CHARLOTTE — The largest Catholic church in the United States is set to unveil a new pastoral plan to its 36,250-plus registered parishioners.
Established in 1986 with 600 parishioners, the parish is now spread across two locations, one in southeast Charlotte and one further south in Waxhaw. Its four priests offer 27 Masses every week: 23 Masses between the 1,400-seat main church and daily chapel, one Sunday Mass in the adjacent gymnasium, and three Masses at St. Matthew South in Waxhaw. Its faith formation program has an enrollment of 3,200 students, and the number of parish programs, ministries and small groups now exceeds 100.
As the parish’s current pastoral plan is expiring, the parish council has developed a new pastoral plan to lead the parish through 2021.
The 2019-’21 St. Matthew Pastoral Plan is set to take effect in eight months. Details will be shared with parishioners in the coming weeks.
In preparation for the new pastoral plan, the parish council reviewed the findings of the most recent Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) and Gallup parishioner surveys.
“The planning process has been very thorough,” said Bob Bowles, parish council chairperson. “We directly solicited feedback from our parishioners and members of our parish council, and conducted interviews with our parish staff members and our ministry members as well.”
Father Pat Hoare, who came to St. Matthew Church as pastor last summer, has played an active role in shaping the new pastoral plan. His experience as a longtime parishioner and former youth minister at the parish gives him special insight into the needs of his faith community.
“The process of preparing a pastoral plan has been an invaluable way for me to really get to know St. Matthew as I begin my service here,” Father Hoare said. “Understanding both the parish’s gifts and challenges helps me as pastor to focus on the critical items for our ongoing mission to evangelize and to make disciples.”
“Based on our findings, when we went through the information, our pastoral plan goals became very clear,” Bowles said. “We are going to focus on the spiritual growth of our parishioners as our first goal. The second goal is to work to increase the engagement of our youth, young adults and young families.”
In order to accomplish these two goals, Bowles said, the pastoral plan will include two pillars: facilities and communications. The objectives and action plans of these two pillars will support these two goals, he said.
“We have many objectives set to feed our parishioners spiritually. The staff will be enacting our plan. They have been actively involved. It has been a very collaborative process,” he noted.
He explained that outside the walls, within the parish’s geographic boundaries in southeast Charlotte, they plan “to feed the multitudes and reach out to our parishioners in other ways as well.”
Increasing youth and young adult engagement is something the pastoral council and staff are excited about, Bowles also noted.
“One of our strategies will be to provide events and activities that mentor, teach and develop our youth, young adults and young families. Another strategy is to help them live a life of grace that overflows into the lives of others, through witnessing of service,” he said. “We are going to encounter them through providing social and fellowship opportunities, to provide a welcoming environment to create a real sense of inclusion.”
“It is a very engaged parish,” Bowles said. “There are over 100 ministries. People are involved in the faith. In-creasing the faith and engagement of youth and young adults is one of Father Pat’s priorities. We need to continu-ally feed (our parishioners) as Jesus did when He walked the earth. We can always do better.”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter