Loving God and Our Neighbor Pastoral Visits 2020

Postponed

In light of the growing concerns regarding the parish visits, and being mindful of those concerns, Bishop has decided to postpone any parish visits currently scheduled through Easter. We will still proceed with the visit to St. Augustine Cathedral Parish and School on Friday, March 13. 

Bishop Paul J. Bradley is visiting all 26 Parish Collaboratives in the Diocese of Kalamazoo during the 2020 Year of the Eucharist. The “Loving God and Your Neighbor” pastoral tour includes a series of meetings with the Parish's clergy as well as Parish and Finance council members. The day also includes the celebration of the Mass and Eucharistic Adoration. 
 
Each visit is centered on the theme of “Living the Mission of the Eucharist” first introduced in Bishop Bradley’s 2019 Pastoral Letter where he called for 2020 to be a diocesan-wide celebration of the “Year of the Eucharist.”
 
In his letter to the Pastors Bishop Bradley outlined his goals for the visits. He wrote,  “My major goal is to spend some quality time with you, and the members of your Parish Collaborative, as we discuss and plan together for the ways to strengthen our Faith, and to fulfill the mission of the Eucharist, in the ways we live and give witness to our faith in Jesus in our everyday lives.
 
Bishop also stressed the urgency to move from “maintenance to mission mode”.
He wrote, “It is my hope that we will ignite the faith, a process that was so powerfully launched at our Eucharistic Congress last October. At the end of this year of meeting and praying with each Collaborative, I am confident that, enflamed by the Holy Spirit, we will be ready to: 1) share the Good News of Jesus in new and creative ways; 2) reach out to those in need---those on the peripheries as Pope Francis says---through the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy; and 3) be ready to evangelize one another, as well as those whom we need to welcome back to the practice of the faith, or to join our community of faith for the first time.”
 
Each Parish Collaborative will have a custom schedule including visits to the Catholic Schools as well as other Catholic agencies and outreach services in the area.