Community Building & Stewardship

While the Sunday Liturgy is the source of our nourishment and the hub from which all Paulist Center activity starts, the Paulist Center Community has generated many task-oriented groups which make community tangible and real…and often a lot of fun.  For example, some gather around natural groups (e.g., families, young adults), others have tasks as their definition (e.g., Coffee after Sunday morning Masses), and still others have administrative responsibilities (e.g., Pastoral Council and Finance Committee).  Browse through these to see where your gifts and interests might find a natural home. We are eager always for new ideas and new energy!

 

Community Building & Stewardship Groups

  • Family Activities
    FAMILY ACTIVITIES 

    No sign up or registration needed!

    Religious Education Kick-Off Mass

    Child-friendly Liturgy at our Sunday 10am Mass.

    Family Fall Festival

    Join with other Paulist Center families for social time, family program information and child-friendly activities after the 10am Liturgy.

    Advent Event

    Advent wreath-making or some other family craft after the 10am Liturgy.

    Christmas Pageant

    For all children of the Paulist Center, ages 2-10.

    Triduum Family Event

    Family craft to celebrate the season of Lent after the 10am Liturgy.

    Walk for Hunger

    A child-friendly team that walks six miles and another family team that does 20 miles.

    End of School Year Picnic

    Family picnic out on the Boston Common after the 10am Liturgy.

  • Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Questioning & Friends

    The Paulist Center has long supported and is proud of its LGBTQ members, many of whom have served or currently serve in leadership roles in our faith community. We are an integrated community of all.

    One of the goals of the Paulist Center is to foster dialogue about and to encourage greater inclusion and acceptance of LGBTQ people in the wider church.

    We have occasional retreats, talks, and events geared toward our LGBTQ members.

    Our group is part of Boston Area LGBTQ Roman Catholics, a coalition that includes LGBTQ groups and St. Anthony Shrine and St. Cecilia Parish.

    For more information or to join our mailing list, contact Fr. Rich Andre, CSP.

  • Young Adult Ministry

    We are a welcoming catholic community of young adults (21-39 years old) who are affiliates and members of the Paulist Center Boston. We seek to live out our faith through community, service, and spirituality. Every year we host a number of social and faith-building events, such as our annual retreat, dinners after the 6pm Mass, happy hours in different neighborhoods throughout Boston, and discussion panels on faith and spirituality. More information here.

    For more information or to join our mailing list, contact our part-time Young Adult Minister. 

  • Advent/Christmas Concert

    Every year we put on a vibrant concert in mid-December. Participation encouraged and open to singers and instrumentalists from within our regular music ministry, as well as others who enjoy singing the songs of the season.  Rehearsals are on Thursdays from 6:45–9pm in the chapel, early October to early December. 

    For more information or to get involved, contact Norm Gouin.

  • Auction Committee
    The Paulist Center Auction is the Center’s largest annual fundraiser. The event typically takes place on the last Saturday of April immediately following the 5pm Mass. Attendees purchase tickets that include a meal, and a bar is set up selling wine, beer, and specialty cocktails related to the theme of the auction. During the evening, attendees have an opportunity to bid on dessert for their table and to participate in a silent auction and live auction.
    The Paulist Center considers the auction both a fundraiser and a “fun” raiser. As the event takes place at the Center and is put together solely by volunteers from across the community, it is a major method of community-building for the Paulist Center. Work for the auction starts in January each year and volunteers are needed to help with everything from selling tickets to cooking the dinner to decorating the auditorium. The auction committee meets infrequently in person and primarily works through email and phone in the months leading up to the event.
    For more information or to get involved, contact Fr. Rich Andre. 
  • Coffee after Sunday Morning Masses

    Our current custom for welcoming guests and new members, and supporting old Paulist Center members is to offer coffee and donuts after the Sunday morning masses.  Our current staffing allows us to welcome people on mornings of the school year when the Family Religious Education Program is meeting.

    We really need more volunteers for this!! Please let us know if you might be able to help out!

    For more information or to get involved, contact Fr. Rich Andre, CSP .

  • Finance Committee

    The finance committee is responsible for recommending fiscally sound budgets and good fiscal practices to the Director of the Center and the Pastoral Council. Its members also make the annual financial report to the community. Members are appointed by the Pastoral Council.

    If you are a community member with a business background, understand financial statements, have an interest in the broad view of the Center and its ministries, and would like to be considered for membership on the committee, please contact Patty Simpson.

  • Pastoral Council

    The Pastoral Council is made up of elected members of the Paulist Center Community who generously serve the wider community as “keepers of the vision.”  They work with the Center’s administration and staff to ensure that the Center’s mission is carried out in ways that both meet the needs of our members and push the mission beyond our threshold. Elections are held every spring to elect new members to two-year terms.  The Council meets for two hours once a month to discuss such topics as strategic planning, new ways of supporting various ministry groups and Center finances. .

    For more information or to get involved, contact the Council.

  • Paulist Associates

    Who are the Paulist Associates?

    Religious orders often are joined by laypersons who are drawn to the ideals and charisms of that particular order and seek to model them in their daily lives. Paulist Associates are lay women and men who have come to know the Paulist Fathers (the first religious order of men formed in the United States) and their particular attention to the Holy Spirit. After a period of discernment, formation and acceptance, they are invited to make a Promise annually to associate with the Paulist Community. These men and women meet regularly to pray, study and learn about Paulist spirituality, mission and ministries, striving to understand what the Paulist charisms of reconciliation, evangelization, ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue mean in this 21st century in America.

    Paulist Associates in Boston

    Since 2004, the Paulist Associates in Boston meet monthly at the Paulist Center. The gatherings often center around prayer and short readings from the works of Servant of God Isaac Hecker, founder of the Paulists (and convert to Catholicism), as well as current topics that invite lively discussion. The Boston group initially began with 12 people and, in 2016, numbered 20. Many Boston Associates have attended occasional national/regional retreats that offer opportunities to connect with Associates in other Paulist chapters. In June or July, the Associates enjoy an outing to places such as Walden Pond (a site linked to Hecker’s brief but significant time in Massachusetts), the JFK Library and The Museum of Fine Arts.

    To learn about becoming a Paulist Associate, click here.

    Paulist Associates Promise

    I believe that I am drawn by the Holy Spirit to the spirituality and qualities of the Paulist Community. I have discerned both by prayer and study that God calls me to become associated with the Paulists. I promise that I will pray for the works of the Paulist Society, meet with others, who are also members of the Paulist Associates, for spiritual sharing and formation; and I seek to embody the apostolic qualities of the Paulists in my daily life. Attentive to the Holy Spirit and faithful to the example of St. Paul and the charism of Father Isaac Hecker, I commit myself for one year of membership in the Paulist Associates.