For the second consecutive year, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati is celebrating “Together Sunday,” a day set aside for Families of Parishes to especially focus on becoming more welcoming and hospitable communities. This year, Together Sunday will take place Sept. 14, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

In a June letter to priests announcing Together Sunday, Archbishop Robert Casey wrote, “Each Sunday, as we gather to encounter Christ in Word and Sacrament, we have an opportunity to open our doors and our hearts more widely to provide a blessed oasis to those who thirst. Our willingness to extend hospitality and welcome not only forms better relationships with our neighbors but also invites all people into a blessed relationship with Christ our Savior.”

The archbishop continued, “Together Sunday invites our parish families to consider how each of us offers joyful, radical hospitality within our community. We might think of this as a ‘moment of assessment’ for our parish(es) where we can honestly ask ourselves: How do we come together for Eucharist each Sunday? Do we give witness to being a community of love? Do we offer welcome to the stranger in our midst? Does our celebration of Eucharist reveal the generous heart of Christ to those who gather around the altar?

“Much like when we invite friends over for a visit to our home, we might need to consider some housekeeping in order to prepare for their arrival.”

The concept of Together Sunday was inspired by an initiative in Protestant churches called “Back to Church Sunday.” According to Sean Ater, director of the archdiocese’s Center for the New Evangelization, “The whole idea is to create a certain sense of urgency to put our best foot forward for visitors or those who might attend Mass infrequently. This is an opportunity for the parish staff, leaders, and all active parishioners to embrace the responsibility of being inviting, hospitable, and welcoming,” continued Ater. “Once people start to do that, it can become part of the culture of their community.”

Families of Parishes have been provided with Together Sunday resources that focus on the fundamentals— clean facilities, good signage, proactive outreach, warm welcoming. Each parish also has the creative freedom to make their particular Together Sunday distinct. Parishes that rallied around Together Sunday last year reported a positive experience, Ater said, including meeting and interacting with new people.

St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church in Liberty Township saw great success with their efforts last year—an increase of about 450 people across all three Masses that weekend. “That weekend I saw parishioners that I haven’t seen in a long time, and I still see them,” said Mary Ella Wielgos, Director of Worship and Sacraments at St. Max. “That’s where I think the success is … we saw people we haven’t seen for a while come back.”

The parish created invitation cards five weeks in advance for parishioners to hand out. The cards included the Together Sunday date and Mass times, a QR code linking to the event web page, and a message inviting people to attend. Of the 2,500 cards printed, nearly all were distributed.

“I made sure the Call to Worship had informative, welcoming language to it, so that anyone who hadn’t been to St. Max in a while wouldn’t feel uncomfortable,” said Wielgos. After Mass, the parish evangelization core team served coffee and donuts and invited people to the prayer chapel if they had specific intentions or would like to pray with someone.

“Starting with the Together Sunday weekend, we had zero leftover bulletins every single week [despite increasing] our bulletin count by 100 copies,” said Madison Sanders, St. Max Director of Communications. With such success, St. Maximilian Kolbe parish has planned a similar Together Sunday celebration for this year.

Creating a culture of proactive invitation and hospitality is central to evangelization. In the words of Archbishop Casey, “As we come together each Sunday, may we take seriously how we create a welcoming space for all, set the table and gather, responding to the hunger and thirst of our communities with the blessed sustenance that comes to us through Christ, who feeds us with His Divine Word and nourishes us with the Bread of Life.” ✣

This article appeared in the September 2025 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here.