Introduction

        St. Joseph Catholic Church is located within the Diocese of Charlotte, whose Bishop is the Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis.  The Diocese offices are located at 1123 S. Church St. Charlotte, NC 28203, and the phone number is (704) 370-6299.

       In addition to providing administrative and spiritual guidance for the church, the Diocese provides numerous resources for Catholics and other community members throughout our region.  These include, but are not limited to:

·           Guidance and support for those called to the Priesthood

·           Training and support for those called to the Permanent Diaconate

·           Support of Religious orders and missions in numerous locations throughout the Diocese

·           Numerous resources through Catholic Social Services

·           Publication of the Catholic News and Herald Newspaper

·           Multi-cultural outreach activities

·           Development of multi-cultural ministries

·           Guidance to local parishes on Faith Formation Issues

·           Numerous activities to promote social justice causes

·           Operation of the Catholic Schools Office

·           Coordination of Pilgrimages

Mission Statement of the Diocese of Charlotte

        We, the people of God in the Diocese of Charlotte, fortified in the Father, redeemed in the Son, empowered in the Spirit, are called to grow ever more perfectly into a community of praise, worship, and witness.

        We seek to become ever more enthusiastically a leaven of service and a sign of peace through love in Piedmont and Western North Carolina.

Diocesan Strategic Plan, Mission Statement and Goals

        The Church within the Diocese of Charlotte is experiencing remarkable growth in our Catholic population and in the diocesan ministries committed to serving the people of God. We as Church must continue to assess the needs of the faithful and carefully plan for the future of our growing congregations. In 20 years over 130,000 families will be registered in parishes throughout the Diocese of Charlotte. Thousands of additional families will remain unregistered, yet still in need of diocesan and pastoral services.

        This strategic planning process will afford us an opportunity to review our current ministry needs and plan for the demands of the next millennium. As members of planning committees, I ask you to focus your discussions and report your findings to be mindful of the following points.

        To meet the demands of the future, the faithful of all age groups and ethnic backgrounds need to be properly formed in the faith. Those who have fallen away from the faith should be invited to return to the Church. We need to provide programs that will welcome them back to the faith community in a spirit of love and reconciliation.

        We have an obligation to "help shape our world so that the God-given dignity of every human being will be acknowledged, respected, and protected." (Of One Heart and One Mind) Our planning should include ways to address the social issues affecting the "least of our brethren."

        The ethnic make-up of the diocese is changing at a tremendous rate. Our planning must address ways of embracing those of all ethnic backgrounds and welcoming them into the faith community.

        The number of Catholics moving into our diocese continues to grow at a rapid rate. We need to establish more parishes, as well as improve existing ones, in order to keep pace with the increased numbers of new households. We must have priests, religious, and qualified laity to pastor and minister to our growing number of parishioners. We need to be increasingly proactive in both our promotion of vocations to the religious life as well as recruitment and training of qualified laity to assume new responsibilities in the next millennium.

        We must find ways to financially assist our parishes and missions in low-income areas so that they can better minister to the needs of the people in their locality.