Formation to meet the future of parish life

New Wineskins aims to address and support particular formational needs across the spectrum of Catholic leadership: bishops, religious, seminarians, and laity.

Seminarians in cassocks talking together outdoors on campus

Our Programs

  • Pastoral Laboratory for Parish Administration

    Addressing the urgent need to better prepare seminarians for immediate pastoral leadership

  • Leadership Development for Consecrated Religious Men

    Supporting the younger members of religious communities in the Conference of Major Superiors of Men to develop the leadership skills necessary to serve their communities

  • Gregory the Great Institute for Bishops

    Engaging bishops with academics and practitioners on new, critical questions they face

  • The Communion Project

    Drawing pastors and polarized conversations together for dialogue and conversation, in collaboration with the Missionary Society of St. Paul through the Communion Project

Pastoral Laboratory for Parish Administration

Men ordained today often have little time to adjust to life as a priest before being required to take on the additional tasks of being a pastor of a parish. Priests often report feeling unprepared for many of the day-to-day tasks of parish administration. These include such tasks as financial management, making employment decisions, managing volunteers, and overall understanding of these tasks as part of the deeper reality of pastoral leadership. 

The 2022 National Study of Catholic Priests, published by The Catholic Project, indicated elevated burnout among young priests. This project hopes to identify ways that seminary formation can address some of the causes of burnout.

Want to learn more? Contact info@newwineskins.catholic.edu.

Leadership Development for Consecrated Religious Men

Men who enter religious communities today will need to be prepared to assume leadership within those communities earlier than previous generations due to the “missing middle” in religious life in the United States.

Want to learn more? Contact info@newwineskins.catholic.edu.

Gregory the Great Institute for Bishops

Bishops in the United States face a context often much different from that in which they entered the priesthood—and yet, they are often expected to respond immediately to new, complex pastoral challenges posed by our rapidly changing world. 

We seek to offer our faculty and other experts to assist the bishops in particular topic areas, as well as inviting practitioners to present best practices in pastoral application.

The Institute would allow bishops to “return to the classroom” with other bishops to learn how theologians think about new developments in science, technology, and culture.

Want to learn more? Contact info@newwineskins.catholic.edu.

The Communion Project

This partnership with the Paulist Fathers seeks to provide resources to anyone ministering and leading within the Church who is concerned about polarization and division. 

The project will develop tools for pastors and pastoral leaders to address polarization within their congregations and the Church as a whole, drawing people together for dialogue and conversation.

To learn more, visit communionproject.org.

Events

  • Panel

    A New Generation of Seekers

    November 18, 2026
    USCCB General Assembly
    The last two years saw a marked increase in the number of people entering the Church, and some surveys indicate that young people, particularly young men, are showing renewed interest in religion. This panel will explore these recent signs of new life in the Church, with special attention to some of the distinctive ways that men and women are involved in them.

  • Workshop

    Fostering Human Formation: An Integrative Approach

    June 7–9, 2027
    The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC
    Faculty and formators from New Wineskins partners are invited to reflect on how we might better integrate human and intellectual formation in our seminaries.

  • Workshop

    Evangelization and Catechesis in a Digital Era: Toward a Dynamic Approach, Faithful to the Gospel⁠

    August 9–11, 2027
    St. Patrick’s Seminary, Menlo Park, California
    Bishops will have a chance to reflect with experts from several relevant fields, including theology, philosophy, and the tech industry, on how digital technology is shaping both the way Catholics are formed and the way non-Catholics encounter the Catholic Church, and what responses might be available to the Church’s shepherds.

New Wineskins is an initiative of the School of Theology and Religious Studies at The Catholic University of America, supported by a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative.

In partnership with

Our Team

Susan Timoney

Principal Investigator
Associate Dean for Graduate Ministerial Studies

timoney@cua.edu

Susan M. Timoney received her Doctorate in Sacred Theology (STD) at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (The Angelicum) in 1997. She focused on Christian spirituality and the feminine dimension of discipleship. Following her studies, Susan served as vice-president of a lay education and formation program called Education for Parish Service which hosted programs in five dioceses in the United States and in the Archdiocese of Rome, Italy. Susan was appointed Assistant Secretary for Pastoral Ministry and Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of Washington in 2010 and served as Assistant Secretary and Secretary until her appointment as Associate Professor in 2018. Susan began teaching as a lecturer in 1998 in the undergraduate theology program and in 2016 was appointed an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Theology and Religious Studies.

Susan is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in the fields of evangelization and pastoral leadership. She serves on a number of boards including The Catholic Apostolate Center, The Paulist Advisory Board, The Center for Carmelite Studies, and Annunciation Catholic School.

Aaron Weldon

Program Director

weldonam@cua.edu

Aaron Weldon is the Director of the New Wineskins project at The Catholic University of America. Previously, he served as Assistant Director of Religious Liberty at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Aaron received a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Texas A&M University and an M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary before earning a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from The Catholic University of America in 2017.

Sara Perla

The Catholic Project

perla@cua.edu

Sara Perla is the Acting Director for The Catholic Project (TCP) at Catholic University. She previously served as the Communications Manager for TCP from 2020- 2026.

Perla studied sociology, philosophy, and theology at The Catholic University of America and received her Masters in Theological Studies from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family. She worked in youth ministry and taught high school theology before serving the USCCB Committee of Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth for six years prior to returning to her alma mater.

Perla is one of the editors and authors of the edited volume Rebuilding Trust: Clergy Morale in the Wake of the Abuse Crisis (The Catholic University of America Press).

Nathan Ledoux

Administrative Assistant

ledoux@cua.edu

Nathan is an alumnus of The Catholic University of America, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theology & Religious Studies and French & Francophone Studies in 2020, concurrently earning a Certificate in Pastoral Ministry. He later studied philosophy at Providence College and graduated with a Bachelor of Sacred Theology (STB) in 2025 from The Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.