PREAMBLE

  We are the Catholic Church of Birmingham, Alabama. We are responding to God’s call to proclaim Jesus Christ as the Eternal Son of the living God. We are witnesses to the Gospel as we announce the death of the Lord, proclaim His resurrection, and await His coming in glory. At the heart of our Christian Community is celebration: of the Word, of the Eucharist, of the Sacraments. We journey with the Holy Spirit as our guide, with Mary, the Mother of God as our model, and in communion with the Holy Father, the Bishop of Rome.

STATEMENT

  Established in 1969 under the patronage of St. Paul, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama is missionary in nature. We are a community of disciples, representatives of many races and cultures, priests, deacons, women and men religious, and laity. As Church, our ministries and outreach encompass families, parishes, schools, associations, and a myriad of programs. We are spread through 39 counties over a geographic area of 28,091 square miles in the northern part of Alabama. We are a pilgrim-people, called to evangelize and to be evangelized. We are a Church committed to responsible stewardship of God’s many gifts. Our vision is to be a Church renewed and renewing the face of the earth as a baptized community empowered by the Spirit, faithful to the Gospel, and committed to building the Kingdom of peace and justice.

We are committed to:

• empower one another to the fullness of our sacramental commitment.
• experience the love of the Triune God, and share that love with all peoples, especially the poor and the unchurched.
• help heal our sisters and brothers in their brokenness with the compassion and peace of Jesus, regardless of religion, race, gender, age or social status.
• promote a God-centered society that respects the dignity of each person, especially the unborn, the elderly, and the marginalized.
• work ecumenically with other religious traditions in an effort to reach out to our unchurched sisters and brothers.
• appreciate God’s gift of cultural diversity that expresses itself in worship, in leadership, and in service.