St. Thomas Blackburn Strategic Plan 2022 – 2027

We, the St. Thomas community in Blackburn, are called to be missionary people. We are called to spread the message of the gospel to all.

The church is changing, and so is our community. As a result, the Parish Pastoral Council considered it necessary to plan for the future, so we have prepared a strategic plan for the next five years, from 2022 to 2027.

The recent pandemic has affected the numbers of people actively involved with our parish: it is important, as we are now able to meet again more freely, that we look at ways of re-invigorating our parish community.

Introduction

The parish of St. Thomas the Apostle has served the community of Blackburn for seventy years. Fr. Paul Ryan was appointed our first Parish priest by Archbishop Mannix on 11 January 1954.

We have had the privilege of having the Loreto Order with us for all of those seventy years, and we have been blessed with the presence of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart for the past fifteen years.

We have a school and a parish who, while separate administratively, have a common purpose in fostering our vision and mission.

Our community is changing. Fewer younger people are actively involved in the parish, and we are becoming more multi-cultural. Our focus is to serve the needs of active parishioners as well as mission/ outreach to the wider community.

We are experiencing financial constraints due to reducing stewardship and presbytery contributions.

There are less priests and religious than formerly, and the Archdiocese initiative of “The Way of the Gospel” is actively exploring ways in which to continue to serve the community with smaller numbers of clergy. This may have consequences for how our parish operates moving forward.

In the future, there will be an increased need for lay people to become more actively involved in managing the affairs of the parish, and indeed, the wider church.

Our Goals

(1) Building a broad community

To continue to promote the existing rich faith and community opportunities offered by the parish, and explore new ideas to encourage social connection and participation in parish liturgical and other activities.

(2) Delivering on our mission through service

• To utilise the skills and talents of the parish (and broader community) to provide liturgical, pastoral, social justice and community outreach activities and initiatives which enrich and support the lives of all (within and beyond the parish)

• To seek and encourage participation in St Thomas’ parish and school through an annual community communication strategy, and ensure proactive follow up of those new to the parish and/or newly baptised.

(3) Building a financially sustainable parish

To annually review and revise expenditure and income sources to ensure that the parish can plan for and provide safe and maintained facilities, to both serve the parish community and continue its outreach activities – ‘To be on earth the Heart of God.’

Our Vision

The parishioners of St. Thomas the Apostle, under the stewardship of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, strive on earth to be the Heart of God.

Our Mission

We aim to foster the gifts of faith we have been given, as a community called by God, through the example of Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit. We seek to live our catholic identity through prayer, service, hospitality and community, welcoming all with open minds and hearts.

In order to fulfil our vision and mission, we have identified nine key themes of parish life. They are:

Pastoral

Liturgical

Mission/Outreach

Assets and Maintenance

Our School

Youth

Social Activities

Governance

Environment

Each theme has a number of actions, which are described below. In addition, we have established a number of action plan priorities for 2022/23.

Pastoral

• Provide spiritual, faith formation, social and emotional support, following the role of Christ as the Good Shepherd.

• Support the parish Care Group in its work in catering for funerals, and in helping parishioners when needed.

• Continue ecumenical programs with other churches, eg. the Lenten program which is run in association with The Avenue Uniting church.

• Identify people in the parish who need support and help them. As an example, take communion to those who are unable to come to Mass any more.

• Identify people or groups of people who need support, for example new migrants, people from racially diverse backgrounds, refugees, and provide appropriate support.

• Provide home and hospital visits.

Liturgical

• Assist clergy in preparing for liturgy, church decoration, etc.

• Provide live music at all masses where possible. Create a high-quality library of recorded music as a backup.

• Organise readers, leaders etc. for Sunday masses.

• Prepare for major events, such as Christmas, Easter, Anzac Day, Australia day, etc.

• Prepare rosters for readers, leaders, people to give communion, etc.

• Prepare and run Children’s liturgy.

• Create a roster for projectionists.

Mission/Outreach

• We acknowledge that while church attendance is decreasing, there is a vital need to promote and spread the message of the gospel.

• We have a responsibility for social justice; for example, acknowledging the first peoples of Australia, helping refugees and people from multi-cultural backgrounds being examples.

• We understand there are many people in our community who may not be actively involved in our parish activities, however they look to the church for guidance and assistance in their spiritual life. We welcome them all.

• We support the work of groups such as St. Vincent de Paul and others who are there to assist vulnerable members of our wider community.

• Aim to set up a mission/ outreach committee to identify areas in the Blackburn parish which would benefit from a missionary role. Examples could be people in retirement villages and new migrants to Australia.

• Work with MSC mission director to look for opportunities in other countries in the Asia Pacific region where we may be able to work together with people from those communities.

Assets and maintenance

• We will adopt a strategic and planned approach to management of our parish assets in a time of financial constraint.

• Be pro-active in assessing the need for repairs.

• Identify and repair all issues of maintenance before or as they arise.

• Finalise accommodation for Parish Priest.

Financial

• In a time of financial constraint, both costs and income need to be addressed.

• Annual budgeting to ensure we live within our means.

• Renew thanksgiving program and actively seek new sources of revenue. New sources of revenue could involve renting out parts of the present presbytery to other organisations that share our Catholic tradition.

School

• We will promote collaboration between our school and the wider parish with the aim of living our Catholic identity in harmony together.

• We will promote and support events which bring our school and wider community together, for example, celebrating seventy years of our parish together, the school/parish fete, etc.

Youth

• Ensure the safety of children in all activities in our parish.

• Support youth groups in the parish.

• Promote the 5pm Mass on Sundays as a family Mass for parents and children.

• Children’s liturgy at 10.30am Mass.

• Catechetics. Assist young (and older) people prepare for first communion, reconciliation and confirmation.

• Promote youth groups to children at our primary school.

• Promote altar serving as a role for both boys and girls.

Social

• We recognise that while there are a lot of opportunities in the wider community for social interaction, there is also a role for social activities within the parish.

• The parish will continue to support social activities such as the First Friday lunch, bus trips, cards, tennis, etc.

Governance

• The role of the Parish Pastoral Council is to support and advise our Parish Priest and

to represent parishioners in matters related to parish activities and business.

• These activities and business roles include pastoral, liturgical, mission/outreach, finance, assets and maintenance, school, youth and social.

• The Council will be supported by parish committees where appropriate.

• The Parish Pastoral Council will consist of people from the parish community, with staff of the parish providing support where required. Staff have a vital role in supporting different roles in the parish, eg. finance, youth, liturgy, and their support to the various committees of the parish is very important.

Environment

• Incorporate ideals and implications of the encyclical Laudato Si.

Action Plan Priorities for 2022/23

The PPC have identified four priorities. Some initial actions have been tabled and further actions will be explored and considered.

1. Increase Congregation numbers

a) Make personal contact with people that were formerly attending Masses and invite them back

b) Determine if transportation is an issue and organise a roster for transport if necessary

c) Instigate name tags for church attendees

d) Re-establish regular post-Mass tea and coffee

e) Improve the connection between parishioners by recognising personal events (eg. Milestone birthdays, anniversaries, achievements)

f) Educate and celebrate cultural differences within the Parish

g) Look for options to increase access to live music at masses that do not have it

h) Contact/visit progressive parishes to look for further ideas

i) Follow-up on baptisms and engage with their parents to enrol the children in the school.

2. Improve the church and school connection

a) Resume regular class masses

b) Explore opportunities for school children to participate in mass

c) Re-instigate and add social events that provide opportunities for Parish and school families to participate. Eg. Fete, St Patrick’s day event, golf night, wine tasting.

3. Address the budget deficit

The Parish is running at a substantial loss which is not sustainable in the medium term. Losses are currently being funded by erosion of the Parish’s healthy capital position. The PPC has determined that the Parish must operate on a more sustainable basis.

a) Explore opportunities to turn our facilities into income producing assets. The Parish produced an excellent master plan in 2020 based on the likely amalgamation of Parishes. The amalgamation is on-hold, but there are elements of the master plan that include an increase in income and the need to provide suitable accommodation for the Parish Priest and other MSC’s. The plan will be reviewed and updated to target these goals.

b) Analyse the current thanksgiving program contributions to determine the reasons for decline in contributions and opportunities to improve the overall contribution

c) Review operating costs

d) Develop a maintenance plan that maximises the upkeep of facilities in-line with budget considerations.

4. Governance

a) Recruit more and diverse people to the PPC

b) Implement governance policy, assigning PPC members to be responsible for the execution of this plan’s priorities.