Parish Prayer Activities

  • Develop a Parish Stewardship Prayer. Examples available at archstl.org/stewardship/prayers.
  • “Teaching” Mass – held annually, priest explains the different parts of the Mass. Parishioners ask questions throughout the session. This does not take the place of a traditional Mass.
  • Grade school children attending Sunday Mass receive a “dress down day” pass.
  • Designate a grade from parish school/PSR to host a designated Sunday Mass once a month. Each grade has an opportunity to host (i.e. greeters, ushers, offertory, lectors, cantors, songs, etc.)
  • Stewardship Awareness Sunday – building blocks available for smaller children to build a church during stewardship events.
  • Develop parish-specific prayer cards based on statues in your local church. The back of the card has parish stewardship prayer or the other stewardship message.
  • Develop a Remembrance Garden at your parish.
  • Schedule an annual Parish Ministry Leader Night of Reflection.
  • Organize small-faith groups that meet monthly for breakfast. Invite new parishioners to join.
  • Lent – some parishes give away blessed nails as reminders of Christ’s suffering.
  • Easter/Christmas – some parishes give away prayer books or other Catholic books to parishioners as a gift.
  • From the book Rebuilt, develop a 6-week homily series throughout the year. Allows parishioners to “connect the dots” and build on the previous week’s teaching. Parishioners remember the homilies more easily.
  • Adult Formation – Dr. Edward Sri’s A Biblical Walk Through the Mass series.
  • Parishes contact local businesses to offer noon Mass for people working in your area.
  • Ask your employer to designate a quiet place at work for prayer/reflection