Our Vision

We see Worship as the primary purpose of the Church, the source and summit of all the Church does. Our churches overflow with people at Mass because of the tremendous irresistible summons of God the Father. We come to offer our lives to God in gratitude and surrender.

The Mass is a transformative experience that draws us into union with Jesus Christ to the Father through the Holy Spirit and with the earthly and heavenly community gathered. We believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic Bread and Wine. The homilies are guided by the Holy Spirit and are inspiring, challenging and relevant.

Children desire to come to Sunday morning Masses where there is a breaking open of the Word of God at their level. People experience great beauty in liturgy — in architecture, light, gesture, silence, music and art. This beauty symbolises the Sacred Presence of God and has an evangelising power.

We have a beautiful culture of hospitality, welcome and connection. Preceding Mass people are greeted as they enter; after Mass the community’s connection with God is echoed in their connection with one another. Outside of Mass, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in Adoration continues our intimate encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist.

Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation people seek forgiveness and healing. Everyone is engaged in personal and communal prayer — Sacred Scripture, praise and worship, Lectio Divina, the Divine Office, Rosary, Divine Mercy and Stations of the Cross. After Sunday Mass people seek prayer from prayer teams to be filled with the Holy Spirit for discernment and healing.

We live out a culture of evangelisation answering God’s call to “go therefore and make disciples”. This is core to our identity as a parish. Every member of the parish has had an encounter with Jesus Christ like the woman at the well.

As disciples of Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are intentional and deliberate through the proclamation of the kerygma — communicating God’s ‘Love Story’, sharing the Good News through words and deeds. As an Easter people we are witnesses willing to share that “we have seen the Lord”.

We have a “missionary impulse” that transforms everything, so that our customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures are all channelled toward evangelisation. Discipleship pathways ensure events, activities and programmes have evangelisation at heart.

We are equipped and have the courage to witness to our faith — sharing personal testimonies, talking about the Lord with our children, and witnessing in our schools. Through prayer we recognise, invite and trust the Holy Spirit as the principal agent of evangelisation. When people ask us to pray for them, we offer to pray for them there and then.

We all have the kerygma at the heart of our formation as disciples — the joyful proclamation of Jesus, a living person to be encountered, whose life, death and resurrection has revealed God’s saving love and mercy.

We have a culture of ongoing formation that is intentional, encouraging and challenging. We are all life-long students striving to become saints, especially meeting together in small groups. We live out the universal call to holiness conscious of the four pillars of formation:

• Human formation — growing in good habits, virtues and character; identifying God-given gifts; a disposition of joy.
• Spiritual formation — deepening relationship with God through personal and communal prayer; spiritual direction.
• Intellectual formation — hunger to learn traditions, scriptures, theology and the sacraments.
• Pastoral formation — accompanying, caring and supporting our neighbour as the face of Christ.

We especially seek to grow our youth and families as disciples. Intentional discipleship pathways include RCIA, spiritual direction formation, testimonies, leadership development, courses, seminars and retreats. We are ultimately developing a deepening personal relationship with Christ — becoming saints.

As the Baptised we are all members of a divine household of New Plymouth Parish where we belong and are known and loved. We are all together because we have been called by God. We are not defined by our differences, but that we are all children of God, brothers and sisters.

We are welcoming of people who are unchurched, itinerant, strangers, orphaned and widowed. We meet people where they are at. We are a lighthouse to the people of New Plymouth — people outside our community will see how much we love each other, a supernatural love that comes from God.

We are a community of communities, a family of families on mission with one another. Small groups intentionally meet for the building of faith, belonging, and encouraging gifts and charisms. Our families are our domestic churches. Our schools and colleges are an integral extension of our parish community, together forming disciples of Jesus Christ.

We are a parish where all parishioners are actively involved in ministry — practically through service and spiritually through liturgy and prayer — to those in need within our parish and out to the highways and byways. We help each other discover God-given gifts and serve together as one body.

We support and nurture marriage and family life. The elderly are valued and honoured, with barriers to participation removed. The homebound are visited, transported to liturgies, receive Holy Communion, and participate through the live-streaming of Masses.

We integrate people from many cultures, connect with migrants and refugees, and hold a common commitment to justice. Everyone in our parish is safe and protected. We care for children and families; those suffering, sick and grieving; the poor and vulnerable; and those with special needs — especially through Caritas and the Society of St Vincent de Paul.

Leaders in parish life are called to discern and present a compelling vision of how the parish can cooperate with the Holy Spirit to continue Jesus’ mission today, and call others to bring that vision to life.

We make concrete plans with an annual calendar that aligns the events and activities of all groups and communities. Decision-making is founded in discerning prayer and active listening. The Parish Pastoral Council provides strategic direction and governance; the Leadership Team supports the Parish Priest in wise decisions; the Finance Committee and other groups steward buildings and finance.

We have a leadership pipeline — deliberate formation of leaders of all ages across worship, evangelisation, discipleship, service and fellowship. Parents are equipped as ‘domestic church’ leaders. Parish leaders work with school leaders for unity and fellowship. Clear processes support journeying with new parishioners and identifying charisms and talents.