Yesterday I wrote about why ever-expanding parishes are a sign of trouble. This does not mean that a big parish is a bad parish; it means that if a diocese is growing in pewsitters but not in religious vocations, it’s growing spiritual fat, not muscle. The good news is that stored energy, in the form of pewsitters, can be converted into a healthy Body of Christ just as soon as the head makes up its mind to start doing the things it takes to regain spiritual vigor.
A large parish that is pulling this off right now is St. William’s in Round Rock, Texas. Over at the blog discussion group, Martina Kreitzer writes:
You should come visit St. William in Round Rock, Texas. We are the largest parish in the diocese with no sign of growing slower. Our post confirmation program retention rate is 4x the national average . . . and our parish faith formation programs (pre-k through high school) are thriving in ways that make our “mega church” work. We are also blessed to be a 100 year old parish in which the founding family still attends (and can often be seen in the trenches of service oriented work). We come from humble beginnings, have a multicultural background, and are rich in heritage – Mexican/Anglo/rich/poor, etc.
You should come talk to our priest, Father Dean Wilhelm, our adult faith formation director Noe Rocha and our high school and middle school youth ministers, Chris Bartlett and Gwen Bartlett (they are brother and sister). They are also co-founders of a mentoring ministry called Next Level Ministry, designed to help youth ministers get the most out of their programs.
Martina is behind the Jesus is Lord program, one of the key elements of St. William’s success, and which you can read about in detail:
Jesus is Lord Series Introduction
Week 2: Sin and It’s Consequences
Week 3: Salvation – God’s Solution for Sin
Week 4: Repentance – Recognize and Receive
Week 5: Holy Spirit – Going from the Seat to the Feet
Week 6: Jesus is Lord of My Talent
Week 7: Jesus is Lord of My Time
Week 8: Jesus is Lord of My Treasure
Week 9: Jesus is Lord of My Sexuality
Week 10: Intentional Discipleship and Commissioning
Is this program suitable for parishes not quite like St. William’s? Definitely. It’s being used at Texas A&M’s legendary St. Mary’s Catholic Center, where vocations are flourishing. You can watch the campus video series here.
What is this “Intentional Discipleship” business?
Back up a second though and notice the title for Week 10 of the Jesus is Lord series. If you are not familiar with the concept of “Intentional Discipleship” you need to read Sherry Weddell’s excellent books on the topic, Forming Intentional Disciples and Becoming a Parish of Intentional Disciples. The first book explains the problem, and the second tells you step-by-step how to solve it. Book three, Fruitful Discipleship comes out in April 2017.
FID and BPID are both best suited to intermediate-level lay readers. You don’t have to be a genius or on staff at the parish, and both books are eminently readable, but when my own discipleship group read FID, some of the members found the density of the book a little overwhelming. After you’ve read the book yourself, if you want to communicate and discuss the ideas in Forming Intentional Disciples with a broader audience of parish lay-leaders and future lay-leaders, the free CatholicMom.com study guide for Forming Intentional Disciples provides a snapshot summary of the key ideas and a few discussion questions for each chapter.
For the whole dang parish, Brandon Vogt’s book Return: How to Draw Your Child Back to the Church is an excellent 101 on evangelization and discipleship for the ordinary Catholic. He offers a video course as well, which I haven’t reviewed but which you may find helpful.
So there you go. And if all fails, The Catechism of the Catholic has a few pointers as well.