A Vision of a Healthy Parish

The parish leadership team keeps Christ at the forefront by prayerfully discerning God’s plan for the parish, and they follow the Holy Spirit’s direction with trust and hope that God will provide.

The parish leadership team extends its culture of health and holiness to the entire parish by equipping and empowering parish staff and volunteers.  The team knows how to identify, invite, and empower those in the community who are ready for discipleship, helping them cultivate their unique charisms to build up the parish community.

The parish is the primary place of personal encounter with Christ in the Sacraments. A healthy parish makes the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Penance freely and frequently available and encourages its members to partake in these sources of grace.

The parish calls its members to take on the mind of Christ; it fosters a Biblical worldview by providing lifelong formation, excellent Catholic education, and compelling catechesis.  

The parish invites its members into an authentic community of faith, providing large and small group settings where one can pursue Christ alongside others. The parish encourages organic gatherings of those in shared stages of life.

The parish actively fosters Holy Vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, religious life, and marriage and equips members to form healthy and holy families.  It creates opportunities for people in these vocations to live alongside one another and build up the kingdom together.

The parish fosters a welcoming environment that receives the stranger as another Christ and supplies generous hospitality, seeing everyone within the parish boundaries as needing and deserving to receive the Gospel and the Sacraments.

The parish community creates easily identifiable entry points where new members and non-members can participate and belong. Parish groups enthusiastically invite and welcome new members. 

The parish encourages and equips everyone to witness their faith in word and deed beyond the walls of the church building.

The parish addresses the material and spiritual needs of the people who live within the parish boundaries by living the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, with the conviction that God is the giver of all good gifts.

A healthy parish encourages its members to participate in the initiatives of the local deanery, the diocese, and the Universal Church.

A healthy parish clearly expresses its communion with the Roman Catholic Church by conforming its teaching and practices to the creed, church teachings, and the laws of the universal and local church.

A healthy parish invests in its liturgy so that liturgical space, action, preaching, and music properly reflect the transcendent presence of God and draw participants into prayerful worship.

A healthy parish has competent and committed staff that are justly compensated, adequate well-trained volunteers, and a functioning Pastoral Council and Finance Council.  

Mission, not money, is the driving force of a healthy parish. The parish cultivates stewardship and operates within its means.

The parish maintains and improves its facility's attractiveness, good repair, and cleanliness. The parish does not unduly defer maintenance and repairs. 

A healthy parish consistently and frequently communicates its sacred purpose and apostolic values. It communicates openly with its members and publishes an annual report to parishioners.