Guided by the Holy Spirit, diocese will work on Pastoral Plan in 2018

Most Reverend Michael Mulvey is
bishop of the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

Happy New Year!  May this New Year of 2018 be filled with many graces and peace.  

As has been announced to the entire diocese on the Feast of the Epiphany, we are beginning a Pastoral Plan for the Diocese of Corpus Christi.  The Pastoral Plan will bring us together as a community of Catholic faithful to listen to one another but above all to listen to the Holy Spirit as the grace of God moves among us when we are united in the name of Jesus.  

The Pastoral Plan, as it develops and unfolds over the next few months, will give us not only things to do but also ways to do them. Our Holy Father Pope Francis has continued to stress and bring home to both pastors and faithful that we must listen to one another, to our needs, to our desires, our anxieties and our joys. This we want to do as we find new ways to evangelize and serve. In particular, I hope this plan will help us as priests and bishop to serve you better in the spirit of Jesus, himself. 

Guided by the Holy Spirit, we want to reach out to families and to strengthen family life.  Our youth and young adults want and need to have the faith communicated to them in ways that “makes sense” to them. And those who are estranged from the Church or have never had the grace to know the beauty of God’s love and mercy, we want to welcome and serve them as well. The Pastoral Plan will give us the tools and the spirituality to reach out to these and many others.

I invite you to stay updated regarding the Pastoral Plan throughout the coming months, and above all to participate in whatever way you can either through the listening sessions, in-pew surveys that will be available in your parishes, or by filling out the survey that will be online.  I ask you to pray with me and for me and for the whole diocese as we move forward with this great endeavor. A prayer for the Pastoral Plan is also available to you online or in your parishes. 

Thank you and may the prayer of Jesus, “Father may they all be one so that the world will believe,” become the ultimate goal and reality of our working together to build a Diocesan wide Pastoral Plan that expresses the Church as Missionary Disciples of Jesus Christ.  God bless you and your families throughout the year 2018.