Our Parish Vision
The Vision of the Church of St Anthony is the long term direction set by the Parish Pastoral Council after taking into account inputs from the Parish Assembly and the parish priest. In 2012, the vision of was revised to read:
“A Participative Christ-centred Community of Disciples Building the Kingdom of God.”
Prior to August 2012, the previous vision was just, “A Participative Christ-centred Community.” Notice that the revised vision now includes discipleship and Kingdom building and is more complete.
The revised vision really summarises our calling as baptised Catholics. Our faith is not a personal faith but is meant to be in community. Baptism inserts us into the Catholic Church together with the rest of our brothers and sisters. 1 Cor tells us that the church is the Body of Christ and Christ is the head. It also tells us that each of us is given gifts and talents by the Spirit according to His purpose so that we complement each other in the community and that we can’t do without each other.
What We Believe
It is therefore clear that we are called to participate and as the Body of Christ, we are centred on the head, Jesus Christ. Being centred on Him means that we must follow his teachings faithfully.
Christ sent His disciples to the ends of the earth to spread the Good News and make disciples of the nations. We too are his disciples and we too are tasked with doing both. By spreading the Word of God and by bringing others to Him, we become workers in His vineyard; we share in building His Kingdom here on earth.
Our Parish Mission
The Mission of the Church of St Anthony is the action to be taken to move the Church of St Anthony towards the Vision. While the vision is the same for the long term, the mission statement changes as the church progresses towards achieving its vision. The current mission statement was changed in 2011 to read:
“To invite and facilitate God-encounters and to build Christ-centred communities.”
This mission statement recognises that God is the only one who can bring about true conversion in hearts and to point us to the narrow path that leads to Him. He helps us cut through all the distractions and false values that this world throws at us and shows us our true calling and our real purpose in life.
With God encounters, the rest of the vision will slowly come to be. We will start to have more participation in community and awareness of the values and teachings of Jesus Christ. As we develop a deeper relationship with God, we become bolder and confident in our beliefs and start to share our Faith with others.
We become more empowered to do things for good of others that are outside the limits of our comfort zone. The work of PPC and EXCO is focussed on inviting and facilitating God encounters as part of the process of achieving the vision.
Moving Towards Our Vision with the 3 Key Thrusts
The Parish Pastoral Council identified 3 key thrusts from the Vision and Mission statements which must be included in all activities planned by the church to ensure that our efforts actually move us towards our Vision. In this way, the Vision statement does not become a dead slogan but something the church works actively towards.
The 3 Key Thrusts are:
- Forming Disciples
- Facilitating God Encounters
- Growing Community Bonds
All parish level activities are planned using a Planning Template which helps our planners consider what needs to be done before, during and after an event especially with following up with the people who attend these activities. The template requires the planners to include at least one of the 3 Key Thrusts. The plan for any activity are submitted in advance to EXCO (the Executive arm of the Parish Pastoral Council) and the Parish Priest for review and approval.
Towards the end of each year, the Events Keystone puts together a parish calendar for the following year based on suggestions from the ministries, our priests, EXCO or in accordance with the Liturgical Calendar. This calendar contains all the activities approved for the following year and each activity at the parish level is planning via the planning template.