Madison’s St. Vincent Martyr Parish readies its post-pandemic future

MADISON  St. Vincent Martyr Parish here took advantage of the increased time for prayer and reflection that the COVID-19 lockdown afforded to dream up ways to refine — and even innovate and revitalize — the ways it evangelizes the Gospel as New Jersey emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.

Emboldened and enlivened, St. Vincent’s expects to unveil in September a comprehensive plan that will offer specific ways that the parish will move forward in worship, formation, and outreach in the post-COVID-19 era. As part of larger processes, staff and volunteers have been sifting through lots of recent data that will help them formulate that plan. They include the responses of a survey that asked 72 faithful for their pastoral priorities, as they participated in a “listening session” on May 23, Pentecost Sunday, said Msgr. George Hundt, St. Vincent’s.

“At St. Vincent’s, we have emerged from this pandemic transformed, thanks to God’s grace. Now, we need to decide how St. Vincent’s will move into what we need to be in the future,” Msgr. Hundt said. This latest effort to revitalize St. Vincent’s finds its roots in “Envision: Planning Our Parish Future,” a process that the parish embarked on soon after he was named pastor in 2009. It enabled the faithful to help chart a new vision — a new future — for the parish and implement an ambitious plan to inspire this already vibrant faith community to expand further its reach in evangelizing, he said. “This is a collaborative way of planning with a lot of input from lay leadership. It is so alive now. It’s an exciting time in the parish,” Msgr. Hundt said.

Called “Exploring the Vision,” this part of the St. Vincent’s planning process started in 2019, when 500 parishioners filled out survey with their suggestions for general pastoral priorities for the future, said Jan Figenshu, St. Vincent’s pastoral associate. The survey netted the following five recommendations:

• Continue to use technology in new ways. After the survey, St. Vincent’s has started doing that at the beginning of lockdown in March last year.

• Improve communication within the parish — with both staff and parishioners — and to the outside community.

• Improve St. Vincent’s outreach to young adults, young couples, and young parents.

• Develop ways for St. Vincent’s to bring the Gospel into the home. People were spiritually hungry for them, during the pandemic.

• Develop ways for members of the parish to grow in “spiritual maturity.”

For the “listening session” on Pentecost,” parishioners — young and old and from all walks of life — signed up ahead of time and then either came to the church or logged onto Zoom videoconferencing to participate. They sat six people to a table and shared ideas in response to ten questions, such as “What is your dream for the parish?” or “How can we improve?” Afterward, a member of each group placed its ideas on a board, which the entire gathering then voted on — more specific suggestions of ways for St. Vincent’s to “be parish” that refine the general pastoral priorities from the 2019 survey. One table consisted of members of St. Vincent’s Latino community, Figenshu said.

“There were many older parishioners at the ‘listening session’ but it was encouraging to see so many young people. Since the pandemic, they have been stepping up more,” said Figenshu, noting that St. Vincent’s held the “listening session” exactly 12 years since it embarked on Envision, starting on Pentecost Sunday in 2009.

Through Envision, a comprehensive, results-driven planning process, St. Vincent’s invited extensive discussions with every sector of the parish community. It resulted in a renewed understanding of stewardship which eventually saw the parish initiating two major capital projects, said Msgr. Hundt.

In 2016, the parish finished a $2 million, two-story addition to St. Vincent Martyr School. It provided six more classrooms and much-needed breathing room for an upper-grade student population that had grown fourfold since the re-establishment of the middle school grades. In 2017, St. Vincent’s completed the $5.340 million renovation of the interior of its 111-year-old stone Gothic Revival church to improve the worship experience of its parishioners and greatly improve handicapped accessibility to the building, Msgr. Hundt said.

“Envision has allowed us to look at the entire parish and school — what’s good and where we still need to grow. It also gives everyone a voice in the process of change.” Msgr. Hundt told The Beacon in 2011.

The “Exploring the Vision” part of the process started with the survey in 2019 and continued in 2020, St. Vincent’s invited the California-based Parish Catalyst for a three-day visit to the parish for a series of workshops and listening sessions. This Catholic non-profit helps parishes to experience renewal through a process of collaborative learning and strategic planning, according to its website, https://www.parishcatalyst.org.

To formulate a comprehensive plan for September, St. Vincent’s Pastoral Council, Stewardship Council, and staff will compile the data from the Parish Catalyst visit, the 2019 survey and the “listening session” on Pentecost. “Exploring the Vision” has been guided by the theme: “Gifted, Grateful, Giving, and Growing.” The unveiling of the plan in September will be followed by an event to “celebrate” the parish in October, said Msgr. Hundt.

One “listening day” participant on Pentecost was John Sobala, 41, a married father of two young girls, who are students of St. Vincent’s School. He is involved in teaching faith formation, as a team member for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, as a member of the Stewardship Council, and as part of the Living Stations of the Cross.

“I thought it was important for St. Vincent’s to focus on ministries to young families and go deeper into the faith: the saints, the Eucharist, and the Blessed Virgin Mary,” Sobala said. “As a parish, we need to let people know that we are out there. We need help families with faith formation at home and also inspire the laity to take more initiative to live a life of stewardship. We are all called to that,” he said.