ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

CLUSTER 28 PASTORAL PLAN ONE PAGE SUMMARY

Bucks County Vicariate

Rev. Msgr. John V. Bartos, Vicar

Approved by Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, January 30, 1998

With input from Parish Pastoral Councils, the Cluster Committee then presented the Cluster Action Plan which calls for six goals:

1)Increased participation in parish life.

2)Catholic formation and education for all persons, especially for youth.

3)Evangelization.

4)Involvement of youth in programs of Catholic life.

5)Needs of contemporary family life.

6)Encourage religious vocations within family life and parish life.

Throughout the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, parishes located in a particular geographical area, were formed into Clusters. In Bucks County there are six such Clusters.

Assisted by their Mission Statement and Self Study program, five parishes in the Bensalem, Croydon area met in March 1997 to evaluate needs, strengths, limitations and resources within the Cluster.

Each parish was represented on the Cluster Pastoral Planning Committee by its pastor and two members of the Parish Pastoral Council.

Early meetings dealt with parish surveys, internal strengths and weaknesses of Cluster parishes, shortage of clergy and religious, and the need to develop more lay leadership. Key issues surfaced for concentration and inclusion within the Cluster Plan; viz., youth ministry and their continued religious education, training of lay leadership, adult religious education, communications among cluster parishes, evangelization, stewardship, sacramental policy, and social issues.

Representatives from each of the five parishes (pastor and two Parish Pastoral Council members) will begin to implement the Cluster Plan in May 1998 as well as identify the common needs, resources, and system for monitoring progress within the Cluster.