Pastoral Plan

Shaping the Future of the Paulist Center — Our Community Planning Process

February 2026

On Monday, February 9, 2026, Father Rick released an update to the Community about the Pastoral Planning Process.

Hello Everyone,

As announced at the Masses this past weekend, we have a few updates to share about our pastoral planning process.

In June we began this planning process and have hosted over a dozen in person and online community meetings and listening sessions this past Summer and Fall. This Winter, our staff and pastoral planning team have been reviewing and synthesizing the input gathered from these community meetings toward the development of a pastoral plan.

We are excited to share a first draft of the pastoral plan on Sunday March 8th at two in-person Community Meetings as well as a Zoom community meeting option that following week.

So many important needs and ideas have emerged from our community meetings. As a part of this planning process the staff and I have been reviewing our own gifts, our job descriptions, and our overall capacity to make sure that our staff roles are aligned with what the Center needs to grow in the coming years.

Throughout this planning process a clear consensus has emerged: the Center is called to live into its identity as a center of mission and outreach rooted in meaningful prayer and liturgy. These priorities will certainly ask a lot from me in my role as a priest. They also require additional gifts in the areas of strategic leadership, administration, and fundraising.

With only one full-time Paulist assigned to the Center, both our staff and the national Paulist leadership have discerned the need to hire a lay Executive Director to help the Paulist Center continue to grow in the coming years. A lay perspective will bring several unique contributions to the Church including diversity of experience, community engagement, and a holistic approach recognizing the interconnectedness of spiritual and secular life.

It will allow me, as the Paulist priest on staff, to focus more on the sacramental and pastoral needs of the community as well as on outreach outside the community. This is an exciting and grace-filled moment for the Paulist Center. This will be the first time the Paulist Fathers and the Paulist Center have ever had a worshiping community run by a lay person. By hiring a lay Executive Director the Center will offer a powerful witness to the wider Church of the importance of lay leadership and co-responsibility.

Introducing an Executive Director also means we will create a majority lay-led Board of Directors to support and supervise the Executive Director. We look forward to sharing more details at the March community meetings.

Fr. John Ardis, current Vice-President of the Paulist Fathers, was here this past weekend to show his support to the Paulist Center and to this pastoral planning process as we move forward in an exciting new chapter.

Please contact me at rick@paulistcenter.org with any questions. We intend to share more information in the coming weeks.

Fr. Rick

 

December 2025

  • held two more focus groups on Zoom, one for young adults (ages 18-39), and one for adults who identify as BIPOC.

September 2025

In September, we held community meetings to vision and look at where and who we want to be in the future. This includes reading the signs of the times in the United States Catholic Church and praying about how we can intentionally respond.  At community meetings in September 2025, we shared the following materials.

  • Two meetings with community leaders (one evening of reflection and one discussion of core values)
  • First in-person all community meeting, identifying needs and priorities

August 2025

  • Zoom community meetings inviting participants to reflect on Who is present? Who is missing? Who are we called to serve?

June 2025

  • Gathered and reviewed Paulist Center reports, demographics, and data
  • Gathered and reviewed City of Boston demographics and data

May 2025

  • Identified pastoral planning committee
  • Met with Bishop O’Connell, Archdiocese of Boston

 

 

 

2025 Paulist Center Pastoral Planning Process

Phase 1: Preparing for the Process

Who is involved and how long will it take?
Fr. Rick has appointed a Pastoral Planning Committee, primarily drawn from the Pastoral Council. The Committee will guide a 6–9 month planning process. The goal is to publish a 3-year Pastoral Plan outlining priorities, SMART goals for implementation, and a framework for ongoing review.

What is the difference between a strategic plan and a pastoral plan?
While similar in structure, a pastoral plan emphasizes a spiritual approach rooted in listening, discernment, and prayer. It seeks to engage the community in a reflective and participatory process.

Phase 2: Understanding Our Current Reality

How has the Paulist Center community and ministry changed in the last 10 years?

  • Staff reviewed roles, responsibilities, and current needs.
  • The Committee analyzed analytics and ministry reports since the 2015 Pastoral Plan.
  • Recommendations from the 2024 Paulist Visitation Report and Paulist Fathers’ pastoral priorities were reviewed.

How has the city of Boston and community needs changed?

  • Recent demographic data from Boston and pastoral priorities from the Archdiocese were considered.

The Committee hosted two community Zoom meetings in August.

Phase 3: Reviewing Mission and Vision

How are our operations and ministry aligned with our core values?

  • Ministry leaders participated in an evening reflection and a second Zoom meeting to review the Mission Statement and Core Values.
  • Feedback was also collected through a Google Form survey.

Two September Zoom meetings were held for community leaders.

Phase 4: Establishing Strategic Priorities and Goals

Key questions:

  • What is working well? What are areas of growth?
  • What is most important for the Paulist Center over the next 1–3 years?

The Committee will host two in-person community meetings on September 28 and October 26.

Phase 5: Developing an Action Plan

Key questions:

  • Are our budget and staffing aligned with our goals and priorities?
  • Who is responsible for each part of the plan?

Phase 6: Communicating and Implementing

Key questions:

  • How can we share the Paulist Center’s vision with greater Boston?
  • How will we ensure the plan is implemented and does not remain on the shelf?

Phase 7: Evaluating and Adapting

Key questions:

  • How often will staff and committees review the plan?
  • How will we measure the effectiveness of the plan?
  • What ongoing feedback do we need from the community?