St. James is a parish with a rich history of living the Catholic Social Teachings at the corner of 39th and Troost in Kansas City, MO. We have a very active community comprising approximately 200 families spread over 72 zip codes in the metro area. Many of our members have years of experience volunteering or working for the Catholic Church. St. James is looking for a leader to take us into the next phase of our parish life. This is a bold move since no Catholic Church in our diocese uses this leadership model. We want to make Pope Francis’s call to be a “Synodal Church” a reality at St. James. He calls the way of synodality “what God expects of the church in the third millennium”, stressing that “the synodal process should be not an occasional experience, but one of structural change, ‘where all can feel at home and participate.’”
A qualified person must be Catholic and able to:
1. Be passionate about changing the parish from a lay-led parish to a community-led synodal parish.
2. Identify gifts in each parishioner and invite them to use their gifts to fulfill the parish mission.
3. Engage all parishioners in the decision-making process on major parish topics.
4. Provide training and support to parishioners at all levels of the parish ministry.
5. Represent the interest of the parish to the diocese and broader community.
In the past, St. James has had a leader who was a “Parish Administrator.” We now seek a “Parish Synodal Director” to organize our gifts to make a difference in Kansas City and the world. For more information or a complete job description, contact Bill Cordaro at Bulletin@StJKC.org or call the parish at 816-561-8512.