Evangelisation should take centre stage in the life of a parish, argues world-renowned expert on discipleship Sherry Weddell. Source: Melbourne Catholic.
But she says it is not automatic among Church members, but rather a vocation that needs to be nurtured to bear real fruit.
Ms Weddell was the guest speaker at the Melbourne Archdiocese’s Proclaim26 conference, run by its Office for Mission Renewal on June 26-27.
The co-founder of the lay apostolic formation centre Catherine of Siena Institute in Colorado, United States, is the author of Forming Intentional Disciples.
Ms Weddell shared her years of experience in helping Catholics recognise how God is at work in their lives through two keynote speeches and an all-participant workshop.
She started with what she said was a truth often missed: the real wealth of the Church is found in its people.
“Our institutions, as important as they are and valuable as they are, are trellises for the vine, and we are the branches of the vine can bear the fruit,” she said.
“In many ways, the most essential thing that we can do is help … the immortals that we are surrounded by actually encounter Christ in the living way, and come to know him, and love him, and follow him, and offer themselves as instruments of his healing purposes in this world. They are our greatest earthly treasure.”
Ms Weddell told the leaders that their main work is to help people have a real, personal meeting with Jesus.
She explained that every person is specially prepared by God for a mission that only they can do, but that many lay people – perhaps surprisingly – do not realise this.
People’s background, talents, life experiences, Ms Weddell said, all make “a specifically shaped instrument to do something really crucial for the kingdom of God. If we understand that as leaders at the parish diocesan level, what difference will that make?”
She urged leaders to stop seeing parishioners as just “helpers” for parish tasks and instead see them as people being prepared for their unique role as emerging disciples and apostles.
In her second keynote, Ms Weddell challenged the audience to recognise that every baptised person is called to participate in Christ’s ongoing mission.
“He is already at work, and we are joining him in that as well,” she said.
“We have to take our own place. We don’t take Mary’s place, we don’t take the place of the saints, we don’t certainly take Jesus’s place, but we’ve got to take our own place.”
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Proclaim26 ignites leaders for mission (Melbourne Catholic)
