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“Trudy Dantis and Garratt Publishing have my sincere gratitude for presenting us with a book that has so much to offer, a book that is gentle, practical, nourishing, constructive, Australian and, above all, deeply Catholic. I recommend it to all those, and particularly to priests, pastoral associates and members of parish pastoral councils, who are interested in making sure that Australia’s Catholic parishes are vital centres of Christian life and faith.“
Julian Porteous
Archbishop of Hobart
Chair, Australian Catholic Council for Pastoral Research
Trudy Dantis draws on her ground-breaking research into factors that lead to parish vitality to provide Australian case studies with down-to-earth examples of what can be achieved in eight key areas that lead to stronger parishes including:
- Planning
- Spirituality and faith formation
- Liturgy
- Community building
- Welcoming and hospitality
- Outreach
- Evangelisation
- Leadership.
This work is supported by Pastoral Research Office Director Robert Dixon’s helpful introductory articles enabling parishes to build up a comprehensive parish profile from readily available information.
Whether you want to conduct a total parish renewal or focus on only one or two areas, A Handbook for Building Stronger Parishes provides excellent reflection questions, worksheets and action plans to support you and your parish team.
A vital resource for parish vitality.
Trudy Dantis has a background in Community Resource Management and Social Work, and received her PhD on the subject of Catholic parish vitality from the University of Divinity in 2015. Her role at the Pastoral Research Office from 2010 to May 2015 included management of the Building Stronger Parishes project, membership of the project research team and development of the Building Stronger Parishes website. Trudy is an Honorary Fellow of Australian Catholic University and the Pastoral Research Office and currently works for the office from Mumbai, India. She also acts as a research consultant for Snehalaya Family Service Centre in the Archdiocese of Bombay.
