Parish Outreach Council

Vision Statement
“To find Lazarus and serve him.”

Aspirational Statements of Purpose
St. Michael’s Outreach Council seeks to bring the Kingdom of God to communities that we can serve by living the Gospel message of service with those in need.    

“…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”  Gospel of St. Matthew (25:40)

“He has sent me [us] to bring the Good News to the poor.“ Motto of Vincentian Missionaries from the Gospel of St. Luke

“…let us pray that we may be a church that does not serve money or itself, but the kingdom of God and his justice.”  Pope Leo XIV Vatican City, October 2025

“We cannot better assure our eternal happiness than by living and dying in the service of the poor … “ St. Vincent de Paul (CCD:III:384)

Mission Statement
Following the guidance of Pope Leo XIV and Dilexi Te, the Outreach Council is undertaking an important effort to know, serve, and love the poor.

With faithful hearts, we, the Outreach Council and parishioners of St. Michael’s Catholic Church, commits to sharing our time, talents, and resources to serve, educate, and empower the poor, sick, and vulnerable across our local, regional, national, and international communities. Through our shared witness and charitable works of mercy, we strive to accompany those in need to encounter the love of Christ and to reveal the truth of His words: “I have loved you.”  (Rev 3:9)

Core Team Values 

• Faith – We root all that we do in the teaching and love of Jesus Christ.

• Hope – We strive to inspire hope and healing in every life we touch.

• Charity – We serve with empathy, humility and respect for the dignity of all human life.

• Stewardship – We honor God by generously sharing our time, talent and treasure.

• Community – We build connections with local, regional, national and international boundaries to serve those in need.

• Integrity – We act with honesty and uprightness towards others and our mission.

• Transparency – We act with openness and accountability in all endeavors.

Council Responsibilities

Advisory (identify, prayerfully evaluate, recommend):
Identify important corporal and spiritual needs of the poor that our parish should address through support of established organizations, nascent organizations and potentially the launch of a new organization.  Our support will include financial resources and volunteers.  We will look first locally, then nationally, and internationally.

Over the long term, SMP Accompanying Christ in the Poor should engage each of the six faces of the poor as outlined in Pope Leo’s Dilexi Te –  “In fact, there are many forms of poverty:
- the poverty of those who lack material means of subsistence,
- the poverty of those who are socially marginalized and lack the means to give voice to their dignity and abilities
- moral and spiritual poverty
- cultural poverty
-the poverty of those who find themselves in a condition of personal or social weakness or fragility,
-the poverty of those who have no rights, no space, no freedom.”
Please see page 4 for specific forms of poverty related to the six faces of the poor.

For each organization we consider supporting, we will evaluate:
- effectiveness in offering those they serve the opportunity to experience the love, truth and mercy of Jesus, and in response the opportunity to fall in love with Jesus.
- effectiveness in addressing a targeted corporal need/s.
- whether they offer pathways of empowerment.
- our ability to influence these organizations, recognizing that our contribution may create more possibilities with a smaller organization than a larger one. 
- opportunities for our parishioners to engage in their mission as volunteers and the opportunity to truly know and love those we serve.
- governance, transparency on finances, capacity to sustain operations over the long term, transparency on the results of their work.   

Present to the Pastor recommendations on which needs to address and organizations to support.  The Pastor will make the final determination.

Accountability (review & communicate):
Conduct an annual, and when feasible quarterly, review of each supported organization to assess if they are achieving their goals. When possible, this should include a quantitative assessment.       

Being accountable to the parish, provide a report to the parish with transparency on the organizations supported, the mission of each organization, amount of money given to each organization and annual summary of accomplishments of each organization. 

Action (create & recruit):
Create opportunities for parishioners to interact with organizations supported. 
Recruit volunteers to help the organizations we have chosen to support.   
Create family oriented outreach programs