The Nurturing Joy Initiative

Phase One: Encounter ResourcesPhase Two: Ignite Resources Phase Three: Grow Resources
As a mission-oriented church forming disciples of Jesus, our diocese wants to continue building a culture of hospitality. The Nurturing Joy Initiative will support Families of Parishes as they boost the sense of welcome and community that parishioners and visitors feel when they are in our churches, our facilities and at our events. This is a need for our Families of Parishes that has been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic.   

Nurturing Joy is a three-phase initiative that will provide ideas and tools for parish teams to embrace families, welcome, form and empower our parishioners, and grow wide as we invite and evangelize the communities we belong to.  

For each phase we will provide formation opportunities and practical resources that will include checklists, communication tools, and liturgy resources. It is not our goal to increase the number of events or programs, but to ensure everything we already do is very intentional. Our goal is to provide a menu of opportunities that parish teams will be able to select from for optimal application in each Family of Parishes.  

Phase One: Encounter - begins June 12, 2022 (Trinity Sunday)  

The focus of Phase One, “Encounter,” is about being better at human encounters. It will emphasize hospitality and the way we interact with the people in our communities. Some of these actions can be as simple as how we answer the phone or greet people when they come to Mass or another event.  

Phase Two: Ignite - begins October 9, 2022 (Thanksgiving Weekend)  

The focus of this phase is empowering and forming the people in our parishes. We cannot build a culture of hospitality without the intentional commitment of our parishioners. During this phase we will look at gift-based volunteering and the formation of volunteers.  

Phase Three: Grow - begins February 22, 2023 (Ash Wednesday)  

This phase is focused on intentionally welcoming of people from outside of our current parishioners. Our tools and resources will include communications, best practices for invitation, and “easy-entry” opportunities for people who are not attending Mass regularly to encounter Christ and each other.  

We look forward to working together with parish teams as we renew our communities.