Mission Statement
The mission of St. Peter the Apostle Roman Catholic parish community is to live out a faithful, loving and dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ nurtured through faith formation, outreach and the life of worship.
Mission
A mission is what we aim to become and our purpose of being. Mission is at the heart of why we do what we do and a life force that drives and unifies. Jesus has entrusted his mission to the church and, when baptized, we take on the life and mission of Jesus Christ. Our parish mission is a more specific expression of how we, in this time and this place, enflesh the broader mission of Christ and his church. Our parish mission is to give a common focus and direction to all that we are and do here as the parish family of St. Peter’s.
Community
Traditionally a "community" has been defined as a group of interacting people living in a common location. The word is often used to refer to a group that is organized around common values and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location.
A "parish community" for Catholics has traditionally been a central gathering place and the foundation upon which they have formed their spiritual lives. It has been for most Catholics an important part of the Church because it is where the mission of Christ continues in a way they can see and appreciate. The parish community is where Catholics publicly express their faith, joining with others to give proof of their communion with God and with one another.
Dynamic Relationship
This term gets at the core goal of our religion:
-to have a relationship with God
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to personally assent to the Lordship of Jesus Christ
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to willfully and lovingly respond to God’s initiative to give himself to us and to His invitation to us to give ourselves to Him
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to yearn and long for union with the God we have come to know and love.
Living our faith is not merely following the law and keeping the commandments; it is not an anxious and fearful response to a god who is distant and foreboding.
Our relationship with God is lived throughout all our life; we are never done being disciples of Jesus Christ. We must not settle for a faith that is in suspended animation. Who can say that they have loved enough or is not in need of salvation? We need to continually grow, participate and engage in our faith so that God’s Word and Sacraments are transformative of and relevant to every aspect of our lives. The significance of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus needs to be refreshed constantly in our hearts.
I think we can agree that St. Peter’s Church will grow as a place where all encounter Jesus Christ and experience His love and mercy to the degree that its members actively seek to have a dynamic relationship with the Lord.
Nurtured
Rooted in the Latin word for nourishing, to nurture someone is to provide what is necessary for the person to thrive and reach full potential. We provide material nurturing for our children through food, shelter and clothing that they may develop to their fullest physical potential in a healthy and wholesome manner. We provide intellectual and psychological nourishment so that they may fully realize their creative abilities and develop a well-balanced emotional life. As a faith community we need spiritual nurturing as well. If we are to grow into our full stature as sons and daughters of the Father we need to be nourished and nursed with the spiritual food and drink of the liturgy, the scriptures, and through ongoing faith formation; we need to be sheltered within the temple that brings to us the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit; we need to be clothed with the warmth and protection of the love of God which always calls us on to a greater love for others. Our relationship with Christ is a dynamic reality and so all Christians need constant nurturing in the life of the Gospel. Ongoing conversion of mind, hear and life is the fruit of our being constantly nurtured and nourished by the God who loves us.
Faith Formation
Faith formation recognizes that to “live out a faithful, loving and dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ” requires making an effort to get to know the Lord better through experience, reflection, prayer, and study.
Faith formation has three main goals:
-Ongoing conversion to Jesus Christ, the pursuit of a deepening personal relationship with Him and a growing love for others, through repentance of sin, personal prayer, and the sacraments of the Church;
-Active membership in the Church community, which is a sign of the new life that the Lord seeks to bring about in us. It is here, especially in the parish community, that we learn and live out our faith, where we receive the ministry of the Church and contribute to her mission by generously sharing our gifts; and
-Participation in the Church’s wider mission, giving witness to God’s love in the world by embracing the call to share the message of Christ (evangelization) and bring about transformation in the world (justice).
Faith formation happens when we worship at Mass; when we confess our sins; when we gather as a community to pray, to learn, and to enjoy each other’s company; when we serve the poor of our city; and when we pray and study at home, alone and with our families.
Ultimately, through a commitment to ongoing faith formation, all of us can grow in ever closer relationship with the Lord Jesus and with each other, with a living faith that bears fruit in faithful witness and good works.
Outreach
Our relationship with Jesus Christ is both personal and communal. Our relationship with Christ and our relationship with the Church are necessarily intertwined; this was the intention of Jesus when he bestowed his authority to the apostles to teach, baptize, heal, absolve, deliver, shepherd… “as the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (Jn. 20:21) We don’t come to learn about and experience Jesus in isolation. We have received a faith that has been handed on to us through the community of faith, the Church. As baptized members of God’s family and the Church, we are to be our Lord’s instruments in handing the faith on to others. We are to reach out to share what is so precious to us: the gospel, the gift of freedom from sin and death, the hope we have of eternal life and peace in Christ, the sacraments, the fullness of truth, the transforming and unconditional love of God. The role of the baptized laity is to make the healing, loving, merciful presence of Christ known in the secular world — the workplace, the home, the community beyond the church doors.
Our parish Mission Statement includes the term “outreach” in faithfulness to what it means to be the church and also with respect for your feedback. We want to have more parishioners, particularly young families. We want more active and involved parishioners. We want to be a parish that reaches out to lapsed Catholics and to those in need. Let us pray about how this will happen!
Worship
As a response to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we are naturally drawn into a community of believers; and specifically, into a common life of worship. For us as Catholic-Christians, our communal worship flows from the ancient and beautiful traditions of the Roman Catholic liturgical rites – primarily, the Mass. This supreme act of worship occurs each week when we follow the Lord’s command to “Do this in memory of me,” as we gather around the table of the Lord to be nurtured by the Word of God and to receive the Holy Eucharist. From the Eucharistic Celebration flow many other forms of communal worship, such as adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. At St. Peter the Apostle Parish, we are dedicated to nurturing the life of worship: taking great care in the preparation and execution of all forms of communal prayer. All parishioners contribute to making this happen through prayerful participation and involvement in our parish family’s life of worship. With appreciation for the God that Jesus reveals, let us give the Lord his due. With hearts filled with gratitude and love, let us offer our spiritual sacrifice of praise. May our life of worship be expressed in our charity toward one another, in our enthusiastic responses during the liturgy, in our joyful singing of God’s praises, in our care for our historic church, in our warm welcome and acceptance of all who walk through our doors.