The Four Pillars in Faith Area Catholic Community and two other ACCs met with Bishop Patrick Neary, CSC on February 28, 2024 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Saint Cloud as part of the Pastoral Visits co-sponsored by the Planning Office of the Diocese of Saint Cloud and the Bridge Builders for a Thriving Mission Initiative funded through the Lily Foundation.

 

Pastoral Visits with Bishop Neary for each of the 29 ACCs in the Diocese of Saint Cloud are planned from November 2023 through July 2024. Three or four ACCs will each take turns once a month coming to St. Mary’s Cathedral. A team of up to ten people, not including clergy, representing each parish in the ACC are to come for the day to share about their ACC and to listen and learn from other’s ACC. The goals for the pastoral visits are:

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• To build bridges for a thriving mission across parishes in an ACC.

• To develop ACCs as learning communities.

• To offer radical hospitality to nurture relationships between Bishop Neary, the diocesan staff and ACC pastoral leadership.

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The day included a welcoming by Bishop Neary, the celebration of the Eucharist, presentations by each Area Catholic Community, lunch, and presentations on the Synodal Listening Process, and Bridge Builders for a Thriving Mission.

To help prepare for our presentation, our ACC Pastoral Council invited all members of our Four Pillars in Faith Area Catholic Community to participate in a survey in January. The purpose of the survey was to gather parishioner feedback, improve communication, and work to meet our ACC Mission.

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 "The Four Pillars in Faith Area Catholic Community, grounded and united in our love of Jesus Christ, seeks to know, love, and serve God through sacraments, prayer, education, hospitality, stewardship, and evangelization of our communities."

 

The survey results, PowerPoint and video presentation given to Bishop Neary are below.