Cluster #25 consists of the following parishes: St. Andre, St. Joseph, St. Mary, St. Philip, St. Margaret, Notre Dame and Most Holy Trinity Churches.

The Cluster's mission is to choose one of the four models that are detailed by the Diocese in "Telling Anew the Story of Jesus" by next June and to form a plan on how to implement the model in the next five (5) years. This is a daunting task and your input is vital to those who are representing your parish and all the parishes in the Cluster. Our mission is to find a model that will serve all Catholics in our Cluster for the foreseeable future and to realize that we will be a stronger Catholic community for it.

The Cluster group is meeting every three weeks at a different parish location. The meetings being with a tour of the facilities for those who are interested. The Cluster group will be publishing a summary of the meetings as a way to keep all parishioners of the the Cluster involved in the New Evangelization process.

Members of the Cluster #25 committee are:

The first task of the Cluster group is to gather data of all the parishes in our Cluster. The end of the year June 2005 Financial Reports of each parish were distributed and explained to the members by the parish bookkeepers at the last two meetings. A financial report of all the parishes has been compiled into a spreadsheet format for the group to more easily identify the financial assets and needs of the Cluster.

Clearly, finances are only part of the picture. The next step was to put together a survey regarding buildings & properties, population, liturgy schedules, personnel and staff, schools and religious education programs, faith formation and outreach ministries, and to answer the question: "What makes your parish unique and special?" The Cluster group created such a survey which has been filled out by each parish, and this too will be put in a spreadsheet format to make the information easier to read and process. This information will help identify the pastoral needs of our Cluster.

The Cluster group decided that each parish will form a Communications Committee, whose task is to find the best way to convey information form the Cluster meetings to the parishioners, and to ensure that parishioners are given identical and accurate information. The Committee's mission is also to find ways to elicit comments from parishioners, and transfer that information back to the Cluster committee for use at its meetings. Watch for a summary of the "Telling Anew the Story of Jesus", and a questionnaire that will be passed out at the weekend masses in the next few weeks. The Cluster group will also be arranging parish meetings to begin after the holidays, to keep an open dialogue between the Cluster group members and the diocese.

Many of the Cluster members recently attended a statewide day of prayer, reflection and learning regarding the New Evangelization. Bishop Malone addressed the group and urged a commitment to the movement of envisioning what our future church will look like - determining what gifts each parish brings to the Cluster, and how we can preserve those gifts in the New Evangelization.

With change comes fear and anxieties, but also opportunity for growth. All the members of the Cluster committee look forward to working with all parishioners of the Cluster to confront and manage those fears and anxieties, and find ways to seize upon the opportunities for growth to the benefit of all Catholics in this faith community. The Cluster committee members ask for your help and prayers to accomplish this goal.