Office of Communications
Director of Communications
Jacob Luecke
573-635-9127, ext. 261
Creative Services Coordinator
Annie Williams
573-635-9127, ext. 231
Pastoral Planning
Consultant
Helen Osman
512-785-3006
Alphonse J. Schwartze
Memorial Catholic Center
2207 West Main Street
Jefferson City, MO 65109-0914
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As our deaneries implement their pastoral plans, parishes will be aligning their pastoral planning with their deanery’s pastoral plan. This will enable a synergy, bringing alive our stated desire to be in communion with the Church locally and universally.
Parishes as Communities of the Beatitudes (PaCotB) can be used by all parishioners. Your parish pastoral council and stewardship council can work with you to use this resource to support stewardship and pastoral planning.
Parishes as Communities of the Beatitudes:
- “Leans into” the desire of adult Catholics to participate in faith-sharing activities.
- Provides a way for adult Catholics to connect the Scriptures, specifically the Beatitudes, with their daily lives.
- Encourages people to reflect on their own responsibility as stewards and how they can strengthen their parish’s work as a sanctuary of mercy.
- Uses your deanery and parish pastoral plans as a resource for this reflection and faith sharing.
- Can encourage more participation in parish life.
26 March 2024
"Our new pastoral plans will serve in continuity with the previous plans, deepening our mission as a synodal local Church along the themes of the spirituality of stewardship, co-responsibility and parishes as centers of charity and sanctuaries of mercy. Our Lord gives greater specificity regarding how “to bring glad tidings to the poor” in the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel (Mt 5: 1-12) ..."
Pastor's Guide
- Determine when you would like your parish to begin using this resource.
- Review the “Guide and Frequently Asked Questions for small group leaders” and modify as needed.
- Assign one or more parishioners to serve as your Small Group Organizer(s) (SGO). This could be assigned to the stewardship council, pastoral council or others. The SGO should be in regular contact with parish staff to ensure good communication.
- The SGOs ask people to volunteer as primary contact for a small group. Primary contacts are responsible for gathering the people in their small group for the first time, organizing where they will meet, determining who will be the leader each week and enabling communication within the group. SGOs provide the “Guide and FAQs for small group leaders” to these primary contacts for their use.
- Promote the program using the resources provided below or create your own. Be sure it is clear how people can sign up for the program. Consider having lay parishioners make pulpit announcements to invite people to join them in the small groups.
- Provide your primary contacts with the PaCotB booklets (which includes your deanery’s pastoral plan and excerpts from the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium) and, if available, your parish’s pastoral plan.
PaCotB booklets in English and Spanish are available from your dean or by contacting one of the staff listed on this page. People can also download copies from diojeffcity.org/SOFT.
If you would like assistance in accessing a pastoral plan for your parish which was provided to the Chancery during the Better Together pastoral plan, contact Helen Osman. - The PaCotB booklet provides simple instructions for the groups. It is not necessary for the primary contact to be the person hosting or leading the sessions.
- Provide your small group leaders with the Small Group Leader handout and a way for your small groups to give feedback regarding your parish’s pastoral plan. The recommendation is that the feedback is a result of the discernment in the small groups. (A template for a feedback form is available below by clicking on the button "EDITABLE SMALL GROUP LEADER GUIDE.")
Parish Resources
Click on the button below to access a guide on how to implement this program in your parish, including editable handouts for Small Group Organizers and Small Group Leaders and an editable feedback form.
Click on the button below to access editable resources that can be used as bulletin graphics, social media posts or 8.5" x 11" flyers.