Good Faith Network

St. Paul Catholic Church is proud to have recently joined the Good Faith Network, a coalition of faith communities across Johnson County working together to listen deeply to our neighbors and pursue meaningful change in our community.

This fall, St. Paul will take part in Good Faith Network’s sixth annual listening process. Nearly 1,000 Johnson Countians are expected to participate in small-group conversations across the county, sharing the concerns, struggles, and hopes they see in their families and communities.

A listening session is simply a small gathering where we listen to one another and reflect on questions like:

• What keeps you up at night?

• Where do you see people in our community struggling?

• What feels broken or unnecessarily difficult for our neighbors?

These conversations are the starting point for everything Good Faith Network works on. GFN does not begin the year with a predetermined list of issues. Instead, we listen first. The stories shared by parishioners at St. Paul and people of faith across Johnson County are brought together to identify the concerns we hold in common. Those concerns become the basis for deciding which community issues GFN will research and address together in the year ahead.

In other words, by participating in a listening session, you have a voice in shaping what Good Faith Network works on next.

For us as Catholics, this is also an opportunity to practice the kind of synodal listening our Church calls us toward: listening carefully to one another’s lived experience, discerning where the Holy Spirit may be leading us, and acting together for the common good. It is one concrete way for our parish to live into Archbishop McKnight’s vision of every parish as a sanctuary of mercy and a center of charity.

There is no commitment required beyond joining the conversation. Come as you are, meet a few other parishioners, and add your voice.