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Currently the Welcoming Committee has twenty-four members who welcome new parishioners to St. Thomas the Apostle Parish after they have registered with the office. These new parishioners come from a wide area throughout Loudon and surrounding counties. Our mission is to make every effort to visit each new parishioner. At that visit the committee member discusses the content of a folder which is left for the new family. The folder contains information on the many ministries at the parish as well as a welcome letter from the pastor and a contact chart which shows all the members of the Parish Pastoral Council and the ministries they represent. This chart also lists the names and telephone numbers for the members of the Parish Finance Board, the Parish Stewardship Council, and the Hispanic Leadership Group (Consejo Pastoral).
The Welcoming Committee wishes to extend its welcome to all new parishioners. We hope you will enjoy St. Thomas Parish and will discover for yourselves all the different activities the parish has to offer and the love and friendliness of its members.
If you wish for more information on the Welcoming Committee, please contact Linda Sanford.
St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church is represented by approximately 25% Hispanic members. In an effort to reach out to those parishioners and to those outside of our parish who are inactive Catholics or those without a church home, St. Thomas plans to have a presence on Spanish Radio station WKZX 93.5 FM.
During the 2009/2010 budget year, St. Thomas received a $2500 grant from the diocese to use towards this ministry. St. Thomas will initiate a partnership in Spanish Radio promotion with the diocese, as well as other parishes in our diocese who are interested in Hispanic ministry.
Several Hispanic parishioners of St. Thomas have met with the diocese and together they have listened to many diverse styles of pre-recorded CD’s that are available for us to use for programming.
Local sportscaster Jim Wogan oversees production of podcasts for our website. Currently, he is busy with Faith Seeking Understanding, a weekly podcast hosted by Fr. Christian Mathis, our pastor. Fr. Christian answers questions about our faith and our role as Christians and Catholics.
Collecting pictures, articles and newspaper releases to document and preserve our parish history is an ongoing project! St. Thomas parish has grown tremendously and help is always needed to continue with this effort!
Parish leadership is asked each month to submit important meetings or events in order to compile a calendar. This calendar is submitted to the webmaster to be posted on the website, while also considering those facility listings handled by the parish office. This enables parishioners a “quick glance” of what is happening at the parish.
These volunteers attend functions arbitrarily or when called and asked to attend specific events for coverage. Specific events may be First Communion, or a visit from the Bishop, or a speaker. For larger parish events, they place their photos on a disc and leave at the parish office for Communications to use on the website, in the newsletter, press releases, or the archives.
Pat Wilson heads our parish public relations effort. The goal is to identify events and efforts that might be newsworthy to the community outside of St. Thomas, and to submit press releases to the East Tennessee Catholic, other area newspapers, radio and television stations.
The purpose is to promote the good works of St. Thomas, but to also reach out to inactive Catholics or those without a church home.
The public relations effort also promotes St. Thomas events with an invitation to those living outside our parish to participate, such as Fall Festival, Youth Group Rummage Sale, etc.
Our website is maintained by small staff of volunteers who enter and update information, produce and post live video and podcasting, and monitor feedback from users. Calendars are prepared by the communications committee and submitted for entry.
All submissions of website content are subject to approval by the pastor.
Newsworthy articles, pictures, and information are contributed by parishioners for consideration to be shared with the parish. "WAD" is printed monthly and inserted into the bulletin. It is a great source of information for parishioners. If you are interested in helping with this ministry, please contact Mary Vaughan or Linda Conrad.
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