5 priorities for the local Catholic Church: New Orleans Archbishop Aymond
Following over a year of prayer, consultation and hard work, New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond will formally announce the vision and priorities that will guide the ministry of the local Catholic Church for the next several years at 11 am Mass on Sunday, May 24 at St. Louis Cathedral. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, NOLA.com l The Times-Picayune)
New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond announced Friday five priorities that will guide the ministry of the local Catholic Church for the next several years. Aymond, in a phone interview, said the priorities are the result of more than a year of prayer, consultation and dialogue with the laity in New Orleans.
"We spoke with folks in 10 geographic areas and asked three things: What is the church doing well, what can we do better, and what are we not doing that we believe God would want us to do?" Aymond said. "What we realized is that the priorities could be summarized in a unifying vision: Encountering Jesus and witnessing with joy."
Aymond will formally announce the vision and priorities for the ministry Sunday (May 24) at the 11 a.m. Mass at St. Louis Cathedral, which will be televised by WLAE-TV and streamed live at arch-no.org.
The five priorities for the future ministry are:
1. Make the Church a more welcoming community
"That means not only opening ourselves to those who come in on Sunday, but realizing there is a great deal of diversity in our community in terms of race and ethnicity and culture," Aymond said. "It means trying to bring people together in the spirit of unity within our city's diversity."
2. Foster in people a deeper encounter or relationship with Christ
"For those who already know him, we want to provide more opportunities through Bible study to have a more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ," Aymond said. "To those who are away from the church, who may have been hurt hurt by the church, or who have grown cold in their relationship with God—we want to teach them how to pray and read scriptures and celebrate God's love and sacraments."
3. Pay special attention to youth and young adults.
"We realized we need to help young kids learn that Christ loves them and that he invites them into the church, " Aymond said. "We also have to recognize that families have changed in the last 10 or 20 years, and learn how we can nurture family life today. Those that are healthy, how can we enrich them more? Those that are struggling, how can we help them? One way of doing so is through our Catholic counseling programs."
4. Prepare servant leaders
'We are asking parishes, schools and Catholic institutions to each year identify a person or two who they think could serve as a priest, deacon or member of the lay ministry," Aymond said. "We want to find lay people who are interested in being ministers so that they can minister with us."
5. Be a voice and witness for Catholic social teaching
"Pope Francis says he dreams of a church that is poor and serves the poor," Aymond said. "We as a church must find the poor around us, especially those who are invisible — the undocumented immigrants, those with disabilities, victims of human trafficking — and reach out to them. We want to minister to the those on the fringes of society and be for them the compassion of Christ."
"We spoke with folks in 10 geographic areas and asked three things: What is the church doing well, what can we do better, and what are we not doing that we believe God would want us to do?" Aymond said. "What we realized is that the priorities could be summarized in a unifying vision: Encountering Jesus and witnessing with joy."
Aymond will formally announce the vision and priorities for the ministry Sunday (May 24) at the 11 a.m. Mass at St. Louis Cathedral, which will be televised by WLAE-TV and streamed live at arch-no.org.
The five priorities for the future ministry are:
1. Make the Church a more welcoming community
"That means not only opening ourselves to those who come in on Sunday, but realizing there is a great deal of diversity in our community in terms of race and ethnicity and culture," Aymond said. "It means trying to bring people together in the spirit of unity within our city's diversity."
2. Foster in people a deeper encounter or relationship with Christ
"For those who already know him, we want to provide more opportunities through Bible study to have a more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ," Aymond said. "To those who are away from the church, who may have been hurt hurt by the church, or who have grown cold in their relationship with God—we want to teach them how to pray and read scriptures and celebrate God's love and sacraments."
3. Pay special attention to youth and young adults.
"We realized we need to help young kids learn that Christ loves them and that he invites them into the church, " Aymond said. "We also have to recognize that families have changed in the last 10 or 20 years, and learn how we can nurture family life today. Those that are healthy, how can we enrich them more? Those that are struggling, how can we help them? One way of doing so is through our Catholic counseling programs."
4. Prepare servant leaders
'We are asking parishes, schools and Catholic institutions to each year identify a person or two who they think could serve as a priest, deacon or member of the lay ministry," Aymond said. "We want to find lay people who are interested in being ministers so that they can minister with us."
5. Be a voice and witness for Catholic social teaching
"Pope Francis says he dreams of a church that is poor and serves the poor," Aymond said. "We as a church must find the poor around us, especially those who are invisible — the undocumented immigrants, those with disabilities, victims of human trafficking — and reach out to them. We want to minister to the those on the fringes of society and be for them the compassion of Christ."
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