Parish Welcome

Featured Resources

Mass for All: Liturgical Access Course

Speaking of Disability: Pastoral Guidelines on Language

Pastoral Response to Persons with Mental Illness

Woman smiling with dementia, inside of a church

What Does a Dementia-Friendly Parish Look Like?

LAMB Inclusive Participation Tool. Painting of a Lamb.

LAMB: Inclusive Participation Assessment Tool

Meet Saint Alexander's Parish

Speaking of Disability: Pastoral Guidelines on Language

Pastoral Response to Persons with Mental Illness

Learn about what parishes can do to support people with mental illness, suicide prevention, mental illness and addiction, the "four legs of recovery," and the work of NCPD's Council on Mental Illness.

LAMB: Inclusive Participation Assessment Tool

LAMB: Language, Accessibility, Meaningful Participation, Belonging

Woman pushes person in wheelchair toward church

Hospitality Ministers: Disability Etiquette

General Principles Know the accessibility features and tools available in the parish and where to find them. Have a hospitality minister at the front door to assist and verbally welcome persons upon arrival.

Person with computer talking at a meeting

Accessibility through Creativity

When you think of accessibility, do you first see dollar signs? Are ramps and elevators the fix-all solution to accessibility? NO!!! Accessibility is much more than ramps and elevators. Accessibility is a new way of thinking and sometimes involves little or no cost.

Access Questions for Ministry Teams

The importance of thoughtful and careful planning for any ministry cannot be overemphasized. Planning should likewise be approached with creativity and openness. The following questions can initiate the planning process toward a universally designed ministry: What does it mean to create a church community open to all?

How to Help a Person Experiencing a Mental Illness

- Tips to help a person experiencing mental illness - Warning signs that may indicate mental illness

A person who is blind walking out of a Church with other parishioners

Interacting with People with Vision Loss

20.6 million American adults are blind or living with vision loss that is not corrected by wearing glasses or contact lenses (National Health Interview Survey 2012). The following are some tips to facilitation interaction among people with and without 20/20 vision.

Policy for Working with Sign Language Interpreters in Catholic Religious Settings

"This policy statement was developed in consultation with deaf persons. It reflects the expertise and extensive experience of pastoral workers and of interpreters who work in religious settings." - National Catholic Office for the Deaf

Principles for Understanding Deaf Ministry and Guidelines for Hiring Pastoral Ministers for the Deaf Community

"The Church in the United States in enriched by its deaf and hard of hearing brothers and sisters. 'The men and women of our own day –often perhaps unconsciously–ask believers not only to speak of Christ, but in a certain sense to show Him to them.' That is the human heart’s deepest longing. That is the yearning of the deaf and hard of hearing people in America. That is the impetus and goal of the Church’s ministry with the deaf and hard of hearing. 'Together we are the Church' (CCC)."

National Catholic
Partnership on Disability

Advancing the Meaningful Participation
of Persons with Disabilities in Church and Society

NCPD is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt nonprofit corporation.
EIN: 52-1262317