To gain a better understanding of how our two parish families, St. John the Evanglist and St. Mary, came together on June 2, 2015 to form the Chelmsford Catholic Collaborative, it would serve us well to go back to the beginning...
Disciples in Mission is the Pastoral Plan promulgated by Cardinal Seán O’Malley in 2012 based on the recommendations of the Pastoral Planning Commission. It was founded on the recognition that our parishes are Eucharistic communities of God’s faithful people, entrusted with carrying out the mission given by Jesus Christ to the Church. Each element of this proposed plan is a means for enabling parish communities to fulfill the Gospel mission. It seeks to revitalize the Church in Boston by positioning our parishes more solidly for the task of evangelization, the work of reaching out to our brothers and sisters and drawing them more fully to Christ Jesus. It discovered options for leadership structures such as the innovative models of Pastoral Teams and Parish Collaboratives, which take advantage of greater collaboration and strengthen the Catholic communion through a unified pastoral vision.
In early 2016, a team of parishioners from each parish family met together for just ove a year to author the Pastoral Plan for our collaborative.... a critical piece commissioned by the Disciples in Mission to each Collaborative to ensure its success. It was approved by the Cardinal in June, 2017.
For more information, please visit the Disciples in Mission website.