IMPACT Participant Expectations

Expectations of Applicants:

• Commit to growing in your faith in an exciting environment!
• Commit to participating in all sessions, including the weekend retreats and sessions.
• Commit to completing the required reading, reflection papers, large and small group discussions, and other assigned work.
• Seek a recommendation from your pastor/parish life coordinator (PLC).
• Seek financial support from your parish through the pastor/PLC.

Expectations of Participants after Acceptance:

• Obtain a spiritual mentor. Your spiritual mentor could be a trained spiritual director, a priest or deacon, a parish staff member, or a trusted friend who has wisdom and depth of spirituality. Your spiritual mentor should be willing to meet with you once a month (September through May), read your reflection papers to provide you feedback, and help guide your spiritual formation. A list of spiritual directors from the Archdiocese of Dubuque can be found here: www.dbqarch.org/spiritual-directors.
• Be willing to share with your pastoral council each year while in the program to discuss your journey.
• Meet with your pastor/parish life coordinator (PLC) near the end of the IMPACT program to discuss possibilities for enhanced or new involvement in the parish. If you accept financial support from your parish, enhanced involvement or new participation in the parish or community will be expected.
• Acquire assigned books (whether from your parish library, from a friend, or on Amazon or another bookseller). To purchase all the books, we estimate a cost of approximately $100 per year. The book list will be sent with the acceptance letter.
• Pay for your portion of the registration fee. After your application has been approved, you will then be asked to pay online for the Year 1 fee. If your parish/cluster is sponsoring you by paying half of the cost, you will be responsible for paying $150 (half of the total cost) per year (plus purchasing the required books). An Archdiocesan grant is available to cover the full $300 cost per year for parish/cluster or Archdiocesan employees. Please speak to your pastor/PLC if you are in need of further assistance.

Expectations of the Parish (if the participant seeks parish support):

• Recommendation from the pastor/parish life coordinator (PLC).
• The pastoral council should meet with the participant each year to discuss his or her ministry, growth, and aspirations.
• A meeting between the pastor/PLC and participant to discuss possibilities for enhanced or new involvement in the parish.
• Financial support of $150 (one-half of the cost) per year, due by December 31st of each year.