New Programme for Lay People
Lay Dominican Catherine Wallis-Hughes introduces an exciting new initiative, now coming to the UK, that seeks to form lay people for mission.
Discover your gifts
Developed in order to form Catholic laity, the Lay Mission project brings people to discover their individual charisms and gifts and discern practical ways to put these to use in the service of the Gospel, in their secular contexts, and so sanctify the world. It encourages participants to explore how their faith can be lived to the full in the domains of work, the family, and socially, as well as in the life of the local Church more narrowly defined.
A Dominican Initiative
The Lay Mission Institute is a well-established programme which began in California as an apostolate of the Dominican friars there, and is now an independent ministry with a team of lay and religious staff led by fr Michael Sweeney, OP. The introduction of the Lay Mission Institute to the UK is being sponsored by the English Dominican Province, under the guidance of Fr Matthew Jarvis, OP, and Catherine Wallis-Hughes, a Lay Dominican.
Forming the whole person
The beauty of the programme is that it integrates a strong theological foundation with personal accompaniment and discernment so that the participants understand the intellectual basis of the lay vocation (through courses on Scripture, Moral Theology, the Sacraments, and Church history, among others) as well as how it applies to their own individual circumstances. Past participants have particularly commented on how much they appreciate this synthesis of the rational and the affective, doctrinal and personal.
Created by lay people, for lay people
As well as being its target audience, busy lay Catholics were instrumental in designing the programme. It is delivered in a hybrid format: participants access a pre-recorded video lesson each week and complete associated tasks, alone and in their own time; they then meet up fortnightly with others in their local area in order to talk through what they’ve learned, support one another in living it out, and pray together.
Participants consistently report the small groups to be the most uplifting and motivating aspect of the programme, and they are one of the reasons for the remarkably high retention rate over what might seem a daunting three-year course.
Join the UK Pilot Programmes
Fr Matthew and Catherine are delighted to be able to bring the Lay Mission initiative to the UK. Pilot programmes will begin in various locations this autumn, for a cohort who will graduate in 2028. New enquiries are welcome from any area of the country which could gather a small group of participants (minimum six – eight people), whether a parish, chaplaincy, or elsewhere. The only requirement is to be a practising adult Catholic with the capacity to commit to the project for three years.
Potential participants are encouraged to get in touch, either as individuals or groups, for more information. Anyone who is interested may contact Catherine on lay.mission@english.op.org
Margaret Malcolm
I would be really interested in this.
Paul Scallan
Interested
Gerry Penfold
Sounds very like the Called and Gifted process from the Catherine of Siena Institute
Catherine Wallis-Hughes
Hello Gerry,
Fr Michael Sweeney, OP, who is the creator and executive director of the Lay Mission Institute, was also the co-founder of the Catherine of Siena Institute along with Sherry Weddell. He designed the Lay Mission programme to be suitable both as a next step on for people who have already completed Called and Gifted, and for people with no prior exposure to it. So, yes, there is some crossover in terms of approach, but there are also a number of differences between the two programmes.
Conchita
Very interested
Paul Hammond
Interested. I hope to attend the online info session this Saturday at 6pm and am considering pulling together a small group here in Tyne and Wear (Hexham and Newcastle Diocese). If it builds upon “Called and Gifted”, it should be good.