Letter from the Pastoral Coordinator

April 27, 2025

Dear Families,

As you may remember, our four parishes of St. Edward, George, Paul, and Peter are in the process of becoming one canonical parish. This means we will combine into one parish with one pastor, one parish boundary, and one parish name (note: individual churches and campuses can still exist within this structure). This is part of an Archdiocesan-wide initiative called Partners in the Gospel. Because we have been together for so long and our priests did not change, we have not experienced the same challenges as other parishes in our area as they got used to new leaders, new Mass times, and the combining of ministries. It is important to remember that we are going to experience changes as we move forward to becoming one canonical parish though.

We are now being asked to begin the One Parish Planning phase of the Partners in the Gospel initiative, which will help us discern how we become a new parish. The first part of the Plan focuses on “Who are we?” and invites us to think about our gifts and opportunities to bring the light of Christ to others. Using input from the community, surveys, and baseline viability and demographic information, we will work to create a full picture of who we are as individual parishes and as a Parish Family…what are our gifts and charisms, what is our history, who are our people and what’s important to us? In order for us to get a true understanding and appreciation of who we are, we need as many people as possible to participate in this process. To that end, we invite and encourage all of you to join us for a synodal-style, discernment-based Listening Session on Saturday, May 10 at 9:30am at St. Edward in the Parish Hall. We will start with light breakfast snacks and coffee, and move into our program at 10am. The gathering will be trilingual (Spanish English-Vietnamese) and will consist of prayer, a short presentation, and a chance to share on the parish and parish family level. Please plan to join us. We cannot fully answer the question of who we are without your input!

Peace,