The Catholic Church of Philadelphia has begun a renewal in which our people learn to reach out and encounter others, especially those who feel lost or disconnected.
The Trust and Hope initiative that we launched last year will, over the next 20 years, build up the Church as a community of Missionary Disciples who proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ’s love, mercy, and resurrection to a world that desperately needs it.
Ours is a local Church focused on renewal, rebuilding trust, and inviting people to a relationship with Jesus Christ!
We face the challenge of encountering the 83% of baptized Catholics who currently are not participating fully in the sacramental life of the Church. Forming our people as Missionary Disciples who will reach out to those Catholics not currently engaged with the Church, and all souls in our community, requires cultivating a new culture.
The initiative to plant the seeds of that new garden and tend to its fruits as our efforts grow, with the help of Divine Grace, began at this time last year with the pastoral letter of Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez.
His pastoral letter, Trust and Hope, is a roadmap to guide our local Church in this new mission.
“We are living in times more like the earliest Christians—times when many are living without Christ,” the Archbishop wrote. “Many Catholics have drifted away or been driven away from the practice of the faith, creating a challenging landscape. Connected more than ever by technology, people, especially the young, experience an epidemic of loneliness, anxiety, and despair. We have faced crises that have tested our faith and diminished our numbers. Yet, even amidst this suffering, hope persists. Our hope is in the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, who is always calling us home.”
The task of our renewal is to carry that hope to people who feel distant from the Church and those still seeking connection. One key way to foster those connections and build up the Church is through the planting of Missionary Hubs. Their aim is to connect various Catholic ministries within a community—schools, human services, religious communities, and parishes—and bring people closer to Jesus and one another through prayer and service.
After a year of conversations, listening, and discernment with some 15,000 people across the Church of Philadelphia last year, Archbishop Pérez identified three main components to support his plan for renewal – the planting of Missionary Hubs (five were planted last year, one in each county of the Philadelphia region); hiring missionaries and trained development directors in Catholic schools; and sustaining priestly vocations with support for our seminarians, active and retired priests.
Archbishop Pérez and Church leadership enlisted the aid of the Steier Group, a national fundraising firm that serves Catholic clients, to conduct a Campaign Planning Study. Feedback received from this study will support the goals of Trust and Hope and help shape the future of the Church of Philadelphia.
The planning study includes personal interviews as well as printed and online surveys. The goal is for Catholics and all people to learn about the Church’s proposed initiatives, prayerfully discern their involvement, and express their desire and willingness to participate in a campaign in support of those initiatives.
Sheila Rizzo, Chief Stewardship & Development Officer for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, explained that a comprehensive campaign will invite private donors, foundations, and corporations from across the Philadelphia region to support Archbishop Pérez’s innovative pastoral plan.
“Funds raised will be used to launch these initiatives and to build endowments to fund them for future generations,” said Rizzo. “A thorough planning study involving a broad array of stakeholders representative of the demographic makeup of the Church of Philadelphia will solidify the campaign’s final goal and guide our approach.”
Parishes will receive a designated share, or percentage, of the campaign funds collected at their local parish, to be used in the areas of greatest local impact. Each pastor, together with his parish leadership, will determine how these funds will best be used—whether to strengthen parish ministries, support a capital improvement, or meet another important need.
All Catholics throughout the Church of Philadelphia are encouraged to share their valuable feedback. Please click here to take the planning study survey.
Upcoming articles in CatholicPhilly will provide more details regarding the three planning study components.
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The Steier Group is a national Catholic development firm providing stewardship and development support to the Catholic Church of Philadelphia.
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