June 22, 2025
My dear Kirkland Catholics,
This is an update on Partners in the Gospel. The Parish Family Advisory Council (PFAC) is up and running and has met in May and in June. The members include the chairs of all the major commissions: Michele Ahearn (Evangelization), Dave Almond (Finance Council SJV), Holly Chan (Finance Council HFK), William Devereux (Pastoral Council HFK), Joan Sullivan (Pastoral Council SJV), Toni Poppe (School Commission HFK); and then five other very active members of our parish family: Mary Torbenson, Veronica Bernabe, Colin Radford, David Guerrero Del Rio and Manny Baluyot. This group’s role is to help to discern what the Lord desires for our parish family; who we are, how we need to grow, and what parish life will look like when we become one new Parish around the summer of 2027. We are tasked with creating “The One Parish Plan” which will go to the Archbishop and Presbyteral Council in the fall of 2027.
How do we get there? Well, very soon we will begin our work in earnest, and we need everyone’s support and input. If you care about your parish, you need to be involved. Beginning these first couple weeks of June (you may have already heard of this by the time you read this column) we are starting with the “census” and hope it will not have the repercussions of King David’s census (2 Samuel 24, I am kidding: no plagues I promise!). We are asking one member of each of our households to complete this census to get us initial data points. Later this summer, we will roll out the “survey” which we are hoping every individual confirmation-age and older will take. We will actually do this survey at Mass one weekend to get as much data as possible. Both the census and the survey will be widely shared on the website and through parish communications while we do each of them. These data dumps to the PFAC will begin to give this group what we need to discern next steps. Listening sessions will commence in the fall. Please stay informed and participate, and please continue to pray for our parish family and especially for leadership – that with humility and wisdom we can find the path the Lord is tracing for us!
With love in Christ,
Fr. Brad