The Five Stages

The Hope in the Future journey is broken down into five stages:

Stage 1: Celebrating our Parish

The First Stage places an emphasis on prayer. Invoking the power of the Holy Spirit to engage all people of the Diocese in this process.Key to this stage is to recognize and celebrate the Missionary Activity that already takes place in our parishes.

We will seek to engage clergy in renewing and developing leadership styles.

Stage 2: Harvesting our talents

The Church teaches that it is the mission of all people to proclaim the Gospel. Stage Two looks to develop this mission.

During Stage Two, there will be an emphasis on encouraging all people in our parish to discern their gifts and put them at the service of the Church, including sharing in the leadership of the parish.

Stage 3: Living the Sunday Eucharist

The weekend liturgy is, in a real sense, the shop window for the parish.

The Third Stage will provide an emphasis on how we can build on this Celebration to ensure that our parishes are mission oriented through our welcome, our liturgy and our hospitality.

Stage 4: Proclaiming the Good News

Our schools and the celebrations of Baptism, weddings, funerals, Christmas and Easter Liturgies, bring a significant number of people into contact with our parish. These times provide us with opportunities to engage people with the Good News of Jesus Christ. The Fourth Stage will place an emphasis on providing formation to deepen this engagement.

Stage 5: Sharing the Hope

Our parishes already make an enormous contribution to the local community. The Fifth Stage will place an emphasis on building on existing outreach and resourcing and providing new opportunities for the parish to be a beacon of hope within the local area.

DOWNLOAD (PDF) – OUTLINE OF A 5 STAGE PLAN

DOWNLOAD (PDF) – 5 STAGE ROAD MAP

“I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord.”

Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium