Ever adjusting to new measures
COVID-19 brought many uncertainties in our lives and we had to keep adjusting to new mask restrictions, store capacities and countless different measures to keep us safe.
The health and safety of everyone in our churches and our Archdiocesan facilities was and continues to be the top priority for Archbishop Smith. Pastors, parish staff and volunteers, continue to adjust existing or implement new plans every couple of months. Despite the hardship, our parishes and staff have continued to serve our communities since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
Good Shepherd Parish
Parish staff like Rosemary Lee, pastoral assistant at Good Shepherd Parish in Edmonton, go above and beyond to ensure all the provincial measures continue to be implemented. As a pastoral assistant, Rosemary assists Father Leo Hofmann with First Communion, Confirmation, Baptism and marriage preparation.
The pandemic did not stop that. On contrary, once the pandemic started, she has worked so very hard with all of the new measures to plan and look after all of the new COVID-19 ministries so parishioners could continue worship in a safe environment. Rosemary always goes over and above her call of duty with the parish. She is absolutely wonderful to work with and she is very much appreciated by all who work with her.
Pastoral Administration Offices
The Archdiocese has developed strategic priorities and starting in 2021 we are working towards fulfilling them. These priorities include increasing operational effectiveness to make better decisions, and using technology to reduce encumbrances. Currently every parish manages their own payroll. To help to meet these priorities, the payroll centralization project was developed and a significant milestone was reached. It was quite a project to start during the pandemic.
Quietly working in the background of the Pastoral and Administration Offices, Lorna Gawlinski, Marian Fougere, and Renee Kuang have helped to complete the analysis phase of this project. With Joel Smith as our IT resource, and parish staff sending data to the team, an incredible amount of work has been done in a short amount of time.
The passion for the work in support of our mission and the crucial role they play have helped us to reach this milestone. While we have a few months to go in this project it is truly a blessing to collaborate with those who bring their best to work every day despite the challenges of COVID-19.
– Patrick Snoek, Human Resources Lead, Project Lead