Sacred Heart Major Seminary

Project Information

• Initiative: Individual School Grant (ISG)
• Project Title: Equipping the Saints: Innovative Formation for Parish Ministry in the Families of Parishes Era
• Project Description: Sacred Heart Major Seminary seeks a Lilly Endowment grant to launch Equipping the Saints, an innovative, five-year initiative to provide flexible, accessible formation for parish leaders in southeast Michigan. Developed in response to the Archdiocese of Detroit's Families of Parishes model, this project addresses the urgent need for leadership formation by offering micro-credentialing, hybrid instruction, and regional cohorts for both clergy and lay leaders. As parishes collaborate more closely under shared leadership, parish leaders often find themselves navigating increasingly complex pastoral realities that demand strong skills in communication, collaboration, intercultural competency, and spiritual care. Given the ever-evolving landscape of parish ministry, few formation programs currently exist that are tailored to this new ecclesial reality.
• Project Area: Business model innovation | Church vitality and equipping lay leaders | Competency-based models | Diversifying students and curricula | Lay ecclesial formation (Catholic) | Marketing and recruitment | Non-degree and continuing/lifelong learning | Spiritual direction and student formation | Upskilling pastoral and ministerial leaders
• Project Start Date: 25-Oct-01
• Project End Date: 29-Dec-31
• Project Amount: $1,000,000