Parish Mission Statement

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As we begin an exciting new academic year and teachers are handing out their semester syllabi, the parish leadership and I wanted to give you our own sneak preview of sorts of the upcoming autumn. 
 
Of particular importance is the soon-to-be promulgated Parish Mission Statement, which is an important tool to understand who we are and where we are going as one Nativity community.

While there have been a couple short-lived taglines or mottos used in our long parish history, there has never been a formal, rigorously articulated mission statement to guide our vision and decisions.

Note that we are in no way attempting to shift our parish’s history and aims, but rather spell them out and understand them better.
 
The mission statement initiative began back in 2013 with your valuable response to our parish survey. After that, the Pastoral Council, made up of generous lay volunteers, consulted extensively with the Men’s Club, NCCW, School Advisory Board, staff, and others to identify key elements in formulating the mission statement in dialogue with me as pastor.
 
Thus, the mission statement should feel familiar to us, while at the same time inspiring us to be Nativity at its best, if you will, centered on what is most important to us and ever faithful to the mission of Jesus Christ alive in the Catholic Church and in this parish in particular.

We hope that articulating our mission will give us renewed unity and transparency as we continue to hand on the treasure given to us.
 
And so, without further ado, I present to you the Nativity of Our Lord Parish Mission Statement:
   
In mid-October, we will further examine the mission together in more detail and hear from the Pastoral Council directly about the fruits of their prayer, consultations, research, and drafting.

But for now, I invite you to think and pray with this mission and identify your own story at Nativity within it, especially as we celebrate the Lord’s goodness and blessings at next weekend’s Nativity County Fair.
 

Pointing to the Future

Lastly, as mentioned above, the mission statement provides an opportunity for good conversations to take place, so I want to put on your radar three weekends this fall when we will be discussing parish vision, leadership, communication, and best practices.
 
On September 29, we will address from the pulpit what makes our community a healthy and safe environment, where everyone is both welcomed and also held to a high standard.

Our aim is to clearly describe why, in the midst of much turmoil and broken trust from ordained leaders within the global Church, we at Nativity are confident in being part of the solution and moving forward in fidelity to Christ in his Church.

We will also review best practices to ensure we remain a community built on trust, so that you can be confident investing yourself and your family’s time, talent, and treasure here.
 
October 12 will be our Mission Statement introduction weekend. We will hear from our Pastoral Council about the elements of the mission statement, as well as some of the new practices in our governance that will provide even greater communication and transparency about the issues and decisions they help navigate on a monthly basis. For more information, please contact the council chair, Andrew Latham, at latham@macalester.edu.
 
October 19 will bring us an update about the One Nativity 2035 initiative, which is a new strategic team of parishioners charged with communicating, bolstering, and sustaining our parish mission into the future.  For more information on their work, contact committee co-chairs Gerald Brennan or Erik Thurman through the parish office at (651) 696-5401 or info@nativity-mn.org.
 
Thank you for your continued faith in Our Lord and his Church and for your continued commitment to this parish. May God continue to bless our Nativity parish community, and may God bless your week.
 
Fr. Patrick Hipwell, Pastor

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Originally published in the September 8, 2019 parish bulletin