Our Lady of the Black Hills exists to proclaim the joy of the Gospel to all creation and to transform lives with the Father's mercy.

Our Sacred Purpose

Our Lady of the Black Hills exists to proclaim the joy of the Gospel to all creation and to transform lives with the Father’s mercy.

Vision

Build with the Mercy of the Father

Core Values

MERCY – God’s steadfast love for us and our imitation of His love for others.

• We will listen daily to the Word of God to receive His
• We will share mercy through caring and compassionate ministries.
• We will seek repentance for our faults and forgiveness of ourselves and others who have wronged us.
• We will emphasize the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
• We will invite everyone to receive the outpouring of God’s mercy through the
• We will reach out to show our understanding and compassion for those who are not able to receive all the

STEWARDSHIP – Gratefully acknowledge that God provides us with everything and calls us to care for and share these gifts.

• Each day we will examine our generosity as stewards by recalling the abundance of God’s
• We will make annual commitments to deepen our spiritual lives and to inspire lively
• We will share generously the gifts God has given us individually and as a
• We will form dedicated disciples who courageously proclaim the gospel to everyone they
• We will welcome all with joyful hospitality.
• We will be co-responsible for the Church’s mission.

PRAYER – Intimate communication and communion with God.

• We will begin each parish meeting with 15 minutes of prayer and reflection with
• Through daily prayer we will open ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit and to God’s will.
• We will consistently provide prayer experiences in faith formation and
• We will attend Mass
• We will deepen our relationship with Christ through intentional times of personal and family prayer each

EXCELLENCE– Striving for the highest ministry standards to give glory to God.

• We will equip members to know, to understand, and to utilize their talents and
• We will focus and share OLBH’s vision, purpose, and values with all members.
• We will view the ministry standards through the lens of vision, purpose, and values.
• We will be faithful to the voice of God as expressed in the teachings of the Catholic
• We will train the members to help them succeed in the delivery of their ministries.
• We will evaluate annually the work of all the ministries for continuous improvement.

Pastoral Priorities 

Over the next three years, as members of Our Lady of the Black Hills Catholic Church, we will focus our efforts on the following three pastoral priorities and associated goals to fulfill the vision of our parish.

Priority #1:  Stewardship – Forming Disciples to be Stewards

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Pet. 4:10).

“Once one chooses to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, stewardship is not an option” (Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response).

A.   GOAL: 160-180 individuals growing as disciples by June 1, 2021.

• Offer an adult retreat on discipleship
• Supplement the faith formation program for adults with weekday small faith formation groups to achieve an increase of 100 to 120 participants by May 1, 2021.
• Offer classes on prayer annually for all

B.   GOAL: 110-125 adults living a stewardship lifestyle by June 1, 2021.

• Offer Called & Gifted workshops every two
• Offer Financial Peace University every two
• Call all inactive families currently registered at OLBH at least once annually.
• Increase the number of families utilizing electronic contributions to parish by 20 families per year by June 1,
• Visibly incorporate OLBH into 2-3 Piedmont Valley events annually until May 31, 2022.

Priority #2:  Evangelization – Reaching out with Boldness and Mercy

“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31).

A.     GOAL: Offer the full ChristLife series in 2021-2022

• Encourage those who participated in ChristLife in previous years for become active promoters and supporters of the ChristLife process.

B.     GOAL: Welcome others in the parish community

• Offer coffee and donuts after 8 am Masses
• Provide greeters for funerals

C.     GOAL: Share the joy of Christ with others

• Hand out books at Easter and Christmas
• Send mailings to Piedmont, Black Hawk, and Summerset at Christmas
• Go Advent Caroling
• Make monthly parishioner highlights on the OLBH facebook page
• Make a welcome video highlighting Church art and features by Fall 2022

D.   GOAL: Recruit 4-5 new Evangelization Commission members by September 1,2021.

• Information at Stewardship Fair and follow up.
• Follow up with invitation to attend the meeting to meet members and observe.

Priority #3:  Social Justice – Serving God’s Beloved Children

“Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:40).

A.   GOAL: Create and implement a plan to raise awareness of Catholic social justice teachings and issues by June 1,2022.

• Establish a Speaker Series – 4 speakers a year discussing Catholic Social Justice issues (local, state, national, and international) by June 1, 2022.
• Schedule 4 homilies per year dedicated to Catholic Social Justice issues by January 1,
• Increase awareness of availability of homebound/nursing home ministry by communication (bulletin, website, etc.) by June 1,2021.
• Increase community awareness of the Piedmont Valley Ministerial Association (PVMA) food pantry by posters in community locations by June 1,

B.   GOAL: Increase by 40-50 the parishioners participating in social justice activities by June 1, 2021.

• Increase participation of OLBH members in the PVMA food pantry by 5 members by June 1,
• Encourage parishioners to support at least one social justice issue per year that is local, diocesan, or national starting on June 1,