Proclaim Jesus!
A Pastoral Letter by Bishop Bernard Harrington
Come learn how to implement the goals and visions of this new pastoral letter. All Catholics in the Diocese of Winona are invited to attend these informational sessions.
All general sessions begin at 6:30 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 11, Worthington Deanery, at St. Adrian in Adrian
Rescheduled due to weather for Monday, March 3
Tuesday, Feb. 12, Austin-Albert Lea Deanery, at St. Joseph in Owatonna
Tuesday, Feb. 26, Mankato Deanery, at St. Joseph the Worker in Mankato
Wednesday, Feb. 27, Rochester Deanery, at Pax Christi in Rochester
Thursday, Feb. 28, Winona Deanery, at St. Joseph in Rushford
Monday, March 10, Winona Deanery, St. Mary's Church, Winona
The meeting will last just over an hour, and will allow time for questions and discussions. When you leave the meeting, you will be able to go back to your parish and work with your pastor and your neighbors to implement the goals of Proclaim Jesus!
DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION -- Warning: very large PDF file
Last fall, Bishop Harrington traveled to meetings with parish pastoral council leaders in all five deaneries. Perhaps you or someone from your Pastoral Council attended one of these meetings. The bishop asked the people about their visions, their hopes and their fears for the church in southern Minnesota over the next few years. The goal of these meetings was to lay the foundation for a pastoral letter that would guide the Diocese of Winona between the time of Bishop Harrington’s retirement and the point at which our next bishop has developed his own vision for our diocese.
On the First Sunday of Advent 2007, Bishop Harrington published Proclaim Jesus! It is a pastoral letter in which he adopted many of the suggestions that he had heard during his meetings with parish leaders. The letter was published in the December issue of the Courier, and your pastor has received 25 copies of the letter in booklet form. Please help your pastor distribute them to people who will come to the meeting so that they can read it beforehand. The letter also is on the diocesan web site in both English and Spanish.
Five members of the Curia, the group of department heads that assists the bishop in his ministry, have assembled a presentation to help parishes decide how to work toward the goals that are described in Proclaim Jesus! They are going to make this presentation to all of the priests in the diocese at deanery meetings. Bishop Harrington also wants them to meet with you and other leaders of your Pastoral Council.
The meetings are open to everyone who wishes to come. Bishop Harrington hopes that leaders of parish Pastoral Councils will attend, including officers and key committee chairs. The meeting will be of special interest to committee leaders and volunteers in the areas of faith formation, youth ministry, Hispanic ministry, stewardship and finance. There is no limit on the number that may attend from a parish, but if you are going to bring more than three people, please send me an email and let me know so that we will have enough space and chairs to accommodate everyone. Please indicate the site you are attend and the number who will be with you.
Please come to the meeting and encourage other parish leaders to come; it is important for our future as a diocesan church. This is our diocese; you and I were called by Jesus not only to build the Kingdom of God here in southern Minnesota but also to lead others in the work. There is work to be done and, together, we can do what Jesus has asked us to accomplish. I look forward to meeting you and other members of your parish leadership at the meeting.
Deacon Justin Green
Office of Pastoral Planning |
