Universally Designed Ministry
A Universally Designed Ministry aims to remove any barriers to participation in your shared communal or liturgical life as a parish. Instead of orienting your accessibility options towards certain groups of people, the ideal is to recognize that limitations based on age, physical disability, or mental impairment are all part of human life and should be accounted for in the design of our parish ministries and common spaces. As the United States bishops have stated, “There can be no separate Church for people with disabilities. We are one flock that serves a single shepherd.” (Pastoral Statement of U.S. Catholic Bishops on People with Disabilities, par. 33)
To that end, please use the Parish Accessibility Survey to evaluate your parish space and find ways to include all those who may wish to participate.
For more information on Universally Designed Ministry at the parish level, check out the NCPD page.