St. Joseph Catholic Community Leadership along with the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis continue the discernment, strategies and implementation of the valuable feedback received from thousands of local participants during Synod 2022.

Archbishop Hebda released his first pastoral letter in November 2022 containing a renewed vision that will guide our archdiocese into a strong future. Here from Archbishop Hebda, read the pastoral letter and find out more about the Synod 2022 process: 
www.archspm.org/synod.


Supported by Fr. Michael and parish director, Dean Rademacher, "twelve" parishioners and staff from St. Joseph's completed a seven-week School of Discipleship program from the Archbishop Flynn Catechetical Institute at the Saint Paul Seminary, February 7 to March 21, 2023. They learned how to become activated disciples and how to implement Archbishop Hebda’s Pastoral Letter, entitled You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent from the Upper Room. Our parish representatives are:

Our St. Joseph “Twelve” have been busy praying and working together towards the goal of strengthening our church through interactions within small group environments. The Twelve will invite 72 and others to join them to carry on this powerful effort within St. Joseph Catholic Community. We pray you all will open your hearts to this process as we expand our circle of active parishioners to support this mission.

Please review the below information for more about this exciting endeavor.

We invite you to participate in the St. Joseph's Small Group Leader Formation Series
(the information below is also available in the Documents section for download)  

We invite our parishioners (you) to find out more while attending these sessions and then to determine if you would like to participate in the process of expanding small groups within our community. We anticipate this training to be very valuable for all aspects of your life!

There are 7 training sessions. Please register for one date for each Session listed below.
Each Session will include times of prayer, teaching, and small group sharing.
The Sessions will be held in St. Francis Fireplace Lounge, Parish Center. 

Please REGISTER at: https://stjoesnewhope.flocknote.com/signup/134301.

• Session 1: Sunday 9/17     11:15 a.m. - 1:15 pm or Thursday 9/21   7pm – 9 pm

• Session 2: Sunday 9/24    11:15 a.m. - 1:15 pm or Thursday 9/28   7pm – 9 pm 
• Session 3: Sunday 10/1     11:15 a.m. - 1:15 pm or Thursday 10/5   7pm – 9 pm
• Session 4: Sunday 10/8     11:15 a.m. - 1:15 pm or Thursday 10/12  7pm – 9 pm
• Session 5: Sunday 10/22   11:15 a.m. - 1:15 pm or Thursday 10/26  7pm – 9 pm
• Session 6: Sunday 10/29   11:15 a.m. - 1:15 pm or Thursday 11/2    7pm – 9 pm
• Session 7: Sunday 11/5      11:15 a.m. - 1:15 pm or Thursday 11/9    7pm – 9 pm

 

Because this series is a formation toward leading small groups, and small group sharing is an important component of it, participants are expected to attend most, if not all sessions, in person. Recognizing that life happens, there will be an ability to “make up” missed sessions, but non-live participation is intended to be the exception, not the rule.  If you know that you will need to miss more than two sessions, there will be future offerings of the training.

Participation in the series does not commit you to lead a small group. Upon the formation’s conclusion, there will be a mutual discernment, that will include the pastor, on whether each participant will lead a small group starting in Winter 2024 and what type of small group they might feel comfortable leading. 

Furthermore, the formation will help discern other supporting leadership roles within the small group, such as hospitality or music ministry, as possible alternatives to being “the leader.”

We expect that different types of small groups will emerge. Examples include (but are not limited to):  small groups among family, friends and neighbors as well as parish/pastoral groups among youth, marriage prep, OCIA, young adults, widows, etc.).

If you have questions, please contact the Synod Evangelization Team Lead.