I have often heard of a spiritual adage that is attributed to Mother Teresa of Calcutta which states, "God does not call us to be successful, but to be faithful."  That saying carries meaning for me as a priest and as a pastor because I often find myself trying to gauge the fruitfulness of my ministry by successful outcomes rather than the faith that is cultivated by that ministry: Did many parishioners attend this or that function?  Were they visibly affected or express themselves positively?  Did I receive many compliments?.  Such measures of success are the standard means of judging the worthiness of an activity in our capitalistic, economically driven culture.  However, we can't judge the works of our faith as Catholics, nor their goodness, by standards of 'success' as Mother Teresa admonished us.  By all outward appearances, the three years of Jesus' teaching, preaching and healing efforts ended in a crashing failure: his execution on a cross.  God is not calling us to be successful, but faithful.

And yet, having prefaced this message with those thoughts, works of faith can be aided by establishing goals to be attained.  These goals shouldn't be "success benchmarks", but they can offer inspiration for an individual or a community to achieve growth in virtue and holiness; to better meet the needs of their own person or the members of the group.  St. Joseph Parish Council established such goals five years ago in March of 2003.  The council at that time set one, three and five year goals to provide inspiration for the growth of our parish and the growth of our faith as members of this parish.  At the most recent Parish Council meeting, held on Thursday, August 21, parish members of the Council reviewed those goals to see how far we have come in growing as a parish and a place of faith.  I would like to share some of those goals that were set and the results achieved by our parish in striving to meet them.

In 2004, the following one-year goals were accomplished:

- A Building Committee was created to begin the process of planning for the expansion of our parish.  We are seeing the fruits of that committee in our midst today as we consider the design for our expansion that we are hoping to undertake.

- Completing stained glass windows in the church.

- Establishing a maintenance committee.  This committee was established and served the needs of the parish facility until a maintenance/custodian was hired to meet many of those needs.  Eli Dallen served in that role for a number of years, and today, Dave Andes is conscientiously working to preserve the good order and maintenance of our church and school.

- Eucharistic Adoration was expanded to two days a week.

- Stewardship involvement was increased.

In 2006, the following three-year goals were set and achieved:

- Paying off the debt on the current parish facility.  We celebrated the completion of our loan payments just a month after I arrived, in September of 2006.

- Finalizing an expansion plan for the parish.  This occurred a little bit later in 2007.

- Establishing a formal maintenance plan for the care of the church and school complex.  This was begun and is continuing today as Dave Andes has begun creating maintenance logs for such items as lighting systems, appliances and air conditioning units.

- Having a paid Youth Minister on staff. This goal has remained elusive for our parish community.  The feasibility of creating a paid position for youth ministry is challenging given our current budget.  The education and faith-involvement of our young parishioners remains a primary concern for the Parish Council, and I am also keen upon creating interactive opportunities for our children and teens to grow in faith.  This year I'm undertaking to begin a Middle School Youth Group to try to meet a portion of that need.

- Having yearly parish missions.  This was also a one-year goal.  Although that hasn't occured in the last couple of years, I am happy to announce that we are planning a parish mission for early Lent in 2009.  I have located a priest to present the mission, and when his visit is finalized, I will offer further information for the mission.

And, finally, in 2008, the following goals were set:

- Breaking ground for the parish expansion.  While we are close to learning what sort of expansion we will undertake, and while I am hoping, at this writing, to learn any day of what the diocese will offer us in the form of a loan, the chances of a 2008 ground-breaking are slim.  2009 is a more realistic date.

- Having a full-time maintenance person.  This was accomplished ahead of the goal-date!

- Increasing school enrollment.  This was a goal listed as well in 2004 and 2006.  And each year, since 2001, enrollment at St. Joseph's School has gradually increased, even in the face of decreased enrollment in other area schools.  This year SJS has achieved a historic high enrollment count of 102 students in grades K through 6, and Angel Depot, pre-school and pre-K are at capacity, due in large part to the closing of two McPherson day care centers.

- Increasing Eucharistic Adoration to five days a week.  This clearly has not occurred at St. Joseph's, however, we have steadily maintained two days and nights of adoration.

After reviewing these one, three and five year goals, I believe our Parish Councils of the past years, as well as you, the parishioners of St. Joseph's, are to be commended not only on the success of acheiving the majority of these goals, but on the growth in faith that they have inspired.  In the months ahead, Parish Council will begin to consider new goals for the years ahead.  If you have any suggestions for goals, please share them with me or with your council representatives.  Our goals aren't so much to achieve success as much as to help us be faithful in our calling from God through his Son, Jesus Christ, to become a holy people.