Forming Families of Faith and Inspiring Young Adults
Many families in our Diocese rely on their parishes to prepare their children for the sacraments and reinforce the religious education they received during their youth. The Diocese is dedicated to building robust religious education and youth ministry programs, which have recently served as many as 16,500 kindergarten through 12th grade students a year.
Creating and Supporting a Community That Leads Others to Discover, Follow, Worship and Share Jesus
"Being a disciple means being constantly ready to bring the love of Jesus to others, and this can happen unexpectedly and in any place: on the street, in a city square, during work, on a journey."
- Pope Francis, Evangeli Gaudium
Create and Support dynamic communities of discipleship by:
OUR GOAL: $3,500,000
The one by One campaign will place particular emphasis on the continuing formation of catechists and catechetical leaders. Funds will be used to enhance regional teams, providing greater opportunities for in-person development and leadership, and to ensure parish catechists have appropriate theological formation through an online resource available bilingually. Given the significant growth our Diocese has experienced in its Hispanic, Native American, Hmong, Black and other ethnic populations, we will also prioritize meeting their specific needs with specialized materials, training and outreach to meet them where they are.
The religious education of children is most successful when their families are also engaged and active in their faith because children are more likely to retain and practice what is reinforced at home. The one by One campaign will provide funds for evangelizing and forming marriages and families into households that discover, follow, worship and share Christ with others. By enhancing family life ministries, we will build stronger marriages, engage parents in the life of the Church and support them as they raise their children in today’s challenging world.
We must also support the spiritual development of our young adults through targeted outreach. Young adults, especially, spend meaningful time online, and we must be dynamically present in the online spaces where they gather as well as enhance the ways in which we engage with them in person. The one by One campaign will create a digital ministry where staff members can evangelize this important demographic. Funds will also ensure the regional communities that currently engage young adults reflect the breadth of cultures that enliven our Diocese, and that parish staff members and key volunteers are equipped to prioritize reaching out to these future leaders who will continue to grow our Church.
Questions about discipleship and evangelization
We are each called, one by one, to become disciples of Jesus that share our faith with those who need it most. By sharing our faith with others we have the opportunity to change the lives of others as well as deepen our own connection to Jesus. This is exciting and is central to what our faith is about, leading all people to the Kingdom of God.
The evangelization plans are aimed at planning for the future of the Church by meeting people where they are at and walking with them as they journey closer to the love of God. For example, a few of the initiatives focus on additional outreach to engage diverse ethnic communities, further equipping and strengthening our rural parishes and expanding healing ministries throughout the Diocese. It is through these programs we will be able to make a bigger impact on the lives of more people in our communities.
As missionary disciples we serve Christ in the world by serving others. To fully serve those with joy of the Gospel, we must provide support for parishes to increase their outreach in our communities.