue to look closely at the 2020 Vatican Instruction on parish life, we see clearly a vision for parish vitality. One critical dimension of healthy parish life is a culture of stewardship. Stewardship is a recognition of God's many gifts to us and our faithful response.

What does building a culture of stewardship look like? How can we as parish leaders inspire the faithful to greater stewardship? How do we help the faithful discern the charisms that the Holy Spirit has blessed them with?