Catholic Leadership Institute wants to help you find the resources you need to help you move the needle on the areas of opportunity your parish has identified. This page includes some possible resources including third party publications and programs focused on improving the likelihood of parishioners to say their parish helps them grow spiritually as a Catholic. These ideas are a starting place, and we recommend checking with your diocesan staff to see if they have any additional insight or resources for you, or if there are any existing partnerships or affiliations with successful programs in your locality.

Catholic Leadership Institute Resources

CLI Resources - Drivers for Parish Helps Me Grow

In this video, a CLI Consultant reviews what regression analysis has shown to be particular drivers for parishioners to say their parish helps them grow spiritually.

Driver 1 - Recommend pastor

The single most important survey item that drives people to respond that they would recommend their parish to a friend is a positive response to recommending their pastor. A parishioner who says they feel positively about their pastor is four times more likely to say their parish helps them grow spiritually.

Driver 2 - Parish forms me as a Disciple

Parishioners who indicate that their parish helps to form them as a disciple are twice as likely to say their parish helps them grow spiritually as a Catholic.

Catholic Leadership Institute has a number of resources to help you grow in your discipleship formation. Click here to view these resources.

Driver 3 - Welcoming Community

A parishioner who responds positively to the prompt that their parish helps them to them feel part of a community by making them feel welcome and accepted are 1.8 times more likely to recommend say their parish helps them grow spiritually.

Find resources for Welcoming Community here.

Driver 4 - Sunday Experience

A parishioner who responds positively to the prompt that their parish helps them grow spiritually as a Catholic through providing vibrant & engaging Sunday Masses are 1.8 times more likely to say their parish helps them grow spiritually.

A vibrant and engaging Sunday Mass experience is not just a single component, but entails a holistic view of the parishioner experience, from 'parking lot to pew.'

If you have identified this as a potential opportunity for growth, Catholic Leadership Institute has put together a number of resources to help you address the Sunday Mass experience.

Find resources for the Sunday Mass experience here.

Driver 5 - Preaching and Homilies Connect with Everyday Life

A parishioner who responds positively to the prompt that their priests' homilies connect with their everyday life are one and a half times more likely to recommend say their parish helps them grow spiritually.

Other Resources

Publications

Encounter with Christ Sacrament Preparation (Directors Guide and other resources) - Our Sunday Visitor
Encounter with Christ is a complete resource for parish leaders to fully implement this Sacrament preparation program within the whole parish community. Includes catechist formation and training, and offers parent and family sessions plus child and family retreats. Includes English/Spanish handouts.

Click here to find out more from the publisher.
Latino Catholicism - Liguori
In this abridged version made available in both English and Spanish, renowned author and Notre Dame scholar Timothy Matovina provides a comprehensive overview of the Latino Catholic experience in America from the 16th century to today and offers the most in-depth examination to date of the significant ways the U.S. Catholic Church, its evolving Latino majority, and the American culture are mutually transforming one another.

Click here to find out more from the publisher.
Catholic Parent Know-How - OSV
Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Parent Know-How is a catechetical series magazine format featuring short, clear, practical articles.

It brings together solid Church teaching with inspirational ways to make God's presence and love known to parents and godparents preparing for the baptism of a child. Included are practical pointers, scripture, and more!

Click here to find out more from the publisher.

Programs and Tools

Called and Gifted Workshop - Catherine of Siena Institute
The Called & Gifted™ Discernment Process has been used since 1993 by over 100,000 lay, ordained, and religious Catholics and other Christians around the world. It is designed to help Christians discern the presence of charisms in their lives. Charisms, or spiritual gifts, are special abilities given to all Christians by the Holy Spirit to give them power both to represent Christ and to be a channel of God's goodness for people. Whether extraordinary or ordinary, all charisms ought to be exercised in the service of God (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2003).

Click here to find out more from the publisher.
That Man is You - Paradisus Dei
That Man is You! honestly addresses the pressures and temptations that men face in our modern culture, especially those relating to their roles as husbands and fathers. The program harmonizes current social and medical science with the teachings of the Church and the wisdom of the saints to develop the vision of man fully alive.

Click here to find out more from the publisher.
Ascent parish mission - L'Alto Institute
The goal of Ascent is to give Catholics that definitive encounter with Jesus Christ that will change their life forever. You just choose the day and time; they bring the speaker and worship leader. They also help you with a custom marketing plan that will help you bring in more than just the “regulars.”

Click here to find out more from the publisher.