Welcome

Opening

InspirationA PRAYER BEFORE THE CROSS

Most Highglorious God

enlighten the darkness of my heartand give me, Lord,

a correct faith, a certain hope,

a perfect charity, sense and knowledge,

so that I may carry out Your holy and true command.

An Invitation to take a Closer Look…Why are we beginning this project? It’s a way of getting a snapshot of the state of

our parish, a way for us to hear from you about what you see here – what’s going

well, what we could be doing better, how we are living out our mission.

Here is a brief reflection on our mission statement:

A Closer Look at our mission…•Inspired by our patron Francis of Assisi - we view our life through a Franciscan lens

and are always asking what it means to be Franciscan in our modern world.

•We seek to proclaim the reign of God – we look for signs of God’s presence in our

midst.

•We grow in holiness through the experience of Christ in word, sacrament, and one

another – our experience of Sunday mass as the center of everything we do.

•Offering hope for those who hunger for human dignity – our many outreach

programs for those in need.

•Extending hospitality to all – St. Francis as a place of welcome.

A Closer Look at how we’re living it out …We invite you to reflect on the different aspects of life here at St. Francis – our liturgical life, our pastoral programs, our outreach, our facilities, our schools and our finances. In the 30+ years of our parish, we have grown from “the little church in the woods” of the 1980’s, to our current worship space which serves a parish of more than 4,400 families. In the past several years we have built a new school building for grades 6-8, a gym/community center, and a chapel. As a result of these building projects, we carry a debt of $4.8 million. Every year, we pay $818,000 toward our outstanding debt. This obligation limits our capacity to act on our mission.

A Closer Look at what we might imagine …We want to get your input on this – what could we do here if we were able to reduce our debt? What opportunities might open up for us? Would you be willing to be part of a campaign to reduce our debt? We invite you to imagine our future!

Our Invitation to you…

To understand how you feel about our parish today

To hear feedback about our current financial state of the parish

To imagine our future

We asked questions about…

The reputation about our

parish

The leadership of our

parish

Recent positive changes

Challenges

Areas for improvement

Areas we are serving you

Our Sunday experience

Our outreach

Our faith formation

Our schools

Your feelings about our

finances

Opportunities you could

imagine

We heard from you ….

4580 registered parish families were invited to voice their

opinion in this survey

676 responses have been received so far through personal

interviews, mail in responses and online responses

Typical response rate is 10-12% in a parish survey.

So far, we have received a 31% response rate considering our

average is about 2200 active, regular, contributing parish families

160 pages of write in responses over 1500 written comments

All have been reviewed and compiled

Q1: How would you rate the reputation of St Francis of Assisi?

Excellent

Good

Average “St. Francis has developed an excellent

reputation reinforced by its growth,

outreach, numerous ministries and a

welcoming attitude toward everyone.”

“St Francis is seen as a warm and

welcoming parish that is also progressive

and does great work in areas of social

justice, the environment and

ecumenical ministries.”

“The parish is very welcoming, everyone

is very friendly and truly seems happy to be here”

“Our church is known in the community

for its outreach and service to all.”

97% POSITIVE!!

In the comments, you said we are….

A vibrant parish offering an enriching worship experience

A welcoming parish where all are invited

A parish that is known for our outreach in our wider community

A parish living our Franciscan charism

“St Francis is known as a parish that welcomes everyone and it means

EVERYONE. It is also a parish that is faith-filled and dedicated to

helping those in need.”

Q2: Under the leadership of Fr. Steve Patti, please assess the success of running the parish.

“Father Steve has quietly worked to

progress the parish mission.”

“Where one might expect Father Steve to

be hurried and harried in management of

such a large enterprise, he exhibits a

peaceful calm that is comforting and

reassuring.”

“Father Steve seems to be a good

steward of the parish money but does not

seem to be involved or connected with

the parishioners.”

“Father Steve is not very visible to the

parish and he seems uncomfortable

running the school and parish.”

Excellent

Good

AveragePoor

86% POSITIVE!!

More

Welcoming

Better staff

leadership

More

Outreach

Better

LiturgyBetter Faith

Formation (all

Better

Communications

Franciscan

Spirituality

Facilities

Finances

Improved

Q3: Please identify positive changes you have seen..

Comments Included areas like:

Noted improvements in liturgy – especially in music, baptisms, homilies, staff engagement, announcements, Friars

Expansion of adult faith formation and restructure of youth faith formation with small groups

More social justice outreach like the Whitaker House and more outreach to different faith communities

Well maintained facilities, new sound system

Even more friendly & welcoming atmosphere with open door policy, coffee & donuts after mass, new parishioner welcome events

Strong staff leadership and smooth transitions of new appointments: school principal, preschool director, finance, strategic planning

More relaxed attitude among staff and re-dedication to Franciscan spirituality

Improved communications – especially the bulletin

Q3: In the comments about positive changes, you said:

Welcoming,

hospitality

Sacraments

Liturgy

Spiritual Growth

Schools

Faith

Formation

Ministry

Friar

Q4: Please identify challenges our parish has faced...

Q4: In the comments about challenges, you said :

“Transition of Friars all at one time felt like a huge loss and reduced number of Friars is not enough”

“Lack of clear vision for this community”

“There seems to be a lack of mission or a malaise. No big excitement and lack of vibrancy.”

“Parish continues to face challenge of identifying with families on a small, personal level when we are so big.”

“Too small of percentage of parishioners contribute to the majority of the time, talent, and treasure. There is a fatigue of giving.”

“TFS school has been in a tough spot… tuition has gone up to the point of elitist.”

Improve liturgy

More parishioner

connectionsImprove Facilities

Improve faith

formation

More outreach

More hospitality

Better finances

Q5: Please identify areas of improvements you would recommend...

Q5: In the comments about areas of improvement, you said :

“We need to get to know our Pastor better.”

“We need to renew the entire parish’s sense of mission; we need to launch a

parish wide program that allows families to engage as a collective unit.”

“Find ways to get more parishioners involved in ministries; I would like to see

more opportunities to engage in small communities and create relationships

with other parishioners.”

“Increased support for music ministry”

“More detailed homilies with more time spent crafting content.”

“Faith Formation should be free with more volunteers and better interaction

among children.”

“We need to focus on our parish stewardship. We need transparency of

financials.”

“More apparent emphasis on social justice.”

Welcoming, hospitality

Sacraments

Liturgy

Spiritual Growth

Schools

Faith

Formation

Ministry

Friar support

Q6: Please identify areas the parish has served you…

Q6: In the comments about ways we’ve served you, you said :

Welcome: “It’s a place where anyone is welcome, warts and all. We are a

parishioner run parish.” “ We have always felt connected, welcomed, and

accepted in our faith…”

Liturgy: “Mass, I am extremely proud of our church and I will bring anyone who

will listen.” Excellent homilies, children’s liturgy, music ministry, mass is uplifting

and engaging; robust liturgies; daily mass

Faith Formation: youth and adult, liturgical based faith formation, FIRE

Sacraments: RCIA, baptisms, funerals, anointing, marriage, 1st Communion,

Confirmation

Ministry support: Friar Counseling, Stephen Ministry, Just Faith, grief share,

retreats, LGBTQ, 50+ club, Muslim outreach, Engaging Spirituality, Franciscan

pilgrimage, Way of Francis, Job Connections, Prayer Shawl, Pray n Play, adult

open play, summer camps, Divorce Care, sports, community service, WIHN,

CPO, SCC, library, feed the need, migrant ministry, prison pen pals, cancer

care, On Purpose Peace, Daily devotions, FrancisFest

TFS and Preschool

Q7: Please rate our overall Sunday Experience…(Mass, music, environment, hospitality)

Excell

ent

Good

AveragePoor

Q8: Please rate how our parish influences wider community …

ExcellentGood

AveragePoor

93% POSITIVE!! 93% POSITIVE!!

Q9: Please rate our Faith Formation opportunities…

Excellent

Good

AveragePoor

Q10: Please rate impressions of our schools…

ExcellentGood

Average Poor

84% POSITIVE!! 92% POSITIVE!!

Q11: Please rate your feelings with regard to raising funds to eliminate debt…

Excellent

Good

Average

Poor

64% POSITIVE

Your need to understand more about

our general parish finances

the history of our debt

our future vision

stewardship education

Q11: In the comments about eliminating debt, you said :

Q17: What opportunities do you imagine we could accomplish…?

Increase

Outreach

Maintain

Facilities

Better Schools

Affordability

Improve Faith

Formation

Increase Staff

benefits

Expand

Ministries

In summary

Our parish reputation is 97% POSITIVE!!

We are

A vibrant parish offering an enriching worship experience

A welcoming parish where all are invited

A parish that is known for our outreach in our wider community

A parish living our Franciscan charism

“St Francis is known as a parish that welcomes everyone and it means

EVERYONE. It is also a parish that is faith-filled and dedicated to helping those

in need.”

64% responses were favorable in reducing debt but…

Your need to understand more about

our general parish finances

the history of our debt

our future vision

stewardship education

You see opportunities for us in…

Increasing our Outreach

Making our schools affordable

Maintaining our facilities

We are listening and

we heard:

FR. STEVE PATTI

We need to …

Enable our Friars to be present among the community to build the relationship with the community.

Communicate about our finances and what it takes to run this parish while looking for creative solutions.

Embark upon pastoral planning to create our shared vision for the future.

Questions?