Small Groups
Small Groups
Each small group gathers in Jesus' name for friendship, spiritual growth, and prayer. Group time will include moments of relational connection, spiritual growth through teaching and discussion, and prayer with and for one another.
Group Goal
Foster personal relationships, build community, and provide faith formation to help parishioners grow as joyful missionary disciples of Christ.
"The church exists in order to evangelize." -Pope Paul the Sixth
Evangelization Prayer
Holy Spirit, renew your wonders in our time, as though in a new Pentecost, and grant that this Archdiocese, united in prayer around Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and guided by St. Peter, may spread the Kingdom of the divine Savior, a Kingdom of truth, of justice, of love, and of peace. Amen. Saint Paul, our great missionary patron, pray for us!
Small Group Leader
For Current Small Group Leaders and those who want to become involved in parish small-group evangelization... There was a recent webinar hosted by the Archdiocese that explained how to get involved and provided a look at what's coming in the fall of 2026. The recording is available here: Watch the Formation Recording
Only One Thing is Necessary
As a community of Christians, we are called to walk with each other and with families, regardless of our state in life. Archbishop Bernard Hebda explores saintly examples of holiness in families, explains how our Lord shows us families are important, and invites us all to support families as building blocks for our churches and communities.
Reclaiming Sundays
Each parish of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is asked to help families in their parish “reclaim” Sundays. To assist this effort, parishes are encouraged to adopt a monthly theme that focuses on an aspect of living out the gift of Sunday to its fullest and encourages families to take concrete steps — large or small — to develop habits that produce the fruit that comes from fully living the Lord’s Day.
The strategy is to cultivate an interiority (habit of being) among parents and families that allows them to live Sundays as God intends. The intention is to provide enough institutional structure to help families grow in their ability to live out the theme that corresponds to their season in life and meets them where they are. The 12 themes (one per month of the year) of how to reclaim Sundays are intended to be a springboard for parishes.
How well do you know your fellow parishioners, the people you worship with each week? This is a question for all of us—and one that prompted me to become involved in the Archdiocesan Synod small group implementation efforts. We meet in my home, usually every other Sunday evening. We are fortunate to have a group of eight people.
Some of the benefits I have experienced from this regular time of connection with other parishioners:
Deeper, more meaningful connections, building virtuous friendships and camaraderie.
Feeling a real purpose in helping each other build a solid relationship with God.
Praying for each other and sharing life with each other, building trust that our needs and intentions are important, and the group truly cares about each other's intentions/needs.
Knowing that my presence and efforts matter to others, i.e., we all feel the emptiness if we need to skip/cancel a group session.
Greater understanding of many teachings of the Church that we've studied together; Prayer, Pillars of the Catechism and Sacraments, Biblical foundations and reasons behind what we do at Mass, and the Eucharist.
I pray that we can continue to multiply our small groups and offer this experience to even more parishioners, and potentially expand it to include outside guests and/or those who have stopped attending Mass.
- Cheryl K, Small Group Leader