For the majority of Catholics, the lived experience of faith is most often shaped by what takes place at their local parish, shaped by the pastor, assistant clergy, and other lay faithful. The parish’s primary means of sharing information about events usually takes place through the weekly printed bulletin. However, even if a parish does have an updated website or social media account, it can remain difficult to convey a true sense of the “parish feeling” or the pastor’s particular vision for shepherding his flock. Getting to know the pastor and other parishioners requires time, usually through interactions outside of Mass. A new lay-driven initiative within the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend aims to help pastors reach out to their parishioners more personally and connect local Catholic businesses together. This project, entitled Our Local Parish, aims to be a “Catholic community-building enterprise,” founded by Karl Grab and Josh Bach. Their focus is “bringing together Catholic communities at the parish and local business levels.” Grab and Bach both know the challenges of moving to new areas and trying to find a Catholic community that truly feels like “home.” Their goal with Our Local Parish is to help make this process of community building smoother. Together, they told Today’s Catholic: “We understand that so many of us have become isolated, and the thought of breaking into a new community can be daunting. A significant component of Our Local Parish is the individual storytelling at each local parish. We believe that knowing the individuals who are the clergy, office staff, laity leaders, or elders of the Church will help them go deeper in faith. Contemporary and traditional media tools can be that icebreaker.” Grab and Bach, accompanied by a few other lay leaders in Fort Wayne, met in May of 2022 for a Eucharistic Holy Hour and discussion about how pastors and parishes could better tell their stories and strengthen their identities. They sought to provide a stronger culture of encounter that would extend beyond the liturgical life of the parish into regular daily life. What emerged was the idea of interviewing pastors to provide them with space to share their vision of the parish while inviting parishioners who own local businesses to advertise to their fellow Catholics. Shortly after, Bach and Grab began reaching out to local parishes, meeting with pastors, and recording conversations. Their website, ourlocalparish.com, offers parishioners the opportunity to pray the Rosary with local pastors, listen to their pastor’s vocation story, hear from fellow parishioners about their experience in the parish, listen to lay leaders about ministries in the parish, and learn more about local Catholic businesses in the area. Grab explained: “Our communities are full of Catholic brothers and sisters who need our support. Many of us have no clue that fellow Catholics own these businesses. Our hope is that when someone is trying to decide where to shop, eat, or have a service performed that they will first check the Our Local Parish platform to find a local Catholic business. It is a type of Yellow Pages but only for Catholic business owners.” They have named this initiative “COMMUNITAS” to emphasize the focus of building community. Through the sponsorship provided by these companies, all the promotional content and videos are provided at no charge to the parish. Recently, these men met with Bishop Rhoades to record him telling his own story. Bishop discussed his journey from childhood to priesthood and his experiences as spiritual leader of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. They also recorded Bishop Rhoades praying all four Mysteries of the Rosary for those who would like to pray along with him at their own convenience. Bishop Rhoades said: “I support this initiative as a tool of evangelization and as a means to build deeper relationships within our parishes. It is wonderful to see creative and innovative projects like this spring up in our diocese through faith-filled laity using their ideas and skills to promote Christ’s mission of evangelization. I pray that Our Local Parish will inspire many people in their lives of faith and build a stronger community within our parishes and diocese.” Grab emphasized: “We all need to grow closer to our local community to weather any cultural, political, or economic storms that rage. We need a return to ‘parish life’ where the parish, once again, is the epicenter of the community.” Their prayer for the project is that “the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese will feel just a little bit smaller and become stronger by growing closer to God and one another through our local parishes.” To learn more and to explore Our Local Parish’s content, visit ourlocalparish.com. The post ‘Our Local Parish’ Aims to Bring Catholic Communities Closer appeared first on Today's Catholic.