St. Anne Parish Welcomes New Crucifix
On September 19-20, St. Anne Parish welcomed and blessed its new crucifix, another important step in the renovation of our church worship space.

When the renovation of the church church interior ws done in the summer of 2008, a search began for an appropriate crucifix. The original crucifix, installed when the church was built in 1962, was only three feet tall. A replica of the original had been made and used as a processional cross, and kept on a stand in the sanctuary. But the architect’s design for the renovation called for a large, life-sized crucifix to hang on the east wall, near the baptismal font.

Pastoral Coordinator Ron Ryan was familiar with the work of artist Alexandre Safonov. Safonov had carved a statue for St. Brendan Parish in 1996, as well as several other works for parishes in the Seattle Archdiocese. Born in Russia, Alexandre attended the Maikop School of Art and the Krasnodar Institute of Art in the 1970s. In the 1980s he began doing sacred art for the Russian Orthodox Church, creating intricate floor-to-ceiling screens for their churches. With the loosening of government control, many of the churches began to bring out their icons that had been in hiding during the seventy years of communist domination. Mr. Safonov worked at restoring damaged icons and copying those that were beyond repair. He reports that he learned much about sacred art from the Orthodox monks. “Before you take a brush in hand, you must pray and fast. This is the most important thing. You must be a good artist, but people will never feel the energy of the Holy Spirit if you don’t pray and fast first!” In 1996 Alexandre immigrated to the United States, and became a US citizen in January 2000. He now resides in San Diego, California.

Working with a committee of parishioners, Mr. Safonov came up with a design for a corpus for the St. Anne crucifix. As he began carving in June, he asked for the community’s prayers for his work. He also asked that water from St. Anne’s baptismal font be sent to him so that the wood from which the corpus could be blessed with it.

Carved of linden wood, the corpus is traditional in design, conveying the quiet dignity of the crucified Lord just before the moment of his death. Without neglecting the suffering involved in the passion, it expresses the triumph of the cross. The five foot, six inch corpus is mounted on a simple cross of walnut.

On the weekend of September 19 & 20, the parish celebrated the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross in conjunction with the blessing of the new crucifix. The crucifix was placed on the altar platform. After his homily Parochial Vicar Father John Bowman blessed the cross. “Father, bless this cross, the sign of our redemption. Make it a sacred reminder of the passion of our Lord through which he revealed the full mystery of your love…May this cross help us, as individuals and as a community, live as faithful followers of our crucified and risen Lord.”

On Saturday evening, the artist, Alexandre Safonov shared about his experience of carving the crucifix. “This is the first life-sized corpus I have carved. I have carved smaller, and larger—even one that was nine feet tall. But there was something very special about carving this crucifix…It was a great blessing for me. Thank you for allowing me to do this for you.”

Mr. Safonov shared that as he finished the corpus, he wrote a prayer in his native Russian, that says in part: “God, may all who look upon the face of your Son on this crucifix be blessed by you and receive your mercy.” The prayer was then sealed in a space in the back of the corpus. Mr. Safonov also asked the community to think of him once in awhile when they see the crucifix, and to pray for him.

After the weekend, the cross will be hung on the east wall of the nave, near the baptismal font, emphasizing the connection between the sacrament of baptism, in which we are joined with Christ’s death and resurrection, and the Eucharist.

St. Anne Parish Five Year Plan 2010 – 2014
Your Input Is Needed!

Brought to life by the Word of God and
nourished by the Eucharist,
we, the members of St. Anne Catholic Parish,
are committed to live out the Gospel
as listeners, learners and leaders.
We accept Christ’s mission to transform the world,
now and for future generations.

Our new parish Mission Statement holds out a wonderful vision of what God calls us to do as a community. We are a community awakened and empowered by the Eucharist which seeks to be formed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ into disciples, and then sent out to the world as apostles. We want our lives to make a difference in our church, our homes, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, and our world. The Mission Statement serves as touchstones that we can return to for inspiration; it also serves as the starting point for planning our future.

A Five Year Plan is a strategy for making the vision of our Mission Statement into our reality. “Over the next five years, what can we do that will help us become the community we are called to be? What can we do to accomplish our mission?”

This June, Pastoral Coordinator Ron Ryan formed a Steering Committee to develop a Five Year Plan for the years 2010 – 2014. The Committee is made up of two representatives from each of the seven parish councils and commissions. The goal is for the Five Year Plan to be complete and ready for implementation by January 2010. (St. Anne School will also be developing its new Five Year Plan to be ready for publication mid-2010. The School plan and the Parish plan will be separate documents, but will share common sections where Parish and School concerns overlap.)

Typically the first step in creating a five year plan is to decide on general areas of focus. Then, within each focus, goals are established describing what is to be accomplished in each area. Next, objectives state how the goals will be accomplished. And finally, timeframes and responsibility are assigned for each objective. The Five Year Plan Steering Committee will over see the process of determining the areas of focus, writing the goals, and developing the objectives. Parish leadership groups and the parish staff will then work to determine timeframes and responsibility.

In commissioning the Five Year Plan Steering Committee, Ron Ryan specifically asked the committee to use the Mission and Vision Statements as the foundation for the plan. “There is a natural tendency to focus on the needs that we are currently facing,” he wrote. “Many people will suggest goals and objectives to address problems. However, such an approach focuses on the present rather than on our vision. We do not necessarily need to fix every problem or address every need. If we focus on our mission and plan accordingly, many of our problems will be solved in the process; or, we may find that they are no longer an issue.”

The Committee met throughout the summer to study the Mission and Vision Statements and to discuss their implications for the future. In its initial meetings, the Five Year Plan Steering Committee determined four key areas of focus, based on the Parish Mission Statement.

Brought to life by the Word of God and nourished by the Eucharist…
Engagement: How do we engage all our parishioners as active/involved/participating members?

…we live out the Gospel as listeners, learners and leaders…
Discipleship: How do we help all our parishioners deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ and mature in living out their baptismal call?

…we accept Christ’s mission to transform the world…
Mission: How do we help all our parishioners discern their unique role in transforming the world? How do we as a community make a difference in the world around us?

…now and for future generations.
Stability: How do we structure, manage and invest the resources we have been given so as to further
our mission as a parish?

The Committee spent the rest of the summer drafting goals and objectives for each area of focus. In October, these were submitted to the councils and commissions for their review and input. This input was then used to revise and refine the draft.

Now the Five Year Plan Committee is asking for input from all parishioners. Your comments and suggestions can help make the Five Year Plan more effective in moving St. Anne Parish towards its vision and mission.

The draft of the Five Year Plan is posted here. You are asked to please review it and share your thoughts, comments, and suggestions.
1. What do you like about the Five Year Plan?
2. What interests or energizes you?
3. What questions do you have about the future of our parish?
4. Is there anything not specifically addressed that you think needs to be?

Please join us and share your input at a Town Hall Meeting on Monday, November 9, 7:00 pm in Banchero Hall.

Or, if you are unable to attend, you can send your comments to info@stanneseattle.org.

Input can also be mailed to the Parish Office.

> download the Five Year Plan