St Vincent’s Ashfield

1. Parish Plan 2016-2021 St Vincent’s Ashfield Prepared by Parish Pastoral Council, November 2016

2. Purpose of the Plan The Parish Pastoral Council is preparing the plan to: 1. Provide a structure to consider and address issues over the next five years 2. Assess current strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities 3. Identify key goals and actions that will affect allocation of effort and resources over next five years 4. Understand factors that may influence how the Parish can address these issues 5. Measure and report on outcomes of efforts to achieve these goals and actions.

3. Vision Statement “We, the parish community of St Vincent’s, with a genuine sense of belonging, strive to follow the example of Christ and spread the Vincentian spirit throughout the Ashfield district.”

4. Mission Statement Our mission is to: • Nurture and enrich Catholic values within the St Vincent’s faith community; • Encourage and promote a connected, inclusive and welcoming parish; and • Inspire and empower the faith community to respond to the needs of our parish and the wider community.

5. Three circles of the plan Community outreach Welcoming, inclusive parish Faithformation Three concentric circles express the three mission statements. At the centre is our faith, expanding outwards into a welcoming, inclusive parish life where faith is nurtured and strengthened – and finally extending faith and parish life into broader community.

6. Unpacking the Vision and Mission • The Vision Statement expresses the overarching vision of what the Parish sees itself as specific to its faith, history, location and membership • The Mission Statement establishes three broad areas of action and activity to give effect to the Vision. It sets out three strategies to realise and support the Vision • The Mission is a call to action, and leads to a number of concrete goals and actions • The Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) has engaged the Parish over a two year period to identify what we are doing well, where we are not doing so well, and ideas/strategies to: (a) build on successes and strengths (b) address weaknesses and failures (c) identify threats and opportunities • The PPC has undertaken its own discernment process, provided feedback to the Parish on a draft of the Vision and Mission Statement, Goals and Actions • A PPC subcommittee has prepared the Plan

7. Facts and Figures of St Vincent’s Parish • St Vincent’s is situated within a dynamic part of Sydney, shaped by increased population, a diversity of cultural and religious backgrounds, and shifts in social and economic influence • These external factors impact on the nature of the parish and catholic identity within the district, presenting threats and opportunities to faith formation, parish life, and the place of the parish within the broader community

8. Weekend Mass Attendance • (Average from Mass Count in May 2016) • 8am - 115 • 9am - 76 (Cardinal Freeman Village) • 10am - 230 • 12pm - 123 (Polish Catholic Community) • 6pm - 195

9. Languages • Languages: • Arabic: 183 • Burmese 2 • Chinese languages 261 • Croatian 73 • English 2109 • Filippino 365 • French 20 • German 5 • Greek 1 • Hindi 11 • Hungarian 14 • Indonesian and Malay 64 • Italian 429 • Korean 41 • Lebanese 19 • Maltese 15 • Oceanic and Papuan languages 10 • Polish 130 • Portuguese 14 • Spanish 201 • Ukrainian 9 • Vietnamese 36 • Other European languages 21 • Other Asian languages 88 • Other languages 9 • ID/Non-verbal/NS 60

10. Numbers of Single, Married, divorced, Widowed, seperated • No Data 1628 • Divorced 52 • Married 1837 • Single 1416 • Widowed 133 • Seperated 42

11. Ages • 1-10 98 • 11-20 181 • 21-30 521 • 31-40 569 • 41-50 387 • 51-60 456 • 61-70 373 • 71-80 211 • 81-90 219 • 91-100 156 • 100t 1 • No Data 1818

12. Ministries Report • Acolytes 8 • Altar Servers 19 • Altar Society 7 • Catechists 8 ( plus 23 assistant catechists) • Children's Liturgy 14 • Choirs: • 8am 3 • 10am 8 • 6pm 50 • Counters (Collections) 10 • Finance Committee 6 • Hospitality Group 1 • Ministers of the Eucharist 34 • Parish Pastoral Council 12 • Prayer Groups: • Charismatic 15 • Cenacle of the Marian Movement of Priests 2 • RCIA 6 • Readers (Lectors) 30 • St Vincent de Paul Society 9 • Wardens (Collectors) 11

13. SWOT

14. Plan Framework Mission Statement Priority 2 Welcoming and inclusive parish community Priority 3 Inspire and empower community to reach out to broader community Priority 1 Faith formation and growth GOALS GOALS GOALS ACTIONS ACTIONS ACTIONS

15. Priorities  Goals Priority 1 – Faith formation and growth Goals • Engage Catholic youth aged 12-18 years • Reach out to the isolated, sick and elderly 3. Build faith-centred activities for the parish

16. Priorities  Goals Priority 2 – welcoming and inclusive parish Goals 4. Welcome new and existing parishioners 5. Celebrate the cultural diversity of parish 6. Host social activities that build community

17. Priorities  Goals Priority 3 – reaching out into the community Goals • Boost the presence of parish in wider community • Engage with decision makers in the community 8. Improve dialogue with other faiths, denominations

18. ACTION PLAN

19. Goal 1 – Engage Catholic youth aged 12-18

20. Goal 2 - Reach out to isolated, sick and elderly

21. Goal 3 - Build faith-centred activities for parish

22. Goal 4 – Help parishioners know each other better

23. Goal 5 - Welcome new and existing parishioners

24. Goal 6 - More effective use of social media to improve internal and external communication/awareness of parish life

25. Goal 7 – increased awareness of social justice issues

26. Goal 8 – reach out to decision makers

27. Goal 9 – Improve dialogue with other faiths, denominations

28. EVALUATION • This plan will guide the time and resources of the Parish over the next five years • A plan needs to be actively managed and evaluated as to successes, failures and barriers to achieving goals and actions • From 2020, the Parish Pastoral Council will undertake a formal evaluation of the Plan, its goals and actions, and whether they were achieved, remain relevant and/or need to be amended.