Thank you to everyone who came to the Town Hall on Sunday, March 22, to discuss concerns and hopes regarding Our Lady of Sorrows and the new collaborative. We recognize that we are at the beginning of a long process of adapting to new realities and implementing small and large changes while respecting the existing culture and identity of the parish and getting to know one another in our new relationships.

A number of issues and questions came up, some more concrete and others more abstract. Fr. Chip and the pastoral staff have begun addressing these issues and we are happy to say that we can report a positive result on one of those concerns already: Fr. Chip has scheduled an additional Mass on Easter Sunday at Our Lady of Sorrows at noon. This was made possible through the generosity of Fr. Francis Clooney, SJ, who has offered his availability to celebrate this Mass. We are very grateful to Fr. Clooney for continuing to serve the people of Our Lady of Sorrows through the celebration of the Liturgy.

In the coming weeks, especially once we are past the busy time of Holy Week, we will have more information about the future of the joint Parish Pastoral Council and the Pastoral Plan Writing Team. Also, although many parishioners have indicated there have been too many finance-related communications, there were many participants who said that those who have chosen to reduce their giving to the parish should be surveyed as to why. In order to protect the privacy of these parishioners, we will soon create an online survey form, which will not collect personal identifying information, but will collect data on a voluntary basis that we hope will provide a deeper insight into the motivations and concerns of this segment of the population.

Under the guidelines of the Archdiocese's Disciples in Mission pastoral plan, the collaborative pastoral team should include a Director of Ministries, and Fr. Chip plans to begin advertising that open position. Based on feedback from the Town Hall for greater transparency and input, he will assemble a search committee composed of representatives from each of the parishes to ensure the best candidate to serve the whole collaborative is selected. Once the Director of Ministries is in place, this person will take over many of the tasks of management and planning that Fr. Chip currently does himself and allow him more time to converse and connect with the people of the parishes and to be present in those places.

These are just a handful of the concrete actions coming out of the Town Hall on Sunday. In the coming months and years, Fr. Chip is looking forward to deepening his relationship with the people of Our Lady of Sorrows, forming those close connections and bonds between pastor and parish that parishioners so clearly expressed that they desire. The collaborative process of the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan is only just beginning here in Sharon and Walpole and with our patience, perseverance and prayers, we will continue to grow deeper in discipleship to Jesus Christ and remain open to the power of the Holy Spirit to transform our lives and our community.

Thank you, once again, to all the members of the Our Lady of Sorrows parish community for expressing your love and attachment to the community through this Town Hall.

If you have additional feedback, please feel free to email Fr. Chip. For finance and facilities related questions and feedback, email Marty Murphy. For communications related questions and feedback, email Dom Bettinelli.