Bishop James P. Lyke, OFM, apostolic administrator, in late summer sent a draft statement on the vision and mission of the archdiocese to pastors of parishes and missions. In an accompanying letter he asked each parish to respond. Also offering input were Catholic Center department heads and directors of agencies, boards and commissions.

Printed below is the final text of the vision and mission statement. The goal of each department of office includes a quotation from a Church document.

Vision

Rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Tradition of the Catholic Church,

We, the Catholics of North Georgia, a people from different walks of life and cultures and ethnic backgrounds, strive to walk in faith, hope, and love.

We are a people caring and compassionate, confident and committed, with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

We are a people of the Good Shepherd, aware of our own brokenness and limitations, Striving to be whole, longing to be healed.

We are a people entrusted with the dignity of every person, from the child in the womb to the elderly one awaiting the heavenly summons.

We are a people who praise God, and offer God thanks and touch God and each other through Scripture and the Eucharist, and the sacramental life of the Church.

We are an apostolic people sifting the wisdom of our 2000 year history, bearing an ever ancient truth to an ever evolving age.

We are a universal people, claiming every race, nation and way of life.

At one and the same time, We are a people clinging to the reality of this earth and this time, and a people passing through on the way to a heavenly home.

We are a community of disciples following Jesus, seeking His way, discovering His truth, walking His paths.

We are a Church of saints and sinners, experiencing God’s mercy and trusting that God shall see us through.

The world, groaning for redemption, is our terrain, and fostering the reign of God is our task.

All are invited to join our fellowship, as God shows no partiality to anyone.

We are a people in communion with the Bishop of Rome and Bishops throughout the world and through them we find visible unity and solidarity, preserve our traditions and heritage, and sustain our bonds with people of every land.

We are a holy people, for we are from God, graced by God, and destined for the God, who is Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might.

We are the Catholic Church of North Georgia.

Mission

We are a people sent by God; a people of action, guardians of human dignity, and Good Samaritans.

We are sent, doers of the Word; tending the hungry and thirsty, the impoverished, the sick, the lonely, the uneducated, the stranger, the refugee, the disabled, and the spiritually malnourished.

To rich and poor alike, to young and old, to female and male;

To these and more we are sent, doers of the Word.

Goals

Black Catholic Ministry

The Church is Catholic … because she is able to present in every human context the revealed truth, preserved by her intact in its divine content, in such a way as to bring it into contact with the lofty thoughts and just expectations of every individual and every people. (Slavorum Apostoli, 18)

To promote the National Black Catholic Pastoral Plan in Church life and ministry.

To encourage holistic, prophetic evangelization whereby African-American Catholics may recognize their call to exercise their baptismal responsibility to nurture and sustain Black life in the Church and society.

*****

Communications

The Church looks for ways of multiplying and strengthening the bonds of union between her members. For this reason, communication and dialogue among Catholics are indispensable. The church lives her life in the midst of the whole community of man. She must therefore maintain contacts and lines of communication in order to keep a relationship with the whole human race.

This is done both by giving information and by listening carefully to public opinion inside and outside the Church. Finally, by holding a continuous discussion with the contemporary world, she tries to help in solving the problems that men face at the present time. (Inter Mirifica, 114)

To employ the print and visual media in informing the people of North Georgia about the Catholic Church.

To use the Georgia Bulletin as a source of Catholic news and thought for the Catholics of North Georgia.

*****

Court of Appeals

The intimate partnership of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator; it is rooted in the contract of its partners, that is, in their irrevocable personal consent, for the good of the partners, of the children, and of society this sacred bond no longer depends on human decision alone. For God is the author of marriage and has endowed it with various ends; all of these have a very important bearing on the continuation of the human race, on the personal development and eternal destiny of every member of the family, on the dignity, stability, peace and prosperity of the family and of the whole human race. (Gaudium et spes, 48)

To continue providing the services mandated by Church law within the time frame established in the Code of Canon Law in light of the increasing case load in the Appeal Court.

To teach and interpret the law of the Church and offer advice to those who seek it.

*****

Department of Social Services

Action on the behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel, of, in other words, the Church’s mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation. (World Synod of Catholic Bishops, 1971)

To imbue our society with gospel values and the social teachings of the Church.

To challenge Catholics to be people of love by responding to human needs and hopes through concrete actions of charity and justice.

*****

Development & Planning

Again, we are at a moment in history when the development of economic life could diminish social inequalities if that development were guided and coordinated in a reasonable and human way. (Gaudium et spes, 63)

To find new avenues to gather resources for Archdiocesan present needs and future growth.

To design plans that will enable the Church of North Georgia to meet future needs and growth.

*****

Education

The office of educating belongs by a unique title to the Church, not merely because she deserves recognition as a human society capable of educating, but most of all because she has the responsibility of announcing the way of salvation to all men, of communicating the life of Christ to those who believe, and of assisting them with ceaseless concern so that they may grow into the fullness of that same life. (Gravissimum educationis, 3)

To provide the Christian faithful with educational resources, enabling them to deepen their life in Christ and to prepare them for participation in the Church and society.

To help the Christian faithful better understand the Sacred Scriptures and grasp the tradition and teachings of the Church in such a way as to ready them for witness in the contemporary world.

*****

Family Concerns

The family has received from God its mission to be the first and vital cell of society. It will fulfill this mission if it shows itself to be the domestic sanctuary of the Church through the mutual affection of its members and the common prayer they offer to God, if the whole family is caught up in the liturgical worship of the Church, and if it provides active hospitality and promotes justice and other good works for the service of all brethren in need. (Apostolicam actuositatem, 11)

To foster unity and solidarity in families at each developmental state of life within the Church, and to offer programs and services which focus on family enrichment by prevention of problems.

To demonstrate and uphold the Church’s teachings about family life as documented in Family Perspectives in Church and Society, 1988.

*****

Finance & Administration

Let all Christians see that they guide their affections rightly. Otherwise, they will be thwarted in the search for perfect charity by the way they use earthly possessions and by a fondness for riches which goes against the gospel spirit of poverty. The Apostle has sounded the warning: let those who make use of this world not get bogged down in it, for the structure of this world is passing away. (Lumen gentium, 42)

To create a sense of stewardship among all Catholics of the Church of North Georgia.

To make wise and responsible use of the Church’s material resources.

*****

Hispanic Apostolate

Faithful to her own tradition and at the same time conscious of her universal mission, the Church can enter into communion with various cultural modes, to her own enrichment and theirs too. (Gaudium et spes, 58)

To assist Catholics of Hispanic origin in sharing their religious heritage with the total Catholic community.

To work with Hispanic Catholics in implementing the national pastoral plan and in strengthening the unique expression of their religious and cultural values.

*****

Pro-Life Office

God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes. (Gaudium, et spes, 51)

To defend human life against every influence or action that threatens or weakens it.

To challenge Catholics to restore in the medical, legal and legislative arenas respect and protection for all human life at every stage and in every condition.

*****

Tribunal

In virtue of the Gospel entrusted to it the Church proclaims the rights of all: she acknowledges and holds in high esteem the dynamic approach of today which is fostering these rights all over the world. But this approach needs to be animated by the spirit of the Gospel and preserved from all traces of false autonomy. For there is a temptation to feel that our personal rights are fully maintained only when we are exempt from every restriction of divine law. But this is the way leading to the extinction of human dignity, not its preservation. (Gaudium et spes, 41)

To provide an opportunity for the Christian faithful to vindicate and defend the rights they enjoy in the Church, especially in regard to marriage.

To train deacons, religious and the laity to assist the Tribunal in its ministry.

*****

Vocations

Let the bishops so hallow the churches entrusted to them that the true image of Christ’s universal Church may shine forth fully in them. For that reason they should foster priestly and religious vocations as much as possible, and take a special interest in missionary vocations. (Christus Dominus, 15)

To awaken in the Church of North Georgia a sense for the joy and challenge of the call to religious and priestly life.

To promote and sustain vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

*****