This Parish Strategic Plan allows Parishioners to plan, see, and monitor comprehensively the efforts they make in nurturing growth/development through their active participation/involvement in various areas of pastoral work. This Parish Strategic Plan captures the following areas;
1. Administration, which comprises leadership levels and areas of implementation
2. Pastoral Care comprises of the liturgy, prayer life, sacramental life, and outreach to our Christians, and other faiths
3. Hospitality invites us to be our brother’s/sister’s keeper at all dimensions.
4. Stewardship/Service groups remind us that Church work is about stewardship – therefore, our Parish spares time, resources, and talents to serve the Church.
5. Information sharing will help us coordinate issues and activities within and outside the parish
History of the Strategic Planning Process
The whole process began in June 2014 with family visitation and blessings carried out by priests accompanied by deacons, seminarians, catechists and leaders of Small Christian Communities (SCCs). A broad-based information-gathering was as a result of parishioners, Catechists, SCCs, committees, sub-committees, and individuals. This led to the idea of developing and preparing this Strategic Plan for Embulbul Catholic Parish. The Parish Pastoral Council’s (PPC) objective was to understand what parishioners think about several areas of their Parish and what they would wish it to be in the near future. The approach tool or technique used to collect the information was a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. Undertaken with much concentration, prayer and trust, and guidance of the Holy Spirit, parishioners provided information about their Parish. Their responses were collected, analyzed, and became the “inventory list of parishioners’ needs.” These needs made it evident that the process needed a deeper planning cycle to address them. The PPC then organized a workshop to find the way forward in responding to the needs.
In November 2014, the acting Parish Priest and some members of the executive approached Fr. John Dunne, SMA to become a planning consultant and to facilitate the workshop. In 2015, the first Strategic Planning workshop came up with a vision and committees were formed to achieve it. The vision for the Embulbul Parish became; “ To become an inclusive and dynamic Catholic Community that fosters, physical, psychological, human and spiritual growth through enhanced formation while promoting a just society and the integrity of creation”.
The committees included Finance, Development, Security, Liturgy, Communications, Catholic Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (CJPIC), Catechesis, and Social Welfare. The role of these committees was to implement action plans in view of attaining goals foreseen. The responsibility was left to the Parish Priest and the Parish Council to ensure the constitution of these committees and the terms of reference were in place. After identifying the Mission and Vision Statements, participants also identified the driving forces or core values that will help them in achieving their objectives. The whole of 2017 and 2018 was dedicated to forming and training of Committees, Groups, and Societies in terms of budgeting, planning the year, and sustaining their committees or groups using SWOT analysis tool. Parishioners volunteered to serve on different committees, groups, and societies. With this, Parishioners are invited to commit themselves and join groups to respond to the call of St. James, which says; “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works (James 2:18).
The Bible says;
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether s/he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when s/he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock her/him, saying; ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’(Luke 14:28-30 Proverbs 11:14; 15:22)
Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors, there is safety. Without counsel, plans fail, but with many honest advisers, they succeed.
Organogram
Areas of Concentration
Message from our own
The pastoral office wishes to sincerely congratulate the team behind the Strategic Plan 2019-2023 for such an important guiding document in the life of the church.
Pastoral Coordinator
Embulbul Catholic Parish is enthusiastic to be a more inclusive, participative, and dynamic Parish Community that fosters physical, psychological, human, and spiritual development/growth.
Parish Priest
The Parish Pastoral Council supports this strategic plan and commits itself, its staff, and the necessary resources to implement and achieve the outcomes.
Pastoral Council