Diamond Valley Deanery

Our Vision


St Mary's Parish is a member of the Diamond Valley Deanery. As a family of parishes, the Diamond Valley Deanery is dedicated to supporting its member parishes in their commitment to the mission of Christ in the Church and the wider community; and to initiate areas of pastoral effectiveness which these members are unable to achieve individually. As a people of hope, in a spirit of hospitality, it collaboratively strives to share gifts, resources, and responsibilities so that common needs will be matched with common strengths.

What the Deanery Does and Doesn’t Do and How it Goes About it


What the Deanery does:
Projects
  • Coordinates Cross-Parish Activities
  • Sources parish initiatives/ideas and considers the merit of broader application
  • Provides standardization
  • Provides economies of scale, and rationalization & sharing of work and materials
  • Conducts analysis & planning activities

Information
  • Keeps the community/parishioners informed on what’s currently going on across the parishes, and provides contact names and addresses.
  • Provides an information source to the general public of the Mass times of all parishes and the Ministries that are serving people in and across the parishes.

Communication
  • Acts as a conduit between the Archdiocese and parishes
  • Facilitating communication between parishes

What the Deanery doesn’t do:
  • Interfere with, or do, the work of the parishes
  • Provide funds or human resources for the work of the parishes
  • Communicate information that is specifically aimed at individual parish people or groups.

How It Goes About It.

The Deanery has no physical structure, it is a committee consisting of 2 or 3 representatives from each of its 9 parishes. The committee meets about 6 times a year utilizing, on a rotational basis, parish meeting rooms. There, it determines the tasks, allocates the responsibilities and monitors progress. Each representative accordingly becomes a leader of projects/activities, recruiting volunteers, as required, who have the skills and capabilities to contribute to the undertaking of the tasks.