Commissions & Committees

St. Julia Parish is blessed with many parishioners who give selflessly of their time and talent to enhance the spiritual lives of our faith community. Listed here are the councils and commissions that oversee the multitude of activities happening throughout the Parish.

PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL

The Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) serves as the chief advisory body, working closely with the pastor, the parish staff and the Parish Finance Council, in order to articulate the concerns and identify the unique vision of this parish. The PPC meets ten times per year from September through June. Adult members of the council are nominated from the parish community and are appointed each spring for a term of three years. A youth member is chosen annually. Council meetings are public and all parishioners are welcome to attend them. Contact our Parish Office if you are interested in joining!

DISCIPLES IN MISSION: PASTORAL PLANNING TEAM

A Plan for the Future of Our Parish (Jan. 2020)

“What is the first thing you recommend that we work on to help us envision how we can make St. Julia Parish in Weston/Lincoln, a more vibrant, spiritually rich community?”

In 2017, St. Julia Parish entered into an archdiocese–wide process of growth and transformation at the parish level. This process is called “Disciples in Mission” and is guided by Cardinal Seán’s pastoral letter: A New Pentecost: Inviting All to Follow Jesus. The goal of the process is reinvigorate all of the parishes of the archdiocese through an increased emphasis on making disciples and on evangelization.

Our next steps as a parish are to grow in understanding of what discipleship and evangelization look like. There will be trainings during this period from the Archdiocese that aim to give us a common language and skills for living out discipleship and evangelization in our parish. Over the next months, a team of plan writers will be formed to write a pastoral plan that will guide our parish for three years (2019–2022). The plan will have a particular emphasis on evangelization and forming adult disciples. Everyone in the parish is invited to grow in their understanding of these concepts and contribute to the building up of our parish community through this process.

What’s a disciple?

The Latin forebear of disciple is discipulus, meaning student, and this is a simple definition for a disciple. He or she is one who is a student of Jesus. But in the Christian context, there is a deeper meaning of student than we have in the modern age. A disciple is more of an apprentice of Jesus than one who merely shows up to class or reads books. A disciple spends time with Jesus, learns how Jesus operates, observes how he acts, strives to master Jesus’ Way, follows Jesus through thick and thin. The disciple does this through prayer, worship, service, community life, and study.

Wait, Catholics, evangelizing? That doesn’t sound right…

People evangelize all the time. I bet that includes you! Imagine the last time you were excited about a new restaurant or app or television show that was “life–changing”. Or maybe you’re a “zealot” for a particular health regimen or for environmental action. Evangelization happens when a person experiences something as so meaningful, so life–changing, of such ultimate importance, that they can’t keep it to themselves. It has to be shared.

Many people’s picture of evangelization includes fire & brimstone, street preachers, uncomfortable knocks on the door, and pamphlets forced upon them. These images do NOT depict Catholic approaches to evangelization. The Greek root of evangelization is evangel, “Good News”, and Good News ought to feel good for the sharer and the receiver! The first step in becoming an evangelizing Catholic is to reflect on how Jesus is “Good News” in your own life. What about your faith has been meaningful, life–changing or of ultimate importance to you?

Catholic evangelization is about building relationships and strengthening friendships. It’s about respecting the other and sharing the Gospel when it is appropriate and meaningful to someone else. It is about offering an invitation to a meaningful, life–changing, absolutely–of–ultimate–importance relationship with Jesus Christ.

In order to create a Pastoral Plan for our parish to be an effective center for the New Evangelization, we need our parishioners to assist us by answering this question: “What is the first thing you would recommend that we work on to help us envision how we can make St. Julia Parish in Weston and Lincoln, a more vibrant, spiritually rich community?”  Please email St.Julia with your important input!

LITURGY COMMISSION

The mission of the Liturgy Commission is to help build the faith life of St. Julia Parish by serving as a resource for the Parish’s liturgical life. Our goal is to encourage and facilitate the full and active participation of the parish community as we worship together. This commission supports the work of the various liturgical ministries in the parish, and supports ongoing liturgical education and formation of its own members and the members of the parish at large. The Liturgy Commission also plans annual special liturgical moments such as the Mass of Remembrance and the Soup & Stations event. The Liturgy commission meets 6 times from September to June.  Please see our parish’s weekly bulletin for updates and current news on the work from the Liturgy Commission.  Contact our Parish staff if you’d like to join or for more information!

PARISH FINANCE COUNCIL

The Parish Finance Council (PFC) serves as a financial advisory body, working closely with the pastor, the parish staff and the Parish Pastoral Council as it provides advice, counsel and oversight concerning the parish property as well as the preparation of the annual parish budget. Members of the PFC are appointed for annual terms and they ordinarily meet four times per year (quarterly).  This enables the Council to monitor our financial health and make recommendations for improvement. Once a year, usually in late May they review revenues and expenses to date and the projected budget for the following year. Members serve to advise and review all matters regarding revenue, expenditures and parish investments.

SOCIAL JUSTICE COMISSION

There are many ways in which the parishioners of St. Julia Parish embrace Christ’s call to serve. The Social Justice Commission serves as an umbrella for the many parish outreach projects, a clearing house for new service opportunities, and as a source of education and communication of our mission as Church to live up to our call to be ‘salt of the earth’.

This group meets in the evenings, once per month, throughout the year.  New members are always welcome!  Please contact Parish staff if you would like to join or if you would like to work with the commission on a particular project.  Also, please refer to the Parish’s weekly bulletins to learn about the Commission’s upcoming meetings, current updates, news or events hosted.

YOUTH MINISTRY COMMISSION

The Youth Ministry Commission is a collaboration of  adults and teens (Middle School through High School) who plan and host events for Youth Ministry at St. Julia Parish outside of our Faith Formation Program. The YMC meets about once every six weeks. Commission members act as key leaders in service, prayer and social events throughout the year. Terms begin in September and continue through one academic year. Contact the Faith Formation staff to join the team today!