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Goals and the Planning Process

Our Plan - VISION 2000

Goal 1: The Church of Phoenix will build, bless, and become a prayerful community that unifies by sharing cultural diversity in various forms of prayer. Through Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist, the people of the Church of Phoenix are committed to building a prayerful community that joyfully celebrates its cultural diversity. We are incredibly blessed with people of many rich ethnic and cultural backgrounds. We must constantly strive to find ways to share and learn about each other's heritage, to honor and support the different cultures within the diocese, and to promote evangelization. While we come from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, our Christian faith binds us together to proclaim the reign of God. We are "one body, many parts." Our common Christian faith provides the bond that strengthens us to be "salt, light, and yeast" for our world.

Goal 2: The Church of Phoenix will develop a comprehensive leadership identification and education process for the Diocese. The Catholic Diocese of Phoenix strives for strong pastoral leadership through a dedicated clergy and an empowered laity faithful to their baptismal call and tradition. Christian leaders serve the Church by serving the needs of others. They "give back the gifts God gave them (I Peter 4:10)." Leadership is closely linked to stewardship. Leadership is defined by responsible action, not position or intention. Everyone should play a leadership role in achieving the Church's mission by being involved and by sharing their gifts and talents with others.

Goal 3: The Church of Phoenix will develop a comprehensive plan to provide equitable distribution of resources in the diocese. Our mission statement challenges all members of the Phoenix Diocese to "distribute justly our resources with the poor and to share with each other the gifts God has given us." This is the essence of stewardship. We are of "one Church and one body," and must nourish and support each other's basic needs. Equitable distribution is the sharing of God's gifts across the diocese and within vicariates. God's gifts are numerous. Financial resources are important, but individual talents, expertise, energy, and time are equally valuable. We need to promote and foster reciprocity between those who give and those who receive.

Goal 4: The Church of Phoenix will labor to make the Catholic Church as a living, active, and positive force in today's society. We are a people who believe that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. In this context, the people of the Diocese of Phoenix have a true sense of Catholic identity and responsibility grounded in our Catholic teachings and traditions. We strive to demonstrate our Catholic identity and responsibility in our homes, parishes, neighborhoods, workplaces, communities, and nation. We will share the Catholic vision in respectful dialogue with members of other Christian churches and other faith traditions. We commit ourselves to actively living out the message of the Gospel as we put the values of Jesus Christ into practice in our daily lives. Rooted in a rich tradition the Church is evolving as a living, active, and positive force in society. Following the Holy Father's call to enter the new millennium as a more united Church, we need to find ways to respond to new challenges as we live our Catholic faith.

Goal 5: The Church of Phoenix will strengthen and nourish families so that they may live their Catholic faith. The family is an intimate community of persons bound together by blood, marriage, or adoption for the whole of life. The family serves life in its transmission physically by bringing children into the world and spiritually by passing on values and traditions from one generation to the next. The family plays a critical role in societal development and realization of the Church's mission.

"The family is the domestic church [and] the home is the church in miniature. The future of the world and the Church pass by way of the family".

- Pope John Paul II