Dig a Little Deeper

Every month I gather with a few members of our team and walk through some elements of Conversation and Emotional Intelligence. We take an hour to reflect on what’s worked well this past month and learn about a new area where we can grow as a team. In the previous twelve months these monthly sessions have fundamentally changed the way this team relates to one another and other teams in the company.

Stewardship: Time and Talent

One of the most common responses to our survey question “What would allow you to volunteer more at the parish” is a write-in: “If someone called me back.” UGH, doesn’t that just hit you right in the middle of the chest. Sometimes people don’t get a call or email back to signing up because they’ve written illegibly and although we tried, we didn’t succeed. Sometimes they never responded to our emails or voicemails – communication is a two-way street.

Your Parish Mission

A few days ago a co-worker sent me a link to a podcast where the guest mentioned a book he’d written about “Catholics after Covid” so I did some internet sleuthing and ended up reading an eBook. Isn’t that how time on the internet always goes?

Try Something New

One of the most common comments on surveys when asked about “Adult Education Topics” is “Basics of the Faith.” I’ve written about this recently, you might remember. Then I saw this new initiative that launched right after Labor Dat called “Real + True.” It’s an effort to take the Catechism and make it come alive, to showcase it’s relevancy.

Restful Spirituality

dozens of boxes, shelved hundreds of books, hung way too many picture frames, and put together a lot of furniture. Then I ran a virtual three-day conference followed by a week in Indiana meeting with parishes. That was all just the first three weeks of June!

4 Question Feedback

Will you take just five minutes to answer four questions about Transform Your Parish?

A Six Week Option

thought about my reply to that question and issue (not a unique one) I came up with the following idea: Six Week’s on the Eucharist (or fill in the topic of your choice).

Welcoming Language

A few years ago I wrote a piece of Stewardship Wisdom about language called “Inside Catholic Baseball” (and I even revised it once – which I’m going to do again today). Last week a co-worker sent me a video about hospitality that remarked on the words we use (or do use) for people to come to our parishes. Think about your parish, what signs point you to the office? The Church? The Restrooms? Meeting rooms? The Cry Room?

Three Thoughts on Evangelization

I had three thoughts on evangelization that I wanted to share this week. Now is the right time to share because now is the right time to evangelize!!!

Between Corn and Soybeans

I spent the last two weeks driving the back roads of Indiana and Illinois farm country. I saw a lot of corn fields and soybean fields, and I hate to admit it took me longer than I’d like to admit about how to tell the difference. (It helps that corn is a lot taller now than soybeans!) I couldn’t help but think about these small rural parishes in farm country that I’m traveling to though. Most of them feel ignored by big city parishes, wealthy suburban parishes, and even the Diocese. They’re hard to travel to when there’s not an interstate in site for miles and even finding a gas station can be rather complicated on a long trip!