PFAC Help Needed
A key group in the Partners in the Gospel process is the “Parish Family Advisory Committee” or “PFAC”. The Archdiocese wisely noted that the Pastor and parish staff will be overwhelmed by trying to keep parish life running smoothly in our new parish configurations and that neither the Pastor or parish staff will have the bandwidth to take on something so new and so large as Partners in the Gospel. Instead, every parish family is supposed to have a lay committee of volunteers (the PFAC) who spearhead the Partners process.
Our PFAC is currently working to plan, advertise, and run our first run of official Partners listening sessions (focused on the question of “Who are we?”, i.e., what is and is not currently working at our parishes). They are hoping to hold these listening sessions in October.
However, as they have been diving into this work, they are realizing that they are a little short staffed and they need some extra help. Specifically, they would really like:
- New members from Blaine, Lummi, or Sacred Heart, all of which are underrepresented. (If you are not from these communities, please still apply!)
- Members who are particularly good at writing, editing, and summarizing. (The PFAC has to take all of the feedback at the listening sessions, digest it, summarize it, and report it back to our parishioners.)
The workload for this committee is a 2-hour meeting every other week, plus some at-home work. The benefit is taking ownership of a process that is going to affect our church life for decades to come, and to know that you had a hand in giving parishioners a voice in such an important process.
If you have questions, the current members of the PFAC are:
- Bernie Hilgart (St. Peter)
- Jesus Hurtado (St. Joseph Lynden)
- Lacey de Lange (St. Peter)
- Gordon Plotts (St. Joseph, Lynden)
- Mary Williamson (St. Peter)
- Sonja Wolf (St. Joseph, Ferndale)
- Bill Zang (Assumption)
98.77%
I have recently been having some very helpful discussions with a group of parishioners about evangelization. In the course of those conversations, I calculated a number that is really fueling me right now.
Our May Mass counts tell us that an average of 2,885 people attend Mass in one of our churches each Sunday. The current estimate of Whatcom County’s population is 234,954. Meaning that 1.23% of Whatcom County attends Mass each weekend. Further meaning that 98.77% of Whatcom County does not attend Mass each weekend. That is 98.77% of our neighbors without access to the Holy Sacrifice of the Eucharist or preaching based in the truth of the Church.
I have started thinking about this number everywhere I go – when I am at the store, when I am on the road, when I am going out to eat. In a sense, this makes evangelization here easier than almost anywhere else in the country because, statistically, every single person you speak to in Whatcom County needs to hear the saving message of Jesus and to receive the grace of the Eucharist. We do not have to go looking for people. They are literally 98.77% of our neighbors.
Fr. Moore 