The Story of My Life (or, Why Sherry is a Goddess)
I took a LONG time to add a response to the debates about "Intentional Disciples" at the Commonweal and Disputations blog, and I'm not going to let that time go to waste, so I'm going to post my response here, too. Sherry, JACK, and Keith responded to most or all of the questions, so I thought I'd share a bit about how working within the Institute has changed my life, my understanding of priesthood, and the role of the laity.
An intentional disciple is what I believe an "active Catholic" should be. Someone who has a relationship with Christ that shapes the way they treat other people, forms the decisions they make in the workplace, market, home, and parish community. That relationship draws them to the Eucharist where they offer all that they have and are with Christ to the Father in the Spirit, and gratefully receive the grace that enables them to deepen that relationship. An intentional disciple recognizes the sins that separate him or her from the community and from Christ and renew their baptismal grace at reconciliation. An intentional disciple's faith seeks understanding through reading and praying over scripture, other spiritual reading, and the teachings of the Church. The intentional disciple gives of themselves and their resources in joyful service to others.
About two years ago a thirty-four year old man at a parish where I help when I'm in Colorado Springs told me about a powerful conversion he had undergone. He blew me away one evening when, during a conversation, he paused, got a big smile on his face, and said, "Fr. Mike, let's be saints!" I realized I had forgotten the point of this whole drama we're living. The intentional disciple, I believe, is conscious of the daily invitation of Jesus to, "come, follow me," and they intentionally seek to respond. Perhaps my description of the intentional disciple in the previous paragraph sounds like someone on the way to becoming a saint. I hope so, because that is our goal, isn't it? I'm not talking about being recognized as a saint by the Church (we'll be dead by definition, so what will we care?). I mean we should have the hope to be united with Christ and all those who are in him in eternity, and live as though that truly is our goal! Of course, it's not something we earn, but a gift offered to us. But we have to cooperate with the grace that's offered us throughout our days, and that takes intentionality!
And that's why I think "intentional discipleship" is important. When we live with our end in mind, we live differently. I'm not promoting a "pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die" quietism that doesn't care about the plight of the poor or the ravages of injustice. Quite the contrary. Intentional disciples are aware of God's love for them as well as for everyone else who is alive, and they reach out in true charity – love- to those around them. We all know exceptional Catholics in our parishes and dioceses whom we admire. Do we desire that others should be like them? Do we want to be like them – not in the details of their life, but in the willingness to entrust our lives to God and see where we're led? We enshrine saints in our stained glass windows and think of them as the exceptions, when surely Christ wants them to be the norm!
My understanding of priesthood and ministry has deepened. I am called to serve the Church (meaning all the baptized) by being an instrument of Christ to help sanctify, teach and govern the parish in such a way that more and more Catholics respond to the invitation of Christ to enter into a love relationship with him: to respond to the love he's already shown them. That relationship cannot thrive unless it is nurtured in community by others who share that love, deepened by prayer, nourished by the grace offered through the sacraments, and expressed in love for others, especially the least and the lost who are Christ "in distressing disguise." Everything I do as a priest must have that end, and every activity I engage in must be examined to see if it is effective in achieving that end. It means I have to stop thinking in terms of developing programs and focus on developing people. From what I've seen of intentional disciples, they will not only maintain the structures and programs we have, they'll develop new, creative ventures not only for our parishes, but for the secular world in which we are inserted.
Unfortunately, I think as Catholics we do one another and the power of God a disservice by having expectations that are ridiculously low. For example, in 2001 the Campus Ministry sub-committee of the USCCB commissioned the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) to study the impact of campus ministry involvement on the religious beliefs and behaviors of Catholic graduates. What distressed me about the survey (and I realize good surveys are very difficult to produce) were both the questions asked and the results! The survey was based on the six aspects of Catholic campus ministry enumerated in a 1985 USCCB document called, "Empowered by the Spirit: Campus Ministry Faces the Future." I won't go into the details of the survey, although you can read it above.
The questions on the survey, I believe, were attempting to identify "active Catholics." The results illustrate the relationship between participating in campus ministry during college and more frequent Mass attendance, higher parish registration, and greater involvement in parish and other religious activities. 40% of those who were involved in campus ministry attend Mass at least once a week, compared with 30% who were not involved. 17% of those involved in campus ministry reported they were "very involved" in their parish, compared with 8% who had not been involved in campus ministry. Yet among those who had the benefit of participating in campus ministry, only 34% said they considered helping the needy to be an "essential part of their faith", and only 65% said that their faith was "among the most important parts of their lives." The results were lower (27% and 52%, respectively) among those who had not participated in campus ministry.
I find the results distressing, especially since I devoted twelve years of my life to campus ministry. But I also find the questions distressing. When trying to determine the effectiveness of campus ministry in providing leaders for the future, the focus was on lay ecclesial ministry, religious life and priesthood – ignoring leadership in the secular realm. Also, the questions regarding leadership asked if the respondent had ever considered, these ministries, not whether, in fact, they had actually become leaders in those areas. Finally, and I'll get off my soapbox here, the question regarding the importance of faith simply asked if faith was "among" the most important parts of their life. How does one interpret that? Is it among the top two? Five? Ten? Even when a respondent could expand "most important parts" to whatever size necessary to include faith, less than two-thirds of those who had participated in campus ministry managed to squeeze faith in. Is this what we mean by "active Catholic?" I hope not, and we dishonor Christ, the Gospel and the saints and martyrs if we do.
I am learning that as a priest I have to be aware of my own charisms (or spiritual gifts) to better know where Christ is calling me, and to know where I need to collaborate with those with different gifts. As a priest I am called, according to a number of different magisterial documents to "recognize, uncover with faith, acknowledge with joy, foster with diligence, appreciate, judge and discern, coordinate and put to good use, and have 'heartfelt esteem'" for the charisms of all the baptized. (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 30; Decree on Ministry and Life of Priests, 9; I Will Give You Shepherds, 40, 74; Lay Members of Christ’s Faithful People, 32) This is a radically different approach to ministry than I have witnessed, experienced or attempted. But this is rather ironic, since I didn't feel called to priesthood because I wanted to administer a large, complex business called a parish or maintain programs irregardless of their effectiveness. I felt called to first of all be changed by Christ and his people, then to help others respond to his call and be empowered by him to change the world.
In my close association with the work of Sherry Weddell, Fr. Michael Sweeney, and their collaborators, I have followed the connections they have discovered in a host of documents that outline a challenging and Spirit-filled description of the mission of the Church, the integral and primary role of the laity in that mission, and the role of service to the laity that is mine as a cleric. It's breathtaking and heartbreaking at the same time; breathtaking, because of its beauty, and heartbreaking because it is so seldom realized.
I am blessed to have been led by God to the Institute. I hope you consider taking a look at what I believe the Holy Spirit is doing through us. You might check out a pamphlet that Fr. Michael and Sherry produced called The Parish: Mission or Maintenance, on the untapped potential of the parish in the formation of lay apostles. Sherry wrote another pamphlet on the parish as a house of formation for adult Catholics called, "Making Disciples, Equipping Apostles" . They will help you have a better feel for what the Institute's about.
Oh, and I threw that stuff about Sherry being a goddess in just so you'd read this terribly long post.
Labels: intentional disciples
posted by Fr. Mike, O.P. @ 4:37 PM
26 Comments
26 Comments:
Don't laugh.
It's hard being a goddess.
I read the comments over at dotCommonweal and agreed with those of Ms. Kaveny. I do not understand why anyone would say the following:
"No one is saying 99% of Catholics are spiritual asleep or not trying.
I think we need to recognize that there are a number of very real, valid, pre-discipleship stages of spiritual development that all represent a genuine response to God's grace. We are not saying that these people are "bad Catholics" or had no spiritual life.
We are acknowledging that a huge number of Catholics, while having some kind of spiritual life, are not yet intentionally following Jesus Christ as a disciple."
Does it not occur to you that being Catholic parents, for example, caught up in all that implies, and raising your children to be good, practicing Catholics, is an apostolate in itself? How is that not "intentional discipleship" as you call it? How is that a pre-discipleship stage? How is that having "some kind of spiritual life?" This is condescension and evidence that you do not understand apostleship at all.
There are other examples one could adduce. For example, your paradigm appears to be that of busyness: talking, working, doing. What about the Trappists or other orders who "only" pray for the world? In Catholic thought, their contribution may be more valuable, it's at least as valuable, as that of the missionary.
I also have concerns about syncretism, which I've posted before. When I read at dotCommonweal that you go to places like Indonesia, it made me wonder. Over there, Catholicism is confronting Islam, which is pushing its own truth claims. We need a purely Catholic movement to preach, not one that appears to take its impetus from Evangelical Protestantism. You couldn't even take your blog title from Catholic sources, but had to go to Protestant ones.
My main objection is that there are specific and unique Catholic ways of being and thinking. Sacramentalization, which gets regularly dissed here, is one of them. Being a "practicing Catholic," as Ms. Kaveny said at dotCommonweal, is another. It's never been apparent to me that "Catholic" thinking or being is going on here. Too many of your inspirations come from the Evangelical sector and I don't think that's unintentional.
And by the way, Sherry, what IS your M.A. in? In other words, what are your credentials for preaching the Catholic faith and representing the Catholic Church to other Catholics and to non-Catholics?
And by the way, just because you have a few priests in your movement or some people from C&L, I would still like to have some testimony from recognizable Catholics of note that your program is orthodox and that it represents the best of what Catholicism has to offer. Do you have any recommendations from bishops or cardinals? Do you have to submit your programs to a bishop? Who oversees your program? Has it ever been scrutinized by the Vatican's Congregation for the Laity?
Hi Janice,
One nitpick: they don't have any people from CL in their organization, although they've invite Jack to contribute to their blog. There are quite a few of us from CL commenting here, but I'd wager it's because the topic is something we're all very interested in: what does it mean to follow Christ, and how do we evangelize?
I will agree with you on one thing: we really don't know how many Catholics are seriously trying to put their faith into practice. When Sherry asks a priest how many of his parishioners are "intentional disciples," how does he know what to answer? It's just a guess, based on nothing more than the people he has come into contact with. Who does he come into contact with? If it's a large parish, he's really only going to know the people who serve as employees or volunteers at the parish. But being a follower of Christ isn't about volunteering to help out at the parish. Especially, as you say, for the parents of small children (I have 2). So in the end, we can only answer for ourselves.
On the other hand, I don't think anyone will deny that we Catholics need all the support in our faith we can get, and that we could all benefit from programs at the parish designed to help us live our faith.
Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud--I can't think of anything to say to conclude this comment, so I'll just let it end there.
Janice:
Please help me....from where did the Cure of Ars get his MA ??
~Walter in Scranton
On the one hand, I don't much care for "what percentage would you say"-type questions. They provide information about what I would say, not about the actual percentages.
On the other hand, as I understand it the answers aren't used so much numerically as conceptually. The goal isn't to double the percentage in two years, with a significance greater than 0.95. It's to get people to think about what lessons they want to teach others about being Catholic, and how they can better teach those lessons.
Tom:
Thank you. Of course, this is not about numbers. No one treats the 5% average as definitive or even particularly important. The point was to give them some way to think about their knowledge of their people and ask a question they probably hadn't asked before: where they were spiritually. And the answer universally - "the vast majority of our people are not disciples".
My present pastor built his church and has been pastor for 26 years. He does know *something* about the spiritual lives of the people he has labored for without ceasing for 26 years. It's not exhaustive knowledge of course - but it is genuine knowledge. When his estimate is 5%, it means something.
My own estimate of the number of intentional disciples in my home parish in Seattle would be much much higher - possibly even a majority. It is relatively small and I was there 13 years so I do have some real knowledge. You seldom meet *merely* cultural Catholics there although many were born and raised Catholic.
It is an exceptional parish (Dominican, natch), poor, intellectually inclined, and the only place in world where you can come upon two members of the adult Sunday school casually disputing variant readings in Irenaeus. So it is exceptional (or odd) in many ways - but it is also full of intentional disciples and it shows.
And therefore is a magnet for other intentional disciples who sense it and are drawn to it from all over the city.
Janice,
I'll let Sherry address your questions reading her bona fides, but I can say that the material used by the Institute was developed by Sherry and Fr. Michael Sweeney, OP. Fr. Michael is currently serving as the President of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. Even before Fr. Michael became President of the DSPT, the Dominicans of the Western Province were using the Institutes's material to help in the formation of their seminarians.
And Sherry can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that both she and Fr. Michael Sweeney have presented the material in Rome and they have met with Cardinal Stafford to go over the material.
This is no false syncretism, but authentic magisterial teaching and Tradition--at the very heart of our Catholic Faith.
I am so grateful to know that I no longer need "credentials" to speak about my faith. The Catherine of Siena Institute (Sherry & Fr. Michael) has encouraged me and helped me to recognize that my baptism is what qualifies me. My baptismal certificate hangs on my office wall above my certificate from Loyola Univeristy.
And the answer universally - "the vast majority of our people are not disciples".
And you understand how insulting that sounds, right? For several reasons, but perhaps mostly because the word "disciple" has as one of its meanings a very broad one that would include most of the weekly Mass-goers.
To put it in Catherinian terms, I think what you're getting at is that the vast majority of American Catholics have not advanced beyond the first stair of the Bridge, meaning they act through -- well, St. Catherine called it "slavish fear," which isn't much of an improvement over "pre-discipleship." The contemporary analog might be more like, what, "contractural habit"?
Yes, Virginia, we have met with Cardinal Stafford in Rome when he was the President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. Several times.
We were told originally that he would give us 20 minutes if he was polite, 30 minutes if interested. He stayed with us for an hour and a half. He held a copy of the Catholic Spiritual Gifts Inventory on his knee, which he had read, while we talked. We vetted a number of our ideas with him because we always want to make sure we are teaching with the Church.
He has shown great support for our work and eagerness to collaborate with us since - coming out to speak at a conference we sponsored in San Francisco on lay apostleship. Fr. Michael has met with him in Rome a couple more times. Cardinal Stafford wanted to be present at the colloquiam in Chicago last summer on the state of the parish (the one Cardinal George spoke at)but was already committed.
Cardinal Stafford also told me the story about his first day as Bishop of Memphis. On Sunday morning, he went in mufti to the mega Baptist church across the street from the Cathedral to see what would happen. To his amazement, not only was he immediately greeted, but he was asked to fill out a information card and found himself in a Sunday school class for single men of 50 and over.
They went around the room and introduced themselves. When it was his term, he described his work as "public relations".
It was Stafford who asked me what percentage of those entering the Church at Easter had left within one year. 50% was my reply. "Oh no", he corrected me. "70%!"
I find it fascinating that all of a sudden the issue of my "credentials" is being raised for the first time in 10 years.
My educational background is not a secret and is on the back of everything we publish and on my cv. I don't have a PhD or STD but since I'm not an academic, its not an issue.
We've talked for years about my getting an STL but how to find the time and financial resources to make that happen is the question. As a close friend, who is a top-of-the-line scholar of European history reminds me, I've already done an serious Phd's worth of original research. I would very much like to do it - focusing on the theology of vocation and governance - but how?
If God makes a way, I will do it. If not, not.
Meanwhile, I slowly acquired expertise in a narrow and specialized area - the theology, mission, and formation of the laity - the old-fashioned way: I did the work.
Tons of original research, both theological and pastoral. Worked directly with tens of thousands of lay Catholics on four continents and with thousands of pastoral leaders - clergy, religious, and lay. We've conducted intensive personal interviewers with thousands of Catholics. We have slowly acquired a depth and breadth of knowledge in this area that is unique in the Catholic world and a form of genuine expertise.
Bishops and dioceses and pastors and seminaries approach us based upon the quality of our presentations and written work and especially, recommendations from people whom they trust.
Sherry: "My present pastor built his church and has been pastor for 26 years. He does know *something* about the spiritual lives of the people he has labored for without ceasing for 26 years. It's not exhaustive knowledge of course - but it is genuine knowledge. When his estimate is 5%, it means something."
I'm sure it does. I'm sure if your pastor has been there for 26 years, he probably would recognize his parishioners if he met them at the grocery store. That's an enviable situation, but it's not what's happening everywhere.
Here in Georgia, pastors and parochial vicars are routinely transferred after as little as 2-3 years on the job. In a small parish, a priest might be able to get to know most people after a few years, if he's a very outgoing person. But in a large suburban parish of over 3000 families, it's not going to happen.
So no, I don't think my pastor could possibly know how many people in our parish are committed disciples. He certainly knows how many people contribute financially, how many people sing in the choir, and how many people come to confession. But unless he's insisting that he or another priest or deacon personally visit all the families in the parish and get to know them, he doesn't know the first thing about them.
If you ask me, if we're talking about getting our pastors to feel more like shepherds and less like administrators, they should start by getting out of the office and getting to know their flock.
Jim wrote:
If you ask me, if we're talking about getting our pastors to feel more like shepherds and less like administrators, they should start by getting out of the office and getting to know their flock.
Amen to that Jim. That goal is doable, but will take some very serious work. Part of it is fiscal. My pastor hates, hates, hates all the administration that he has to do, but because we don't have a large (or even medium) number of people regularly tithing, he can't afford a competent administrator (like myself :grin:).
I think it's a beneficial ccle. We need to work on forming and supporting intentional disciples who will willingly and cheerfully give of their material gifts so that we can get afford to get pastors out of administration and into governance. Meanwhile, moving pastors out of administration and in to governance will only intesify the formation of intentional disciples.
Once we start, it will get easier. The problem is, most parishes look at the fiscal reality and never start.
Tom:
"And the answer universally - "the vast majority of our people are not disciples".
And you understand how insulting that sounds, right? For several reasons, but perhaps mostly because the word "disciple" has as one of its meanings a very broad one that would include most of the weekly Mass-goers."
Well, first of all, it wasn't me who said it. It was the conclusion of 200 pastoral leaders from around North American. Most of them were cradle Catholics. I'm just reporting the conclusion they came to. Which surprised even us.
And the interesting thing is, *they* weren't angry and insulted. It may be because we ask the question half way through the 4 days and a trust has built up. Also because we have meticulously plodded through Church teaching on the subject before hand which many of them were not familiar with.
Most of them are a self-selected group who have a particularly strong interest in evangelization and formation so that's a factor.
Of course, it can be painful, enraging, frustrating to have to grapple with this issue. But many Catholics, in our experience, have also found it exhilarating, healing, and intensely relieving to grapple head-on with this issue. To actually give a name to the 800 lb gorrilla they have been wrestling with.
This is especially true if they are from one of the thousands of parishes around the country who are involved in evangelizaton processes and have seen ordinary Catholics become intentional disciples and the extraordinary spiritual energy unleashed. They are simply and purely jazzed.
I can understand why it might seem "insulting" to some. That is why "don't ask, don't tell" cultures develop. To even ask the question is to imply that something is seriously wrong and to be faced with change.
It isn't just us who is asking the question. The Augustine Institute in Denver, where Aimee is a student in its evangelization track, and the new STL in Evangelization at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit are signs of the time.
In the end, we always have to return to Jesus' command to "make disciples of all nations". The Church has a rich and powerful theology of conversion and evangelization. The issue is the gap between our practice and our theology.
Some find it "insulting" to openly acknowledge that gap. Others find it enormously affirming and healing. But neither response affects the reality of the gap or the continuing validity of the command to make disciples.
I'm sure if your pastor has been there for 26 years, he probably would recognize his parishioners if he met them at the grocery store.
Are you kidding? My pastor knows everyone in town. First of all, he is pastor of the largest parish in the diocese and three others out in the praries beside. He's also heading up an ecumenical effort to build a new soup kitchen downtown.
If you are sitting with him in a restaurant, an endless line of diners, waiters, and who know what, come up to greet him. Catholics and non-Catholics.
I should add that I really admire the work you're doing with this blog. You're asking questions that are making a lot of people on the left and the right uncomfortable, precisely because you're not putting things in the typical language of left-right Catholic discourse. As you said, it's the 800-lb gorilla that we've all been ignoring, and we really do need to be talking about this and airing out our differences.
Needless to say, it beats the heck out of the same old church gossip and bishop-bashing we see on most blogs.
I wonder what the difference in tenure is between diocesan priests and order priests. Do orders have some say in the reassignment of pastors to the parishes that they are responsible for?
My momma always told me that pastors come and go, but the laypeople are here to stay.
Fred
And the interesting thing is, *they* weren't angry and insulted.
Sure, but people coming more or less cold to this blog, or your website generally, interpret the statement according to whatever meaning of "disciple" exists in their own minds prior to reading it.
I suspect that a lot of people who might feel insulted by that statement would actually agree with it if it were expressed in terms they're used to using. Maybe something like "the vast majority of our people are not meaningfully committed to deepening their personal relationship with Jesus Christ."
Even then, though, I'm starting to see your point about the resistance to so much as talking about anyone else's commitment to deepening a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, as though the very thought is necessarily condescending and prideful.
Tom wrote:
Even then, though, I'm starting to see your point about the resistance to so much as talking about anyone else's commitment to deepening a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, as though the very thought is necessarily condescending and prideful.
I respond:
YEs, this has been driven home to me personally by my participation in discussions at dotCommonweal. I wonder how we can better communicate the vision.
By the way, I love reading Disputations, Tom. And thanks for your help regarding discussing the nature of Faith with my athiest friend. I appreciate it.
B16 certainly doesn’t hesitate to exhort us to a commitment to deepening our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Here’s what he said in his GA on 9.6.06:
“...what is important is not only or above all to listen to [Christ’s] teachings, his words, but to know him personally, that is, his humanity and divinity, the mystery of his beauty. He is not only a Teacher, but a Friend, more than that, a Brother. How can we know him if we are far from him? Intimacy, familiarity, custom, make us discover the true identity of Jesus Christ.”
~Walter in Scranton
I suspect that a lot of people who might feel insulted by that statement would actually agree with it if it were expressed in terms they're used to using. Maybe something like "the vast majority of our people are not meaningfully committed to deepening their personal relationship with Jesus Christ."
Can I borrow (no, "steal" because after all, intellectual theft is in the best Dominican tradition)your words?
Of course, there is that little problem that many baptized people, Catholic or Protestant or Orthodox, have no lived (as opposed to sacramental) personal relationship to Jesus Christ to deepen.
But you know what? I still think that people are going to be angry with your wording, because it is *the very idea of asking* not the words with which we ask, that is the ultimate problem.
Carol:
"My baptismal certificate hangs on my office wall above my certificate from Loyola Univeristy."
Very cool!
Fred, you asked,
"I wonder what the difference in tenure is between diocesan priests and order priests. Do orders have some say in the reassignment of pastors to the parishes that they are responsible for?"
I can't speak for all the clerical Orders, or even other Dominican Provinces regarding tenure in parochial ministry, but I'll let you know the Western Dominican policy.
Currently, our pastors have no terms regarding their assignation as pastor. The Provincial assigns them to that particular Dominican community, and the Bishop gives the approval that he become the pastor. Normally, however, the pastor is often the superior of the community, unless it's large enough to be a priory, in which case the community may have elected someone else as the superior of the community (and, in fact, that is the preference, that those two positions be held by two different people). Consequently, a pastor, if he is also superior, has a three-year term - not as pastor, but as superior of the Dominican community - which can be renewed for a second term. In order to stay longer as superior, the Dominican leadership in Rome has to give approval.
As a friar who has been both superior and pastor in two communities, I would prefer that the two offices be separated, since the two offices are directed to two different groups of people (Dominican community and parish community) who have very different needs - and sometimes competing demands.
Unfortunately, the nature of community life on the province level means that, when there is a shortage of good leaders, pastors may be moved more often than every three years, which, as you can imagine, is very trying for a parish community.
Thank you, Fr. Mike.
Order parishes have their challenges, but they also seem to have certain benefits as well - at least that's what I've seen with Capuchins or Redemptorists.
Fred
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