This academy is charged with providing training for lay parish leaders who assist their pastors in the care of souls, providing enrichment to lay adult members of the archdiocese for the sake of the practice of their Catholic faith, providing formation and instruction for the laity on matters of social justice, social outreach, and solidarity, and providing resources to other bodies in the archdiocese that serve the laity.

 

The mission is to form those involved with the academy for a lifetime of service to their neighbor, whether that neighbor is the fellow parishioner who is seeking instructional guidance in the faith or whether that neighbor is a member of the marginalized poor in our wider society.

 

Though the academy is divided into two schools, the School of Lay Leadership Formation and the School of Social Witness, these are not to be seen as wholly independent entities that do not inform each other. Neither is the work of the other academies outside the concern of lay leadership and social witness. As the Institute attempts to form the entire person, the person of worship, word, and service, all the programs offered by the Institute are part of a wider vision of human wholeness.

 

Please visit the links to the right to learn more about the schools under this academy and visit the programs offered by the other academies as well.