Cluster 73 Pastoral Plan Executive Summary
The eight parishes grouped in Cluster 73 are located in Eastern Montgomery County. These parishes are administered by 15 assigned priests who, with the help of committed volunteers, address the spiritual, physical, emotional, and educational needs of over 37,000 registered parishioners. The goal of the cluster planning process was to detertmine how we a cluster could continue to address the common needs of our parishes in light of the external challenges and internal limitations facing us, the external opportunities and internal strenghts availabel to us, and the basic assumptions we have made about our cluster. We also had to address the fact that the number of priests assigned to this cluster will be reduced from 15 to 13 and ascertain the effect of this change on the coverage of Abington Hospital and other institutions.
Prayer, preparation, openness, thorough discussion, and parishioner feedback guded the information of the five goals, nine alternative ways of accomplishing these goals, and three additional recommendations that constitute the Cluster 73 Pastoral Plan.
The Goals of the Cluster 73 Pastoral plan are: 1. To promote Evangelization throughout the cluster. Every parish will establish an Evangelization Team. The Archdiocese will provide training and if appropriate, one member of each parish will meet regularly with other cluster members. 2. To promote Stewardship throughout the Cluster. a) Each Parish will develop a method for assessing the talent and human resource need within their parish. A cluster committee will explore methods parishes can use to collate this information. b) A committee will review school costs, population, etc., to see if future restrcturing would be necessary for any of the cluster parish schools. c) A cluster-wide Social Service Committee will be formed in which resources can be shared and group action can take place. 3. To increase knowledge and appreciation of out Faith through Education and Christian Formation. The cluster will establish and Education Council to share information in areas such as adult education, youth ministry, CCD programs, special education needs, sacramental preparation, religious vocations, Respect Life, etc. 4. To improve the celebration of Sunday Worship. The cluster will establish Liturgical Committee to coordinate training programs and workshops for liturgical ministers in conjunction with the Office if Worship. 5. To use effectively the thirteen priests in the cluster. The committee recommends that the parishes of Immaculate Conception and our Lady Help of Christians each can be reduced one priest.
Accomplishing these goals involves forming six cluster wide committees or teams. These groups include an Evangelization Team, a Stewardship Committee, a School Committee, a Social Services Committee, an Education Council and a Liturgical Committee. The formation and responsibilities of each group are included in the body of the alternatives. A time line was developed which suggests a commencement date for each group. The first committees are to begin in the Fall of 1999. The final committee will begin its work in January 2002.