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Prince of Peace Parish Barberton/Norton, Ohio Welcome Message and Sunday Readings: Feast of the Epiphany, January 4, 2009 |
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Welcome to Prince of Peace’s webpage on the local clustering process; a process that is going on at every parish throughout the Diocese of Cleveland. The following is just a brief overview of the clustering process. Visit the Diocesan website at www.vibrantparishlife.org for more detailed background. Prince of Peace Bulletin: 2/17/08 CLUSTER MEMBERS Parishes in our Cluster: Prince of Peace, Barberton/Norton; Sacred Heart, Wadsworth; St. Andrew, Norton; St. George, Clinton; Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Barberton; Ss. Peter and Paul, Doylestown. There are 5 representatives from each parish who are part of the Cluster meetings. There is one Diocesan facilitator to help in the process. Neighboring Cluster(both clusters will continue to work together on common concerns): St. Augustine, Barberton; Immaculate Conception, Kenmore. Cluster Meetings to date: Initial training for cluster representatives was held in June 2007 and cluster meetings have been held monthly since then. The following officers were elected on August 2, 2007: Cluster Chairperson: Father Bob Jackson(Prince of Peace); Cluster Vice Chairperson: Joe Harrison(Ss. C&M); Cluster Secretary: Jan Youngblood(St. George); Communication Liaison Person: Tracy Arnonne(Sacred Heart). Check the updates above for recent activity. CHALLENGES FACING THE CHURCH IN NORTHEAST OHIO The most pressing challenge facing us today as a Church in Northeast Ohio: The most pressing question is how to maintain a Catholic presence in areas where the number of Catholics is declining without overwhelming the diocese financially and without taking clergy away from areas where the Catholic population is booming. History: Bishop Anthony Pilla published his pastoral letter “Vibrant Parish Life” in February 2001 which set a broad plan for parishes to begin looking at themselves not as independent units but as part of the wider Diocesan Church effort to carry out the Mission of the Lord. It hoped that this proactive effort will get local parishes to begin to see its effort as part of a collaborative mission with neighboring parishes, sharing programs, staff, etc. This was Phase One and set the foundation for the clustering process of Vibrant Parish Life Phase Two that just began in 2007. Background to the challenge: Demographics and migration patterns of the Diocese-urban centers of Cleveland, Akron, and Lorain have lost their population to the suburbs and neighboring counties. In the 20th Century the Diocese established parishes in areas where the population was at that time. That population has moved to other areas and other counties. There is a need to close some parishes, merge others, and establish new ones in areas needed in order to serve our present Catholic people. Finances-Many parishes cannot pay their bills, are using their savings to keep operating rather than just depending on their collections, and are looking at aging facilities that are in need of more and more repairs. Local parishes and the Diocese cannot risk spending down limited funds and struggle to maintain more facilities than are needed for the population being served. Number of Priests-Every denomination has experienced a decline in vocations to ministry. At present, the Diocese of Cleveland is in better shape than many other dioceses across the country but will only have 264 priests in active ministry in 2011. There are presently 231 parishes. Steady and substantial decline in Mass attendance-In addition to the above, Catholic churches throughout the diocese are seeing far fewer people at Sunday Mass compared t 1970. Only about 29% of registered Catholics are attending Sunday Mass. For detailed information about the above, read the Catholic Universe Bulletin article by following the link below:: http://www.vibrantparishlife.org/ubstories/may18.pdf LETTER FROM BISHOP RICHARD LENNON Every parish in the diocese received a letter from Bishop Richard Lennon which contained two parts which described our essential mission as a church---“to carry out the Mission of our Lord.” Prince of Peace parishioners received copies of this letter in June 2007. Part I of this letter contained essentially the same message to every parish: Our essential mission of evangelization and re-evangelization: -we must do all that we can to bring the Gospel message into every human situation and helping all people to come to an encounter with the living Christ. -we are called to connect the Gospel message with the culture of our time and engage the lives of people who are practicing Catholics, no longer active Catholics, those who are unchurched, and to all people of good will. -The source and summit of this mission is our celebration of the Eucharist Part II of the letter contained the following issues and challenges for our cluster: -Explore collaborative possibilities to strengthen pastoral care. -Develop a plan for this area to be served by no more than 4 parishes and no more than 4 priests(6 at present). -Study each parish site and its facilities in assessing which options would best serve the long term pastoral needs of the cluster area. -Address the language and religious needs of parishioners and people in the area(e.g.Spanish). -Strengthen evangelization and the social and community services that serve the poor and surrounding neighborhoods. -Engage all of our faithful in regularly attending and participating in the Sunday Eucharistic Liturgy. The Custer Plan is to be submitted by December 15, 2008 to the Diocese and is planned to be implemented by 2010. |
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1263 Shannon Ave. Norton, Ohio 44203 Phone: 330-825-9543; Fax: 330-706-1437; e-mail: ppeacechurch@neo.rr.com Office Hours: Monday-Friday; 8:30 am-5:00 pm Last updated: Saturday January 03, 2009 |
