St. Mary of the Woods Evangelization Plan Summary of Year 2, 2021

The Outreach Committee is presently soliciting, through the bulletin, names of anyone who may be in need of transportation to Mass on Sunday.  To date, we have had no requests. However, a couple of people have stepped up and said they would be happy to give rides. The announcement will be on going.

We are presently announcing that our live streaming of the 9 am Mass is primarily a ministry to our Homebound parishioners in an attempt to keep our elderly, who are homebound, connected to the parish.

The Stewardship Committee has established a Welcome Committee.  The Stewardship Committee agreed that the goals for Year 2 of the Evangelization Plan that they are involved with will remain on hold with the Delta Variant and restrictions unknown. These include the Welcome Dinners for new parishioners. 

The Family and Social Life Committee is developing a program to pair new families with existing Parish families.  Representatives from the Family and Social Life Committee plan to speak at one of the weekend Masses in 2021 to promote this program and there will be sign-up for volunteers after the Mass. 

The Worship and Spiritual Life Committee has developed a process for assigning families to take up gifts and encouraging new families to participate. As families are scheduled for the ministry of gift bearer, we are announcing these names to the parish, at every weekend Mass, in an attempt to put faces to names and become more familiar with families, especially new families in the parish.

The Outreach Committee delayed the creation and scheduling of “Homecoming Sundays” as an outreach to parishioners who have fallen out of the parish. This will move forward in the Fall of 2022 with the implementation of the Alpha program. Information on Alpha will be coming soon.

The Education and Formation Committee has worked with the Parish Staff and the two schools to increase our social media presence. Posts are made to our social media outlets multiple times a week that promote the schools, parish and family life as well as upcoming events. The parish has subscribed to Formed.org, which is a media platform that supplies thousands of movies, programs, audio and books on the Catholic Faith instantly. In addition, the parish and the two schools cross post most information so that it can be seen from multiple pages.

The Worship and Spiritual Life Committee, in the coming stewardship drive, will transition the ministry of Usher to Hospitality Ministry and those in this ministry will be given training to carry out this new ministry.

The Stewardship Committee is continuing to explore options for outreach to visitors including thank you cards, Christmas cards, etc.