Strengthen, nourish and support ministry by focusing on the spiritual and professional formation of priests, deacons, consecrated religious women and men and lay ministers.

Objective 1: Provide comprehensive spiritual formation, leadership and professional development for priests, deacons and religious.

• Amazing Parish is excited to announce the release of their first three video modules of AP Online. These first modules include their most popular Amazing Parish conference content, featuring Patrick Lencioni and focusing on teamwork. AP Online is designed to walk parish leaders and teams through videos and exercises, giving them the tools they need to build an amazing parish. AP Online is made available free of charge thanks to the generosity of donors who believe your parish can and should be amazing.

• The international clergy participate in formation/culture awareness programs.
• Priests, deacons and religious attend spiritual formation, leadership and professional development opportunities in the diocese.
• There is an increase in the number of priests that participate in support groups and spiritual direction.

Objective 2: Provide comprehensive spiritual formation, leadership and professional development for lay ministers.

Resource Spotlight:

• The Catherine of Siena Institute (CSI) is an affiliated ministry of the Western Dominican Province dedicated to equipping parishes for the evangelization and formation of lay Catholics for the sake of their mission to the world.
• Forming Intentional Disciples is a book designed to help Church leaders, parish staff and all Catholics transform parish life from within. Drawing upon her fifteen years of experience with the Catherine of Siena Institute, Sherry Weddell leads readers through steps that will help Catholics enter more deeply into a relationship with God and the river of apostolic creativity, charisms, and vocation that flow from that relationship for the sake of the Church and the world. Spanish edition and companion study guides also available.
• In his game-changing book Divine Renovation, Fr. James Mallon offers a blueprint for parishes to go beyond maintaining their buildings and meeting the needs of their parishioners. He believes the key to being a Church that is alive and relevant is for parishes to embrace their mission, which is to make disciples. This step-by-step guidebook for transforming your parish is packed full of information, ideas and examples, and it’s doable.
• The Assembly of Catholic Professionals (ACP) meets each quarter and features dynamic speakers. Fellowship, networking and formation on our identity as lay believers and community leaders are the pillars of ACP.

Desired Outcome:

• Lay ministers attend spiritual formation, leadership and professional development opportunities in the diocese.