By Loris Fletcher
The newly formed parish of Christ the King, an amalgamation of the former parishes of Wangaratta, Wangaratta South and Moyhu, took a major step forward on Saturday 5 April. Fifty parishioners representing all seven church communities gathered to start formulating vision and mission statements for the new parish using synodal methodology under the guidance of Dr Chris Cotter, Diocesan Director of Mission and Pastoral Life, and Geoff Gowdie, Assistant Director of Mission and Pastoral Life.
The day went very smoothly, thanks to clearly prepared visuals and careful planning by Parish Clergy, Fr Nathan Verallo, Mons. Cris Manongas and Fr Arun Korlakanti SHS.
The day’s deliberations commenced with the theme of dreams – dreams told in the Book of Genesis and Joseph’s dream in the Gospel of Matthew 1:24 when the Angel of the Lord commanded Joseph to take Mary as his wife. Probably, Joseph was confused, disturbed, and questioning. Relatable feelings for parishioners of the new parish who were asking, “Where are we heading?”
Newly appointed Parish Priest, Fr Nathan Verallo, outlined the path taken to form one parish from the three existing parishes which culminated in the proclamation of Christ the King Catholic Parish by Bishop Shane McKinlay on 15 December 2024. Fr Nathan then outlined the day’s goals, namely: a) to formulate the Vision and Mission of the parish and b) to present the outline of Parish Structure and Membership under the acronym SWEFTY. In emphasising Vision and Mission, Fr Nathan quoted the Book of Proverbs (29.18) “Without vision, the people perish.” He challenged with questions, “What kind of church to we want to be? Do we want a church that simply maintains the status quo (static), or one that is dynamic with purposeful encounters that build community?”
Assistant Priest, Mons. Crisologo Manongas used the symbolism of building a house to guide the formulation of vision and mission and quoted Psalm 127:1: “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain.” When building a house, the starting point is a dream and then follows the action. He then presented the proposed vision and mission statements for discussion using the synodal process.
Mons. Cris next introduced the acronym SWEFTY, which represents the different areas of ministry, named as: Service, Worship/Liturgy, Education/Formation, Finance, Temporalities/Properties and Youth/Social Media. SWEFTY leaders will automatically become members of the Parish Pastoral Council and, together with the Parish Finance Council and the Clergy, will form the Parish Structure and Membership.
It was acknowledged that a challenge will be the reluctance to change and the varying levels of engagement across all the church communities.
The whole day had a feeling of unity and shared purpose.
Attendees appreciated the enormous preparation that had gone into the day and came away hopeful for the future of the new parish. The next step is to commission SWEFTY leaders and members of the Parish Finance Council on Pentecost Sunday. The challenge is to actively engage all parishioners.
