Catholic Diocese of Biloxi  

The shifts in culture of the past 10-20 years make it difficult to evangelize. Our inward view of ourselves and our faith tradition of “wordless witness” do not fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus and are not effective in a society where communications have become so prolific that we have become a voice in a very large crowd of voices. Today, not only does the secular culture not support religious practice, but it is often hostile to religious practice. It is harder to make an impact with the younger generation. Although it may seem a cliché, there is truth in the phrase “our youth are our future.”
 
We struggle when we try to fit people into programs rather than having programs fit the mission of making disciples. We end up with a program that people feel they can get through or graduate from, rather than a lifelong mission to living as a disciple of Jesus.  This might also be true for the way that we approach people who are preparing to receive the Sacraments. It is the reason why many of our young people leave the Church after receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation: They have the mistaken idea that they have graduated from Faith, when the reverse is actually true.
 
We must adapt as a Church to get the message of Jesus Christ, the Good News, out, and we must be intentional in making disciples, especially in our families. Our parishes, schools, and ministries need to support parents and families in their growth and development as disciples of Jesus. We can no longer depend on the evangelization of our children happening automatically. If we were to ask ourselves, as our children receive First Communion and the Sacrament of Confirmation, how many of them we would consider to be missionary disciples, our answer might be very few. The number of young people who leave the Church either during high school or right after graduation is staggering and sobering. It is critical for us to enable our parishes, families, schools, and ministries to move from maintenance to mission—by forming intentional or missionary disciples who are themselves disciple makers.  There was a time when more than 50% of young people who wandered from church after Confirmation returned when they married and started a family. This is generally no longer true. Over 85% of our youth leave the Church, and 75% of those who enter the Church through the RCIA process leave the Church after five years.
 
In many ways, we, as the Catholic Church, need to be trained on how to witness to our faith. In truth, most of us never learned how to tell our faith story in a way that invites others. We also have not learned how to accompany others in the Faith or how to communicate our love for Jesus Christ and His Church. We cannot lead others to Jesus until we ourselves have entered into a relationship with him, the foundation of which is prayer. Many Catholics do not realize that we can and should have a deep personal relationship with our Lord, which we can strengthen through scripture and prayer. Every one of us, regardless of vocation, role in life, or ministry, is called to holiness and to growth in the Catholic faith. We cannot evangelize others unless we have been evangelized, and we cannot accompany others effectively unless we ourselves are disciples (SWJ 28). Once again, repeating Pope Saint John Paul II, “Effective evangelization can only develop from a personal relationship with Jesus” (ALG 5).

So that every Catholic may embrace a life of mission, the cultural paradigms in many of our parishes, families, schools, and ministries need to be transformed. The real goal for renewing parish, family, school, and ministry culture is bigger than we realize. It should extend to creating a cycle of fruitfulness that begins in our parishes, families, schools, and ministries and spreads beyond to the local community and to the whole world. The call to a culture of discipleship is much bigger than plugging people into ministries and promoting volunteerism. It means allowing space to invite in the Holy Spirit to use a person’s particular gifts and vision, giving them opportunities to feel the impetus, the push, of the Holy Spirit to go out and proclaim the Good News. (MM 115)

The question is, “Are we being effective, considering all the cultural and communication changes that have taken place?” This is why we need each of our parishes,  schools,  and  ministries  to  take  to  heart  the  Great  Commission  of  Jesus  to  make disciples, baptize all nations, teach all he commanded us, and celebrate that he is with us always. To make disciples, we begin with people, not programs.  Let’s say someone who wants to pray better, live better, and serve better has decided to follow Jesus and is hungry to grow. When we are not there to support healthy growth, one of three things happens: Growth becomes unhealthy, growth stalls, or the budding disciple finds someplace else to grow. (MM 108)

Examining our process is necessary. Simply put, “Are our parishes, families, schools, and ministries making disciples as we teach, preach, and sanctify?” In other words, “Are we simply in ‘maintenance’ mode – maintaining what we have, or are we in ‘mission’ mode – evangelizing and fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus Christ?”

In the past, we have focused on membership and enrollment numbers and offertory collections as benchmarks for success in our parishes and schools. The kind of cultural shift we are talking about for parishes, families, schools, ministries, and institutions is that we are “Made for Mission.” We must rethink “how we are” and how we are forming parishioners, as well as our school faculty, staff, and students, for discipleship. According to Tim Glemkowski in his book, Made for Mission, there are four categories that describe the health of a parish which can also apply to our schools and ministries:

1.   Dying
2.   Declining
3.   Swelling
4.   Growing or Healthy
      (MM 34)

If we are not evangelizing and forming disciples, we are in decline, even if we are maintaining our “numbers.” If the younger generation is no longer present, we are in decline. If you consider your parish to be dying or declining, the challenge is, instead of giving in to discouragement, find the people where they are and love them. It really is a time to reach out to individuals and bring them to Jesus. Reaching out to our neighbor in the love of Jesus. Following this commandment and a desire for revitalization is the only hope that dying and declining parishes have available.
Swelling parishes can seem to be growing, but we must take note of from where people are coming. Are they new members of the faith growing in discipleship, or are they perhaps from neighboring parishes looking for a new place to worship? Growth in numbers becomes a substitute for growth in discipleship.

Growing, healthy parishes and schools form disciples, and members live the mission of spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ. In these parishes and schools everyone understands there is a clear vision and mission to form disciples of both those inside and outside their walls, and everyone understands how that happens in their own lives using their unique gifts. (MM 39)

Jesus calls each of us to be his modern-day disciples, which means we come to know him, love him, serve him, witness to him, and make disciples in his name. Yes, we need to place things in the hands of Jesus, but as St. Teresa of Avila said, “Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours, yours are the eyes with which he looks with compassion on this world.”  

To know Jesus, to love Jesus, to serve Jesus, and to witness to Jesus means that we must share the love of Jesus with others so that the longing of the others’ hearts can also be satisfied in His love. This is paramount to our purpose as Catholic Christians. It is time to examine ourselves as members of the Church. Called to be modern-day disciples of Jesus, we need to take a hard look at our relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church, and ask ourselves honestly – How am I living my relationship with Jesus Christ, and how am I imaging that relationship to the world? Can others recognize Christ through my life and actions? Am I making disciples by what I am doing and how I am living? Am I sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and bringing others to him as his disciples?

1. What are some shifts in culture over the past 10 – 20 years that make it difficult to evangelize?
2. Why is it difficult to make a cultural shift?
3. What are the reasons a shift in parish, family, school, and ministry cultures is necessary?
4. How do we make a shift in culture?
5. How is building disciples more than promoting volunteerism?
6. What are some of the reasons you think many Catholics tend to keep quiet about their faith?
7. If you are personally quiet about your faith, what are some things you can do to begin sharing your faith with others?
8. How does our parish, family, school, or ministry support the healthy growth of faith in a budding disciple?
9. Is our parish, school, or ministry healthy? Swelling? Declining? Dying? Explain.
10. Are we in maintenance mode or are we fulfilling our mission?