How to tell if someone is a visitor or newcomer to Mass

A tip from a Parish Staff member!

 

 

How can you tell if someone attending Mass is a newcomer or visitor?  Maybe you have many parishioners at your parish.  Enough, so that it is impossible to recognize everyone.  Especially if it is a Mass you don't normally attend.

 

Kathi Rowley of Mary, Queen of Peace recently gave us this tip.  "If they have to ask for or are looking for the bathroom, they probably haven't been there before."  She pays attention to those who pop out of Mass and are obviously hunting for something!  What a brilliant idea. So for all of you that are working on welcoming...give it a try.

(Thanks to Kathi for this tip!)

 

She also shared her parish's 3 step process to make contact with newcomers.  During the week in which they register, two senior parish volunteers with the 'gift of gab', call the newcomers and welcome them.  A month later, the pastor makes a phone call to welcome them again.  Finally, 6 months out, someone from the pastoral council calls them again.   This is working well for our Sammamish parish and we think it will work well for you.  If you try this, please let us know by emailing parishstewardship@seattlearch.org.  As always, we welcome your comments. 

A Great Year for a Ministry Fair!

 

This is a particularly good year for a Ministry Fair

 

 

Recently, our office has been advising parishes to have Ministry Fair's every couple of years.  They are large endeavors and doing them well periodically seems to be better than struggling with them every year. In fact, data we collected several years ago showed us that Ministry Fairs seem to yield a bigger response when they don't occur every year.

 

This year, there are some good opportunities because of the way the calendar cycles.

 

If you are doing Time & Talent renewal late this Spring to coordinate ministry sign-ups with Pentecost, the weekend before Pentecost would be a great time for a Ministry Fair.

 

If you are doing Time & Talent renewal after Labor Day, the weekend between Labor Day and Catechetical/Build Hope Sunday is a particularly good one to show off your ministries.

 

We have good information for putting on a Ministry Fair.  If you would like it, contact us at parishstewardship@seattlearch.org and we will be glad to send it to you. 



ME25 Impact Seminar Explained

Is your parish having an ME25 Impact Seminar?

 

 

Sometimes at ME25 Impact Seminars, the question about 'hierarchy' of Engagement is raised.  This is the idea that the Engagement Items are arranged from 'self' focused to 'outward' focused as seen on the above pyramid. 

 

These groups of questions are labeled:

• ‘What Do I Get’
• 'What Do I Give'
• 'Do I Belong'
• 'How Can We Grow'

These labels have raised some questions.  Al Winseman, of Gallup, whom many of you have heard speak has told us that on the Q12 Seminar, they have relabeled this hierarchy so that it reads:

• 'Basic Needs'
• 'Individual Contribution'
• 'Belonging or Teamwork'
• 'Growth'

To those of you involved with Impact Seminars, we ask,  "What do you think of these new labels?"  Please leave us a comment.

Region XI Stewardship Conference

At the region XI (California) Stewardship Conference recently (where Scott was speaking), a presentation by Matt Manion of Catholic Leadership Institute spoke of looking at Catholics in the following intriguing categories gained from recent survey data.

 

% of US Baptized Catholics not practicing - 50 - 60%

# of US Baptized Catholics not practicing  - 36 Million

 

% of US Baptized Catholics practicing - 23% Monthly

                                                                       10% Weekly

# of US Baptized Catholics practicing  - 15 Million Monthly

                                                             -   6 Million Weekly

 

% of US Baptized Catholics Intentional Disciples - 5 -7%

# of US Baptized Catholics Intentional Disciples  - 3 - 4 Million

 

% of US Baptized Catholics Disciple Makers - .04%

# of US Baptized Catholics Disciple Makers - 25,000

 

The data also showed the following responses from Catholics:

 

I consider myself Catholic, though faith is not a significant part of my life	4%
I practice my Catholic faith, but do not know Jesus personally like a friend	27%
I have personally encountered Jesus Christ and am growing as a disciple	38%
My relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important relationship in my life	31%

Expect to hear more about this as we learn from Good Leaders Good Shepherds and the Catholic Leadership Institute.

Stewardship of Parishioner Data

Because there is a constant stream of stories (and probably will be for a long time) about the theft of personal data on the internet, now is a good time to inform your parishioners about how your parish is a  good steward of the information they share with you.  In bulletin and perhaps pulpit announcements, remind them that you don’t collect social security numbers and that you don’t electronically store any credit card data on parish computers. 

Also, let parishioners know how you handle paper data – that it is kept under lock and key with very limited access and that when no longer needed it is cross-cut shredded. 

Tell them how you safeguard the electronic data that you do keep – that individual parish staff only have access to the data they need for their particular ministry.

Finally, reassure them that the parish does keep on top of the recommended changes for handling data as received from the Archdiocese and your IT experts.

 

Stewardship of Labor: Feast of St. Joseph the Worker

St. Joseph and the Child Jesus at work

Today is the Feast day of St. Joseph the Worker.  Pope Pius the XII instituted this day to honor labor and the serious role it plays in our lives as Christians.  Our work is glorified because sacred scripture places the role of work in our lives in such high esteem that Jesus, himself, was taught to work. St. Joseph whom scripture describes as a righteous man and whom God chose to be our Lord's foster father, taught Jesus the honorable trade of carpentry.  In this way, even our Lord took His place in society, using His gifts as a good Steward to build up the Kingdom of God through the labor of His hands.   In the below prayer, Pope Pius tells us how we are to be good stewards of our work:

 

Prayer to St. Joseph the Worker

Glorious St. Joseph,
model of all those who are devoted to labor,
obtain for me the grace to work conscientiously,
putting the call of duty above my many sins;
to work with thankfulness and joy,
considering it an honor to employ and develop,
by means of labor,
the gifts received from God;
to work with order,
peace, prudence and patience,
never surrendering to weariness or difficulties;
to work, above all, with purity of intention, and with detachment from self,
having always death before my eyes
and the account which I must render of time lost,
of talents wasted,
of good omitted,
of vain complacency in success
so fatal to the work of God.
All for Jesus,
all for Mary,
all after thy example, O Patriarch Joseph.
Such shall be my motto in life and death.