Parish Council members

I'm on the Pastoral Council
We want to engage the whole parish!
We need the know-how and the tools with which to do that. We already have the will.

Laypeople
who take up
ministerial
work should
be well
trained and
prepared
both in
knowing
doctrine and
in adapting
to the needs
of [today].
Decree on the
Apostolate of the
Laity
#28
from Vatican II in
Plain English

Dear Parish Leader,

Welcome to the web site which supports you in your work as you do pastoral
planning for your parish! Thank you for everything you offer your parish.
The church now depends on lay leadership from people like you. In fact, we
need more of you!

We know that many Catholics today simply are no longer fully engaged
with their parishes. There are many reasons for that, but all of them point to a
huge need, which is for each parish to develop a pastoral plan which

Provides an avenue of return for those who want to but don't know how
Strengthens the remaining parish community so they'll have something to
come home to
Offers ways for everyone to deepen their communion with Christ
Which has the effect of lighting a fire in the parish!
And this fire is what we know will

increase the number of parish volunteers
increase the weekend collections
make the parish a happier, more energetic place overall
insure that our children, youth, and young adults will see a lively parish and
be attracted to it for life
and most importantly, be more effective in announcing the Reign of God to a
world hurting from war, poverty, disease, and abuse.

So you see, it's no small thing we're doing! The role you play is essential
in establishing a pastoral plan for more effective lifelong learning. To help you,
this web site is loaded with resources. First of all, if you're getting started with
pastoral planning for lifelong formation as a parish, begin here. This is a FREE
pastoral planning tool, complete with worksheets, a step-by-step process, and
a powerful "listening prayer" to help you be guided by the Spirit.

This is also the web site which supports Dreams and Visions: Pastoral
Planning for Lifelong Faith Formation. Every link mentioned in that text is
found here.

So once again, thanks for everything you do for your parish. We're glad you're
making use of this support web site, and please let us know if there are other
ways in which we can help you!

Good wishes for your ministry,

Bill Huebsch
and the Pastoral Planning Crew

Resources offered
on this site

Share
your
parish
story!

If you have
been working
with whole
community or
lifelong
catechesis or
faith
formation
and you have
a story to
tell, we want
to hear it! Go
to this page
and send us
your story!
Give us the
link to your
parish web
site at the
same time,
please.

And thanks!

Pastoral Planning
A step-by-step guide:
Dreams & Visions:
Pastoral Planning
for Lifelong Faith Formation
A new book which includes a
chapter outlining those
all-important Planning Team
Meetings.

Training
How to teach your parish
about lifelong formation
including excellent PowerPoint
presentations to download and
use, complete with presentation
notes.

Implementation
How to state and sustain faith
sharing throughout the parish using
the
Question of the Week
With free prayer sheets.

Prayer Services
to accompany faith sharing.
You can download and use these
in 5 minutes!

Outlines for adult
or intergenerational
Faith Gatherings
linked to your children's textbook
series.

Outlines for adult
B ible Studies
which are in plain English!
Download each session and get all
you need in one item.

Complete plans for
Parish Based Retreats
in several practical scheduling
formats.

Background Material
All the current books
you need to better understand
lifelong formation, plus free articles
you can download, copy, and use.

Vatican II
Lots of strong resources
to help you teach about the
Council.
We are approaching the 50th
Anniversary of the date on which
John XXIII called Vatican II: Jan
25, 1959.

Take me:
to the
H ome P age

to the
Resource
Center

to
"Getting
Started"