Chicagoland

Helps for celebrating Year of Sunday Mass

By Catholic New World
Sunday, February 3, 2013

The second year of the Strategic Pastoral Plan is now underway with a focus on the Sunday Mass.

The goal of the Strategic Pastoral Plan is to engage baptized Catholics more deeply in the life of the church. Year one focused on teens and young adults; year two will focus on Sunday Mass; year three will focus on parents; and year four on the sacraments.

Many parishes have participated in the year by publishing the “One Word at a Time” and “Question of the Week” in their bulletins, on their websites or through their social media efforts. Others have held events around the meaning of Sunday Mass, including “teaching” Masses where parts of the Mass are explained to the congregation.

Various resources for parishes and groups to celebrate the year are available online at www.archchicago.org /StrategicPastoralPlan/SundayMass. Some of those resources include:

Walk Through the Mass: an interactive, inter-generational experience designed to bring people of all ages to a deeper understanding of the Catholic Mass. Through the use of this script, parish leaders will guide participants through gestures, prayers and music of the Mass while offering explanations of why we do what we do at Mass.

Biblical Roots of the Mass: This online series is an in-depth study for adults who want to learn how our modern celebration of the Mass is connected to Scripture. Course is free and available through www.WordMadeClear. org.

Circles of Witness: A parish staff reflection process based on the book, “Bread of Life: Exploring the Presence of Eucharist in Our Lives” by Nancy Polacek and Father Louis J. Cameli.

An Adult Faith Formation Series: “Dies Domini: Keeping the Lord’s Day Holy” is a six-week series for adults based on the 1998 Apostolic Letter of John Paul II, “Dies Domini.”

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