Our Vision
In the Vision Statement, we express an image of the ideal that the parish community seeks to exemplify through our faithful living out of the pastoral plan. We are called to make this vision the cornerstone of our thinking, prayer, attitudes and behaviors in our daily living. Take a few minutes to reflect upon three key aspects of this Vision:
How are we a community?
We are all members of the Body of Christ and are called to faithfully support one another and nurture each other’s ongoing development and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Collectively, we are to become God's presence in this world.
How are we to be His disciples?
A disciple of Christ responds to His call to "follow Me" with humility, love, compassion, mercy, patience and forgiveness towards all whom one encounters, especially the most needy and vulnerable.
How are we to be stewards of God's gifts?
All of our blessings, abilities, achievements and opportunities, are gifts from our loving God who is the source of all good. A steward is one who manages these gifts as the Master desires. As stewards, we are responsible for how we respect, appreciate and use our time, talent and treasure.
Our Mission
Built upon the strongest elements of the original Mission Statement adopted in 2002 and updated to reflect new opportunities and directions open to the parish in the coming years, Our Mission expresses why Saint Elizabeth Church exists; it reminds us of our personal and communal identity in Christ and our shared responsibility to give witness to Christ for those around us and for the world at large.
Our Mission articulates the intentions and actions needed to bring Our Vision to life in the everyday circumstances of our families, our neighborhoods, our schools and work places.
Our Mission is rooted in the fundamental affirmation of our identity as followers of Jesus Christ. We are called by the Word of God to welcome and accept Christ as the center of our lives and to celebrate His Death and Resurrection as the source of our eternal salvation.
We warmly invite others to become a living part of the Body of Christ and to share in the sacramental life of the Church. We offer our daily lives as living witnesses to the Gospel, Good News for all humanity!
Our Mission, What does it mean to…
“.... nourish and grow a holy, faithful and vibrant Catholic community...”
Our Mission commits us to take an active role in working together to build up and sustain a parish community that is fully alive, one in which all our parishioners continue to grow in faith and strive for holiness by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
“.... warmly welcome everyone and invite all ...”
Our Mission commits us to open our hearts and minds in welcoming others wherever they are on their spiritual journey and to invite them to come to know, love and follow Jesus Christ. We are charged to reach out to families, children and young adults, middle aged and senior adults, inactive Catholics, and anyone seeking life’s deeper meaning and purpose, for we recognize that everyone needs to experience again and again Christ’s healing love.
“... a stewardship parish, in grateful acknowledgment of God's abundant gifts ...”
Our Mission commits us to receive, gratefully acknowledge, and develop the personal talents and skills God has given to each of us, and then to share these gifts freely and generously in response to the needs of others, both within and beyond the parish community. As disciples of the Lord, we, too, come not to be served, but to serve and to give our lives for the enrichment of others’ lives, with a particular concern for the least of our brothers and sisters.
“Together with the Lord .... With the grace of the Holy Spirit ...”
Our Mission reflects the affirmation of our parish Stewardship Prayer: “all that we have and all that we are” comes from the hand of God the Creator. We proclaim our true identity: not as self- made men and women, but as beloved children of the Father and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. In the words and actions of our daily lives, we give witness to our faith in Jesus and share His mission to realize the Kingdom of God on earth. Striving to keep God at the center of our lives, we rely upon God’s grace to live as faithful disciples of Jesus, our Lord.