Who would have thought that what started as a retreat and evangelization process for a single local parish would eventually reach over 30 states, more than 130 churches, and tens of thousands of people? We’ve been grassroots from the beginning, never trying to turn a profit, and always keeping this gift of an effective evangelization process accessible and affordable to parishes. We’ve been singularly focused on the mission of the Catholic Church: to share the love of Christ with all people and make disciples. We’re in awe at how the Lord has taken our meager offering and multiplied it a hundred times over!

Thank you!

If you're one of our faithful donors, thank you for partnering with us to share this great gift with parishes all across the country! Because of you, well over a hundred parishes are able to better fulfill the mission of evangelization. Because of you, thousands of people come to know, love, and follow Christ every year.

The challenge

But parish evangelization is a daunting challenge. The retreat is only the beginning of an effective parish evangelization process. We also provide ongoing support to parishes, even after we’ve helped them bring the retreat to their communities. And now, more than ever, we’ve identified the need to offer parishes in-depth consultation in the evangelization process so they can experience authentic renewal. For most of the ministry’s existence, we’ve relied on the work of a few part-time employees. But too many parishes need our help now, and there are still tens of thousands of parishes across the country in need of renewal.

Our resources are becoming strained. Thanks to our donors, the ministry was able to hire two full-time employees earlier this year, but they are doing the work of a dozen people: marketing, operations, accounting/bookkeeping, parish support, web design, fundraising, graphic design, and more. They do the majority of the needed work in-house, instead of paying to outsource various jobs. However, the fee we charge a new parish covers less than half our costs for that parish, even on our shoestring budget (which doesn’t include staff benefits or an office, among other things). Even with a large team of volunteers putting in over 10,000 hours every year, parish evangelization is hard work and quickly drains our limited resources.

The gift

We believe we have been entrusted with the stewardship of a great gift to the Church. Seeing its fruits and comparing them to the small, grassroots organization that we are, it’s clear that Light of the World is not the product of human beings, but the divine work of the Holy Spirit. In a sense, we don’t “own” the Light of the World Retreat and evangelization process, we are its stewards. More importantly, the ministry is simply a vessel through which parishes receive a renewed vigor and an increased capacity to fulfill the Church’s mission of evangelization. It’s the fruits that the Holy Spirit produces that are truly changing parishes and making disciples across the country.