Parish Welcome
We offer this Parish Welcome page to guide your efforts to build a welcoming community of faith. We offer practical tips for welcoming Catholics with disabilities and drawing on their gifts.
Basic knowledge about the U.S. Bishop's Guidelines for the Celebration of the Sacraments for Persons with Disabilities, recommended narratives for understanding disability in the Church, and practical tools for ensuring Church access can dramatically help a parish to flourish.
Resources & Toolkits
Pastoral Response to Persons with Mental Illness
Learn about what parishes can do to support people with mental illness, suicide prevention, mental illness and addiction, the "four legs of recovery," and the work of NCPD's Council on Mental Illness.
What Does a Dementia-Friendly Parish Look Like?
Meet Mr. J, who was very active in ministry at his Catholic parish. He can be very loud and repeats the same three phrases when you meet him, but is joyful as he sings all of the right words to each hymn in Mass. When Mr J, who is living with dementia, had issues performing his ministry duties, he was left off of the schedule without any notice.
Inclusive Participation Assessment Tool
LAMB: Language, Accessibility, Meaningful Participation, Belonging
Strategic Components for Successfully Working with Individuals with ASD
Here are some strategies that can be used with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Not every child responds to every tactic. Choose the best strategies for the individual child. These ideas can also be used with children with other needs than autism, such as intellectual/developmental disabilities.
Tips for Welcoming People with Disabilities at Mass
What to Expect - Before Mass More late arrivals than usual Be patient and maintain a welcoming spirit. More traffic / vans than usual Use traffic cones to designate areas where cars and vans can pull over close to the church entrance to unload passengers. Schedule an usher/greeter to welcome and assist these guests.
Disability Etiquette and Hospitality
Disability Etiquette and Hospitality Physical/Mobility • Ask about preferred location for seating. • Don’t push or touch a person’s wheelchair without their permission. • Don’t assume people with canes or crutches prefer to use a ramp over stairs. • Don’t grab people’s arms who use canes/crutches. They need their arms to balance themselves.
Access Surveys
The importance of thoughtful and careful planning for any ministry cannot be overemphasized. Planning should likewise be approached with creativity and openness. The following questions can initiate the planning process toward a universally designed ministry: What does it mean to create a church community open to all?