Parish Respect Life Coordinators

The Respect Life Office, under the guidance of the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities is charged with the following activities:
  • Support for individual parish ministries in the areas of education, pastoral care, prayer and worship and public policy advocacy.
  • Collaboration of ministry activities across parishes in order to increase the effectiveness and maximize the benefit of shared resources in support of the universal mission of the Church.
  • Sponsorship and facilitation of annual diocesan-level activities and events.
  • Consultation with parish pastoral leaders to assist with development of parish ministries, the provision of timely ministry-specific information and relevant liturgical materials, and the creation of opportunities to serve in pastoral leadership roles within our broader diocesan programs.
The Magisterium
Evangelii Gaudium  (The Joy of the Gospel)​   www.vatican.va​​​
Apostolic exhortation of the Holy Father Francis to the bishops, clergy, consecrated persons and the lay faithful on the proclamation of the Gospel in today's world.
Christifideles Laici   (The Lay Members of Christ's Faithful People)   www.vatican.va​​
​Apostolic exhortation of His Holiness John Paul II to bishops, to priests and deacons, to women and men religious and to all the lay faithful on the vocation and the mission of the lay faithful in the Church and in the world.
Missionary Discipleship
In keeping with the call of recent popes for Catholics to evangelize, the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis developed Living as Missionary Disciples: A Resource for Evangelization for encouraging missionary disciples in the task of evangelization. This leadership resource provides principles of evangelization and missionary discipleship, with resources designed for pastoral leaders to develop, enhance, and review their own local strategies to create an evangelizing parish. 
​Pastoral Leadership
Catherine of Siena Institute    ​ ​www.siena.org
Pope John Paul, II taught that "Formation is not the privilege of a few, but a right and duty of all" (Christifideles Laici 63). The Catherine of Siena Institute works to ensure that every Catholic has access to a formation that:​
  • ​is distinctly lay in approach, spirituality, and focus
  • is deeply rooted in the Tradition and Magisterial teaching of the Church
  • calls each baptized man and women to intentional discipleship
  • fosters integration of faith, work, and relationships
  • takes seriously the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to every Christian
  • enables each one to discern more deeply God's unique call in his or her own life
  • prepares him or her to be an effective, creative apostle in the midst of the world
  • encourages collaboration between the clergy and laity in mission to the world
  • is geared to the real lives of working adults
Advancing the Intentional Missionary Discipleship of Catholics by:
  • Equipping parishes and dioceses to become centers of evangelization and formation, charism & vocational discernment, and on-going apostolic support for the laity.
  • Fostering the intentional discipleship of clergy, religious, and lay leaders so that they can be effective evangelizers and formators of the laity.​
  • Making evangelization and formation resources rooted in the Church’s Tradition available to Catholic leaders and laity and by creating new resources as needed.
  • Animating discussion, theological inquiry, and pastoral consultation throughout the Church regarding the evangelization, apostolic mission, and formation of the laity.
  • Collaborating with interested individuals, groups, and organizations in the service of this mission.
Catholic Leadership Institute    ​ ​www.catholicleaders.org​
​Catholic Leadership Institute provides bishops, priests, deacons and lay persons in the Roman Catholic Church with world-class, pastoral leadership formation and consulting services that strengthen their confidence and competence in ministry, enabling them to articulate a vision for their local church, to call forth the gifts of those they lead, and to create more vibrant faith communities rooted in Jesus Christ.
The Amazing Parish     www.amazingparish.org
Amazing Parish exists to revitalize the Church by equipping her pastors and leaders with the training, resources and support they need to create vibrant and thriving parishes. Although every parish is unique, we’ve found that there are three common “building blocks” that form the foundation of an amazing parish.
Leadership Roundtable     www.leadershiproundtable.org
Leadership Roundtable promotes best practices and accountability in the management, finances, communications, and human resources development of the Catholic Church in the U.S., including greater incorporation of the expertise of the laity.  
“Every analysis must necessarily start from the premise that—although each person lives in a particular concrete social and historical context—every human being is endowed with a dignity that must never be lessened, impaired or destroyed but must instead be respected and safeguarded, if peace is really to be built up.”  
                                                                                          St. Pope John Paul II, Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations Oct. 2, 1979                                                                                                                                                                                              
Respect Life Office ~ Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph  ~ 20 West Ninth Street ~ Kansas City, MO 64105 ~ ​(816) 756-1850 ~ francis@diocesekcsj.org