Appendix D

Ideas for Action Steps at the Parish Level

Evangelization / Discipleship / Formation / Catechesis / Devotions and Traditions

  • Retreats to motivate and awaken people with continuous and constant formation/accompaniment. Consider small retreats, brief opportunities to escape the day’s distractions
  • Create teams that visit families, pray with them, give them some formation at home, invite them to parish events (Consider Joe Paprocki’s books from Loyola Press). Go on mission in the Hispanic/Latino sense – reach out to the peripheries. Form but also feed these ministers.
  • Constantly offer opportunities for kerygma, include ecclesial movements, children and youth
  • Encourage the community to pray more with some short-term challenges, or by signing up to pray at a certain time/day
  • Form parents on how to share the faith and form their children
  • Strengthen community among those who already come to Mass, to create more trust among them, to become more involved in their lives
  • Offer continuous formation and training opportunities, start, even with a few, so that you can gradually invite new people to participate more
  • Share Hispanic/Latino traditions and devotions with the rest of the parish
  • Communicate to the parishioners on an ongoing basis about the groups and ecclesial movements that are in the parish and what they do, frequent invitations during Mass.
  • Use social media to reach the community.

Youth & Young Adult Ministry

  • Incorporate more community service opportunities for youth
  • Invite parents to participate about once a month in formation for young people
  • Help young people themselves to be missionaries and invite people they know
  • Form and encourage more youth and young adults to be altar servers
  • Include activities that attract their attention such as sports, always with some prayer and formation included
  • Offer workshops or incorporate into your classes formation about how to pray (not just recite prayers)

Family Life / Vocations / Marriage / Natural Family Planning

  • Create family ministries, a team of mentor couples, to help couples with problems and help parents to educate and discipline and form their children
  • Accompany and form families; go to their homes individually or have small groups in homes

Catholic Charities / Social Concerns / Family Life

  • Organize Alcoholics Anonymous groups in Spanish in parishes
  • Form psychological / spiritual support groups for couples and families
  • Offer talks on all the dangers of technology and the health of young people for parents, invite teachers or police officers and teach parents how to protect and monitor; share this information more often at Mass, in bulletins, social media, etc.
  • Give workshops about how to manage money, make budgets, achieve goals, etc.
  • Share information often about the community assistance that already exists (for illnesses, medical care, financial aid, etc.) and at the same time make everyone aware that they should only ask for what they need
  • Share information in simple language, easy-to-share. Many people don’t attend talks and workshops, so we need to offer something shorter and simpler.

Liturgy / Music

  • Train liturgical ministers (altar servers, lectors, Eucharistic ministers, greeters). Start with those who are already serving and then look for ways to invite/encourage others.
  • Train those who lead the music in Spanish Masses (choirs and musicians)

Stewardship / Collaboration / Ecclesial Integration / Formation of Leaders

  • Offer ongoing opportunities for bilingual formation and training for leaders.
  • Prepare and offer an induction for each ministry in the parish, when someone new joins they are better prepared to participate