NEW "MISSION STATEMENT" FOR ST. ANNE?
Yesterday I announced that this week we will be sharing with everyone a pastoral plan for this time in which we are facing the challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic. I will post it on Flocknote this week, God willing, so that everyone can read it.
Before each Mass this week, I will say something about what is often called in English, a “mission statement”. In Spanish, it would be something like "declaration of the fundamental objectives" of the parish.
In many companies, non-profit organizations, and parishes in this country, there is a kind of declaration that attempts to sum up the ideals of that community and define the direction in which it wants to move. You may be aware of examples of this in other areas of life as well. Personally, it is something that surprised me when I came here from Spain. I think I am in a position to assure you that in no parish in my country or in Italy is there a “mission statement” and I was very surprised to discover them here.
A couple of months ago, at the meeting where the pastoral plan of the parish was being discussed, the question of preparing a new mission statement for St. Anne that reflected the identity and direction of our parish came up. I expressed my reservations about the usefulness or advisability of something like this for our community. With no intention of detracting from the work of people who previously worked on the St. Anne mission statement, and without realizing the fact that most parishes in the United States have one, I made the observation that seemed to me to be evident: that in reality, the whole Church has the same “mission statement”. Honestly, the fact that each Catholic parish has different “fundamental goal statements” doesn’t sound good to me. We are all the same, the differences are in the details: "… one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph 4:5-6)
I believe that the mission statement of any Catholic group is summed up superbly in the words of the risen Christ himself, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Mt 28:19-20) That is the mission of the Church. That is the mission of St. Anne.
Therefore, it was decided that day to forego having a particular “mission statement” in order to underline our participation in the life and mission of the universal Church. The fact that St. Anne does not have a “mission statement” in the technical sense of the word does not mean that we do not have a mission or an identity. We know who we are. We are Catholics, that is "universal", disciples of the risen Christ, sent into the world for the salvation of our brothers and sisters, united to the Church in faith and sacramental life, called to bear abundant fruit, the fruits of conversion and holiness.
We share this mission statement with Catholics around the world and we don’t need another one. It is engraved in our hearts from the day of our Baptism. We must simply live what we already are, what we received the day we were united to Christ, and received divine brotherhood and became members of his Church.
I ask the Virgin Mary that we may be what we are, what we have received, what we are called to be.
