You might have heard an advertisement on KYW or seen one on your favorite television channel promoting the work of our archdiocese.  It’s titled “Catholic. Every day.” and it is intended to bring the great work of our archdiocese to the attention of everyone in the Philadelphia area.  You might have noticed that the advertisement speaks of the Catholic Church of Philadelphia rather than the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.  According to Archbishop Nelson Pérez, this has been done deliberately as a marketing tool to rebrand us as a living Church rather than just an institution.

The archdiocesan website has also been updated.  It features a new mission statement that prominently includes our identity as “missionary disciples.”

OUR MISSION

To proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ risen from

the dead.  As missionary disciples, we grow in our faith

through the sacramental life, most especially the

Eucharist, and share the Gospel by serving the spiritual

and personal needs of our region through education,

charity, and pastoral care.

Since he was appointed here in 2020, Abp. Pérez, very much aware of the struggles of our archdiocese over the past few decades, has focused on moving from crisis to hope.    As I have written about before, Abp. Pérez has developed a vision of missionary hubs, centers throughout the archdiocese where there will be a concerted effort to reach out to the 83% of Catholics who are disengaged from the Church as well as non-Catholics who might be searching for a faith filled community.

Five of these missionary hubs have been established, one in each county of our archdiocese.  St. Katherine Drexel in Chester is the first missionary hub in Delaware County.  The following parishes are the initial missionary hubs in the other four counties:

– Bucks County:  St. Isidore, Quakertown

– Chester County:  St. Ann, Phoenixville

– Montgomery County:  St. Alphonsus, Maple Glen

– Philadelphia County: St. Matthew, NE Philadelphia

A director of missionary outreach has been hired for each of these hub parishes and missionary disciples are being prepared to begin their ministry in the near future.

This initiative comes with a cost and the archdiocese is planning a capital campaign to fund this missionary hub activity as well as support the clergy and schools throughout our archdiocese.  A feasibility study has begun to determine the success of such a campaign and select parishioners have been asked to get involved in this study.

Although our parish is not, at this time, designated as a missionary hub, we are already involved in missionary outreach in so many ways and I thank everyone who has embraced this new vision of our Church.  As I’m sure you realize, we are living in a time that is not only post-Christian but, in many ways, anti-Christian.  And yet, we recognize Jesus Christ as our Savior and long to share that Good News “to the ends of the earth,” just as our risen Lord commanded us to do.  As we do this here in our parish, let’s pray that it will also be done throughout our archdiocese.  And, let’s keep these new archdiocesan initiatives in our prayers: may the Holy Spirit of God guide us all in this important mission.  After all, we hear this important question at the end of this Sunday’s reading from the Gospel of Luke: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”  We want to ensure that he does, indeed, find a thriving faith on earth and specifically here in the Catholic Church of Philadelphia!