The St. Mary of the Angels Church Mission Statement reads:

“We are a welcoming community of believers who worship God and serve others.”

• We are first of all believers. We share a common faith and hope. Our faith essentially is in a person—Jesus Christ, God’s own Son. We believe in God’s word revealed in scripture and in the teachings of the Catholic Church. We strive to be faithful and grow in deepening our faith. We have a special concern and give priority to handing on the faith to our children and youth.

• Second, we are a community. Jesus called his disciples into a community, a fellowship with other disciples, never as isolated individuals. We are bonded together by love for one another. We value diversity among us and strive to have real harmony.

• Third, we welcome. We welcome one another as members of one family. We welcome others, regardless of who they are: Rich, poor, straight, gay, married, single, divorced, widowed, sinners and saints. We make concrete efforts to welcome others to our church, especially the unchurched and those who have left the church for some reason. We do not discriminate and we do not condemn or judge anyone. 

That tells us who we are. The second part of the mission statement tells us what we do.

• First and primarily, we worship God. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole soul and with all your strength.” We strive to worship God with joyful and grateful hearts, hope filled spirits and with reverence and devotion. We come together as a community where everyone has a role—including the young—and we strive to participate actively, not only with our inner spirits, but also with our bodies expressed in movement, dance, music and song.

• Our second mission is to serve others. Jesus said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Our worship leads us to serve others, especially those in need—our family members, those in our parish community, our neighborhood and beyond. We express our love in concrete acts of service. 

Undergirding our Mission Statement is a foundation made up of the following Six Core Values:

• We are Catholic. As Catholics, we have a long, rich heritage. We are bonded together in a universal Church with over 1 billion members. We recognize the authority of the Pope and Bishops as our leaders and teachers. We strive to grow in appreciating and understanding the Church’s teachings.

• We are caring Christians. When one member hurts, we all hurt and we express our compassionate care in concrete acts. We also care for God’s wonderful gift of creation and strive to use the earth’s resources responsibly.

• We give of our time, talents, treasure and witness. We give our time generously to build up the Body of Christ. We each have some talent, some gift to help create a vibrant church. We give from our treasure by striving to follow the biblical mandate of tithing one-tenth of our treasure to God as grateful Christians. Finally, we give witness to our faith in daily life.

• We share the Good News in word and deed. As people called to mission in daily life, we share the good news of the Gospel with others—sometimes with words, but always in deeds. As St. Francis of Assisi said, “Go out into the world and preach the Gospel, if necessary, use words.” In the midst of life’s troubles we give witness to our faith and hope in the goodness of God.

• We reach out to the local community. We work together with other Christians and people of goodwill to make our communities better and to serve the needs of others.

• We serve others through social ministry. We serve by fulfilling in concrete ways the corporal works of mercy as Jesus taught in Matthew 25: Feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick. We also serve by working together with other Christians and people of good will to bring about justice and peace in our world.