September 15, 2023
Dear Holy Family Parishioners,
This weekend a DRAFT proposal of the parish families throughout the Archdiocese will be announced by the Partners in the Gospel leadership team. Partners in the Gospel is the strategic pastoral planning effort taking place across the Archdiocese of Seattle to re-invigorate and renew our local Catholic Church. Our current proposed parish family is with St. John Vianney in Kirkland (Finn Hill). For the past six months, the Oversight Committee and Presbyteral Council has been through several edits and drafts of parish families. Holy Family has also submitted commentary from our staff and parish councils. It is now time to seek your input, to answer questions, and provide information on this proposed parish family.
The Archdiocese of Seattle website has a tremendous amount of information about Partners in the Gospel. There you will find a Pastoral Letter from Archbishop Etienne, a “Q & A” that answers many questions about this planning effort, and a variety of informational videos. You can also see the proposed families throughout the entire Archdiocese if you are interested. The Partners in the Gospel page also includes an online form where you can provide any input you may have about the proposed family. I will conduct two in-person parish town hall meetings for those interested in learning more about this process and our proposed parish family. The meetings will take place on Wednesday, September 27 from 7-9pm and Saturday, September 30 from 9-11am, both in the Social Hall. This is an opportunity to pray together, learn more about the process, provide some input on our proposed parish family, and look at some of the Eastside deanery families as well.
Again, to remind you of the steps to this project. The final parish families will be promulgated after the new year (approximately January 2024). The parish families will officially form on July 1, 2024, along with all priest assignments. At this time, the two parishes, now a parish family, will begin a three-year process of discernment, starting with getting to know each other better, and then over time, discerning the best way to work together for the spreading of the Gospel in our part of the Archdiocese. It is possible that this process will touch every part of parish life, including staffing, sacraments, evangelization, Catholic schools, faith formation, promoting life and the common good and caring for the poor. After three years we become one new parish, potentially at multiple locations. As you can see, there are a lot of steps to this process, over several years, so your prayer, participation and patience will be important. Thank you everyone for your support and faith throughout all these steps as we look together for the best future of our local Catholic Church, both in our own parish and in the entire Archdiocese. Always trust the good work of the Holy Spirit!
In Christ,
Fr. Bryan Dolejsi, Pastor