Faithful Participation: St. Mary’s Beiseker Parish Renewal Survey

St. Mary’s Parish in Beiseker began its journey on the Pastoral Renewal path well before the Pastoral Renewal Survey conducted in June 2024.

The Bishop’s letter was read from the pulpit last October 2023, introducing everyone to this pastoral journey of Renewal. In February 2024, our Parish Renewal Team attended the orientation day in Calgary. We left feeling inspired but also somewhat apprehensive about the expectations before us.

Following the orientation, we had team meetings back at our own parish, At these meetings we studied the Pastoral Renewal further, including the mission mandate, goal, and pastoral priorities. There was much to absorb, and numerous discussions were held to clarify information before moving forward with a presentation to St. Mary’s parishioners.

With prayer and the Holy Spirit as our guide, we made progress. Parishioners were introduced to and informed about the Pastoral Renewal and its importance through pulpit announcements and email updates. Posters were also put up, including some of our own, which were made on very bright paper to ensure they were not missed.

When it came time for the survey in June, we hit the ground running. Promotion of the survey was approached the same way as the Renewal information was shared, with pulpit announcements, information, and reminders via email and posters. On Corpus Christi Sunday, June 2, 2024, we adopted the process of not having the procession after the final blessing at Mass (this had been noted to parishioners in shared information before June 2nd) to give time for survey completion.

Father Silvano asked all to stay after Mass and complete the survey, which he noted was not mandatory, but greatly encouraged. All parishioners listened, and we had a great response. We received everyone's completed surveys on the first Sunday of the Survey. Our aspirations and goals had been met, above and beyond, in one Sunday gathering!  

St. Mary’s parishioners have a deep dedication to our church and to the parish as a community. Their support is unsurpassed when it is needed and asked for! Everyone definitely came together to help achieve a successful end result with the Renewal survey—each and every parishioner is to be commended!

We will await the survey results, which will be sent to our parish, as these will continue to guide us on the path of the Renewal process. When the results are received, they will greatly aid us in identifying the areas we need to focus on and address moving forward. The Renewal team will review the results and then present the information to the parishioners, gathering feedback as the journey continues.

Although at the beginning, the needs for and presentation of the survey were a tad daunting, prayer, the Holy Spirit, and St. Mary’s parishioners reign supreme!

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Written by Elaine Carley, Parish Renewal Team chair of St. Mary's Parish in Beiseker. Photo credit: Town of Irricana.