Who is God calling us to become?
Partners in the Gospel Phase 2 Synthesis
The answers from the Phase 2 listening sessions in our Parish Family reveal both a community rich in faith and generosity and a Church at an important moment of renewal. The feedback, demographic data, ministry review, and viability metrics point toward a common call: to become one parish family, rooted in friendship with Christ, that intentionally forms disciples, accompanies people through the stages of life, and embodies the Gospel through works of mercy. Our future must be measured in terms of helping people encounter Jesus Christ and remain connected to the life of the Church, not simply by whether existing programs continue.
A Multicultural Parish Family with Significant Gifts
Our parish family is remarkably diverse. The data from the demographic survey, based on 763 individual responses, identifies parishioners from a wide geographic area and a broad range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds:
Hispanic/Latino parishioners represent 32% of the reported population, and approximately half of that community considers Spanish as their only language.
30% identify as White non-Latino.
20% identify as Asian.
9% identify as Black or of African descent.
6% identify as Samoan or Pacific Islander.
The parish family also includes significant military and retired communities.
In 2002, an agreement was made between Fr. Tim McKena, Fr. Lee Hightower, and the Archbishop that St. Frances Cabrini would be designated as a parish that would offer Spanish-speaking ministry for the wider South Pierce region.
This diversity is not merely a demographic reality; it is a gift. It reflects the universality of the Catholic Church and gives our parish family an opportunity to witness that people of different cultures, languages, generations, and backgrounds can become one in Christ. At the same time, this diversity requires intentional effort to ensure that no community becomes isolated from the larger parish family, the intentional identity, service, and mission to our whole parish, and the universality and unity of our Faith in various devotions.
The demographic picture reveals an important reality. The parish family is aging, with 34% of parishioners between 61 and 80 and another 7% over 80. More than half of the population is therefore beyond reproductive age. At the same time, the parish has a significant culturally diverse community characterized by young families and intergenerational households. However, the younger generations are not practicing the Faith; their unique circumstances and needs call for intentional outreach and accompaniment to help them encounter Christ and live the Faith in ways appropriate to their stage of life.
Many older parishioners have faithfully carried ministries for decades, but some are now retired, living in assisted living facilities, experiencing mobility limitations, or simply unable to serve at the same level. Many ministries have depended upon the same small group of volunteers without successfully forming and inviting younger generations to assume responsibility. As these volunteers have moved, passed away, or become unable to serve, ministries have diminished or disappeared. We now have less than half the ministries we had 20 years ago.
Viability: Encouraging Signs and a Call to Mission
The viability metrics offer reasons for hope. Mass attendance data from July 2024 through April 2025 show encouraging growth at both St. John Bosco and St. Frances Cabrini. Sacramental preparation programs are also growing, and all sacramental formation is already unified across the Parish Family and uses both campuses.
The data require us to look honestly at our situation. Occupancy remains below the Archdiocesan target at most Masses, except for the 12:30 p.m. Mass in Spanish at St. Frances Cabrini, which consistently exceeds the target. Attendance is also fluid: parishioners move between the two campuses according to schedules, seasons, formation programs, and personal preference, while some people who participate regularly are not registered.
Therefore, viability cannot be understood simply as the number of people in a pew at one particular Mass or the number of registered families attached to one campus. Our two parishes must increasingly understand their resources, ministries, people, and opportunities as belonging to one Parish Family. Even though St. Frances Cabrini has more than twice as many registered parishioners as St. John Bosco, the two parishes have relatively comparable overall assets. The metrics ultimately raise a pastoral question: Are we using the gifts God has entrusted to us in ways that lead people to Christ and strengthen the whole Body of Christ?
From Ministry Silos to One Parish Family
One of the most important lessons emerging from the ministry review is the danger of becoming a collection of ministry silos. A ministry can become so focused on its own meetings, activities, traditions, or membership that it gradually loses connection with the Church's broader life and mission. When this happens, even a ministry that began with a good and necessary purpose can become increasingly difficult for new parishioners to discover, join, or understand.
As PFAC reviewed the ministries that exist and have existed, it showed that several ministries that once flourished have declined or disappeared because their members aged, moved away, died, or failed to engage a new generation.
The review also notes that groups rooted in prayer, discipleship, and spiritual formation have generally demonstrated greater resilience, while groups whose primary focus is social or cultural interaction without a clear path toward deeper faith formation have struggled to endure. The question, therefore, is not simply whether a ministry should continue. The deeper question is: How does this ministry contribute to the mission of the Parish Family and to the Church's mission of bringing people into friendship with Jesus Christ?
Each ministry is invited to rediscover its particular charism as a gift for the whole Church. It is a call for ministries that may be functioning as silos to reimagine their role and to use their prayerful, contemplative, intercessory, or service-oriented gifts in support of the wider Parish Family. A ministry that participates in the larger life of the Church is more likely to welcome new people, develop new leaders, form disciples, and remain fruitful across generations. This does not mean that every ministry must become identical or that cultural, social, devotional, or specialized ministries have no place.
Those Who Need Our Focused Attention
The discernment identified several groups that require intentional pastoral accompaniment. Youth and young adults are the clearest priority. Youth have been identified as one of the least-served groups in the Parish Family. Previous youth ministry at St. John Bosco had significant participation, but many of those young people are now in their 30s or 40s, and neither they nor their children are actively engaged in the life of the Church or practicing the Faith.
Adults seeking faith formation also require greater attention. While our multicultural communities benefit from fruitful group catechesis, the Parish Family has struggled to develop a comparable, robust, and sustainable adult formation program for non-immigrant communities. Adult formation is essential not only for adults' spiritual growth but also for forming the future leaders and volunteers needed throughout parish life.
Grieving families need accompaniment beyond the funeral itself. The absence of a consistent grief and bereavement ministry leaves families without sustained support during one of life's most difficult moments. The Parish Family is being called to develop a ministry of consolation that accompanies people through prayer, fellowship, small groups, and the ongoing process of grief.
Retirees and elders in assisted living or adult-care facilities also deserve intentional attention. Although retirees represent one of the strongest segments of our active parish population, some of our elderly parishioners are becoming increasingly isolated from parish life. Their presence, wisdom, and faith remain gifts to the Church, and accompaniment should include ways for them to remain connected to the sacramental and communal life of the Parish Family.
Finally, newcomers and our neighbors in need must become part of our pastoral horizon. You, the parishioner, identified the need for stronger hospitality and a more sustainable, year-round approach to charity and outreach. The Food Bank Garden, Our Lady of Guadalupe Maternity Center, and Society of St. Vincent de Paul provide concrete opportunities to embody the works.
A Parish Family Renewed in Christ
The path forward is not simply to add more programs to an already busy parish calendar. It is to reorder our parish life around Christ. We already have our work cut out for us in the framework for this renewal: Communing in the Lord's Beauty, Evangelizing through Catechesis, and Embodying the Works.
Our demographic and viability realities tell us that renewal is necessary. Our diversity tells us that we have extraordinary gifts with which to accomplish it. Our ministries demonstrate that there is already a strong foundation of prayer, service, devotion, and generosity. The task before us is to connect these gifts, form new leaders, welcome new generations, and ensure that every ministry sees itself not as an isolated group but as part of the one mission of the Church.
The future of our Parish Family will depend not on how successfully we preserve everything we have always done, but on how faithfully we respond to what God is asking of us now. We are called to pray as if our life depends on it, and then to serve. By keeping Jesus Christ at the center of everything we do, we can become a Parish Family where people of every culture and generation encounter Christ, grow in friendship with Him, and together embody the joy of the Gospel.
