A Commitment
The Church of St. Anne’s in Wausau, Wisconsin recently celebrated its 60th Anniversary.  At one point during those sixty years, a Covenant Statement was created for members of the parish.  This statement is given to every newcomer to the parish as an articulation of the commitment parishioners make to one another.  This is the Covenant they make:

The Covenant
I pledge to you, my family of faith, to live the Gospel with love and courage. 

I will celebrate Eucharist with you regularly, and with God’s help, I will open my heart, mingling my life with yours.  I pray that we will enter into a deep and holy communion with one another.

I will celebrate the sacred moments of life with you: the Baptisms of our children, their First Communions and Confirmations.  One day we may celebrate their weddings here.

I will walk with you through the illness and death of your loved ones.  And I will support you through the days of grief that follow.

I will help provide a rich environment for us to grow in.  At home, if I am blessed with children, I will be the faith leader.  In the parish, I will support the spiritual growth of all our households by supporting our Catholic School System and our Faith Formation Programs.

I will live out my faith in the world, using my position in life as a means to bring about Christ’s Kingdom. 

I will support and encourage you to live out your baptismal call to carry on the mission of Christ.  Together we will work for a more just and peaceful world.

I will be an active member of this faith community, sharing my gifts of time, talent and treasure to the extent I am able.

An Ideal
This Covenant of Membership was read aloud by the congregation at all of the weekend Masses the week of the parish’s anniversary.  It was an act of faith and commitment made by all present.  This Covenant, of course, is an ideal to work towards, a dream that the leadership holds out to all who consider themselves members of St. Anne’s.  It is also an articulation of what the parish community can become, a model of what belonging to the parish entails.  It serves as a challenge and incentive to the entire membership.  Fr. Steve Brice, current pastor of St. Anne’s, mentioned that the value of introducing the Covenant to new parishioners was that it “brings to the surface the spiritual dimensions of the richness and depth of what it means to become part of St. Anne’s community.  It is so much more than giving newcomers forms to fill out or envelopes to use for their contributions.”

Tom Sweetser, SJ & Peg Bishop, OSF
www.pepparish.org
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Parish Newsletter - December, 2009
A Service of the Parish Evaluation Project
Milwaukee, Wisconsin