A relatively new ministry, Outreach is about understanding the make-up of our parishioners and creating opportunities to invite those who’ve been away back into Parish life. Outreach focuses on the following:

Survey Administration
We administer a survey to understanding the make-up of our parishioners along with
their interests and needs. We hope to capture insights on a bi-annual basis to help us
with our future outreach efforts.

Audience-Specific Event Planning
Whether for families, married couples, men or women, we are looking at a variety of
ways to appeal to specific audiences, and identify and create opportunities – both social
and spiritual – to engage our parishioners. As a ministry, we’ve uncovered a variety of
interests among our parishioners that include: social events, such as the annual 5k race, and targeted spiritual events, Lenten programs, special reflection nights, marriage reflections, talks on child rearing, etc. In 2011, we’ve planned a John Angotti concert, a Date Night Series for married couples, and 3-on-3 basketball tournament. Our plan is to continue to expand these offerings, and offer greater spiritual opportunities for individuals during Advent and Lent. Ministry in this area involves identifying possible events or programs, and helping to plan and coordinate those events.

Evangelization and Communications
Another area of focus is evangelization – specifically how we use various communication
tools to “spread the good news” to help individuals in their walk with Christ. We have
developed a new Video Faith Series, created a Facebook page to allow for frequent
communication on a variety of faith topics, and are enhancing our Web site as a source
of information as well as a place where individuals can visit to help grow in their spiritual
life. These tools also enable our parishioners to invite others into the Parish. Ministry
in this area involves identifying faith-related topics for evangelization and/or the actual production of these various tools.

Inviting
Another area being explored and further developed is a formal process for inviting
parishioners who have been away, back to the Church, and back to parish life. We
are looking at ways to target our communications to various audiences, such as
parents of recently baptized and first communicants, recently married couples, and new
parishioners, to name a few. We believe these are captive audiences and provide great
opportunities to reach out in a timely and relevant way. Ministry in this area may involve
phone calls, letter-writing or even personal visits.  Margie Mandli is the ministry leader.