WHERE THERE IS NO VISION, THE PEOPLE PERISH (PROV.29:18)

By: Julita Kantod

Holy Trinity Parish Tawau: After 10 years (2007-2017) of its existence, the Diocese of Sandakan namely St. Mary’s Cathedral, St. Martin Church Telupid, St. Dominic Church Lahad Datu, Our Lady of Fatima Beluran and the Holy Trinity Parish Tawau was able to come up with a Vision and Mission statement. It was derived from the outcome of data from individual parishes’ workshops and sessions.

Eventually, all parishes were required to hold a workshop to introduce and ensure that the vision and mission will be understood and accepted by each parish.

On 25th March 2017, some 100 or more parishioners consisting of the Parish Pastoral Council members, EMC's, Parish Youth Apostolates, BEC Coordinators, heads of group or community, religious sisters, seminarians, the Parish priests and representatives from the out station participated in the workshop which began at 9 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon at the Church Basement Hall.

The workshop on “Understanding and Ownership of the Vision and Mission of the Diocese“ is aimed at understanding the goals and objectives of the Vision and Mission and taking them as their own.

This workshop, initiated by the Vision and Mission working committees (the PPC members)  and the Documentation team of  Holy Trinity Parish Tawau, is a follow-up workshop after the Vision and Mission statement was successfully adopted in early January 2017 from five parishes held in Sandakan Diocese.

Msgr. Nicholas Ong, the rector of the Holy Trinity Parish, in his brief sharing during the opening of the workshop, said “With this vision I believe that each of you will have the opportunity to share your capabilities and talents to serve others and also the church. Indeed, it is a wake-up call to all of you to be participatory parishioners, developing your faith and being transformed”. At the same time he also stressed the importance of the BEC as an effective channel to carry out the implementation of the activities in order to make the Vision and Mission a reality.

Mario and Julita continued by giving a brief sharing on the journey and history of the formulation of the vision and mission followed by a group discussion. They urged the participants to use God’s discernment and reflect on how the activities would draw people into a better relationship with God and with one another.

After a lunch break, the workshop continued on the Mission statement followed by a group discussion wherein ideas from each group were presented to the floor.

The workshop ended at 4 in the afternoon with a short summary by Fr. Philip. "We hope that all of us will peacefully and joyfully move towards the completion of this program and not only by obligation but most of all with sincerity and purity. We try to give our best, not forgetting the realities of obstacles which require our perseverance in order for us to achieve this Vision. Let us put our hope in the generosity of God in providing us wisdom, knowledge and humility to work together towards this activity" he said.

The following day, 26^th March, the working committee and the documentation team, again gathered to finalize the proposed plan to be forwarded to the Diocesan Office for compilation and documentation.

The team is expected to continue to bring the Vision and Mission plan, not only to the main Parish, but more so to the outstation to ensure that this statement reaches all parishioners.