FOREWORD

This parish mission is in alignment with the vision for Old Mission Santa Barbara (parish, friary, archives, Mission). All four entities share in:

In the humble spirit of St. Francis, we foster reverence, care and joy for all creation (people, creatures, environment) through ministry, service and study by offering a gathering place where pilgrims, visitors, scholars, and communities can grow and thrive in God’s goodness.

To that end, this document announces a parish pastoral plan, guided by the Holy Spirit, to further educate, inspire and engage all – especially parishioners – to a deeper relationship with God and each other in these areas: Liturgy, Faith Formation, Stewardship/Service/Outreach, and Long-Range Strategic Planning.

What does it mean to be Franciscan?

St. Francis shows us a way to imitate Christ and honor our Catholic faith in our modern lives by:

• Praising all creation as a gift of joy and goodness from God

• Preaching the gospel in the wider community with and without words

• Serving the poor and marginalized in our community

• Living simply

• Practicing humility, demonstrating mercy and forgiveness.

When Pope Francis was elected in 2013, he took the name Francis to refocus the church more toward love, mercy, and services to “the poorest, weakest, and least important.”  Why?  To lead the global church to follow Christ more closely.

Purpose of the Plan

This strategic planning document charts the future of St. Barbara Parish, building more intentionally on our response to the gospel as an engaged faith community, on our Franciscan heritage, and on our welcoming role as a church that attracts visitors from around the world. In a word, our primary goal is to foster “discipleship.”

Our regional bishop, Robert Barron, notes:
“Our own journeys might be characterized at times by questions and uncertainty, by fits and starts, by mysteries.  I wonder what God’s role is in my spiritual life … and what is my role?  How can I know how to discern the ways of God’s grace in my life?  … What signs should I follow?  How do I know when to move, when to stand still, when to speak, when to be silent?  … Francis shares a hint, one hint, at least.   

It’s this:  Francis does not sit around.  He doesn’t wait for a perfect moment to be confirmed in his spiritual intuitions.  His life is so deeply prayerful, but see this: anchored by the still place where he meets Christ, Francis moves.  Francis knew that to follow Christ means, first of all, to follow him.  To let Christ in, we simply have to let him in, and since Christ is love, we let him in by loving in his name, loving the difficult, loving the unlovable, loving when we are exhausted.  We let him in by touching when we would rather draw back, smiling when misery tempts us to turn away and giving when we think we have nothing left — or when we would really like to just hold on to what we have.  But we can do this because it is God, inexhaustible in love, who is at work in us.”

This document also serves as an outline for an operational plan that details the plan’s steps, resources, people responsible, timelines, and indicators of success to actually implement the plan’s goals.  As part of the discernment process, a review will be done each Lent by the pastoral leadership to see how the pastoral plan is unfolding and what should be the plan for the following year.

St. Barbara Parish

Like many parishes around the country, there are considerable resource challenges amid the secular pressures of increasingly busy family schedules, digital distractions, and declining young adult attendance.

To address these challenges, our plan places a strong emphasis on expanding and deepening liturgy, faith formation, community building, stewardship and communication.  We aim to further educate, inspire and engage all – especially parishioners – to a deeper relationship with God and each other.  How this plays out in individual lives will differ, but we are all united in God’s love for us, our love for God, and our Catholic faith.

This plan builds on the many blessings of St. Barbara parish.  We are attached to a large and active Franciscan Mission and Friary with a newly located Novitiate on the Mission grounds.  Our Franciscan heritage shows us a way to live a Christian life and honor our Catholic faith. As a national and state historical landmark, the Mission and church receives thousands of visitors each year.  The Mission has been under the continuous guidance of the Franciscans since it was established in 1786.  We also have superb traditional liturgical music with the oldest continuous tradition of choral singing among any California mission.