DIOCESAN NEWS
02/16/07
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            Tupelo workshop eyes ministry leadership
               
      TUPELO — St. James Parish held a Leadership in Ministry Day for pastoral council members, members of commissions and task-forces, and staff on Saturday, Feb. 3, at its parish center.
      The theme chosen for the day-long program was “Our Parish Looks Beyond the Present.”
      The program was directed by Father David O’Connor, pastor of St. Mary and Assumption parishes in Natchez.
      Father O’Connor said the specific purposes of the program were to reflect on the mission and ministry of St. James Parish, to count its blessings and to identify the challenges facing the parish, to search for insights about the future of the parish, and to explore the implications for ministry.
      Father Henry Shelton has announced he will retire from being pastor of St. James in Jan. 2008, and he wants the parish leadership to reflect on their present program and to discern new and additional initiatives for the future.
      Approximately 30 parish members attended this program, which according to Father O’Connor, was a workshop on applied theology.
      It consisted of units on the participants understanding of the mission of St James, the theology of church as it has evolved from pre-Vatican II days until the present time, the priorities for its future, and a search for ways in which the parish can support the broader ministry goals of the diocese.

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