BALTIMORE - Soon after Sherry Weddell's new book, Forming
Intentional Disciples: The Path to Knowing and Following
Jesus, was published, she was approached by a man who told
her that until he had read her book, he didn't know it was
possible to have a personal relationship with God.
"This man was in ministry, forming clergy," Weddell told an
audience of about 1,200, gathered in Baltimore on the final
day of the Feb. 12-14 Mid-Atlantic Congress for Catholic
Leaders.
The recounting of the incident drew gasps from the crowd.
Weddell - co-director of the Catherine of Siena Institute, a
program dedicated to equipping parishes for the formation of
lay Catholics for their mission to the world - said the man
told her a personal relationship with God was something that
just never was talked about.
"That is the issue," she said, "breaking that culture of
silence."
The congress, co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of Baltimore
and the Association of Catholic Publishers, in partnership
with the National Leadership Roundtable for Church
Management, was designed to deepen the zeal of church leaders
at the parish and diocesan level while also expanding their
knowledge.
A focus on the new evangelization was a key theme throughout
the gathering, with Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori
noting in a Feb. 13 homily that if its goal is to gather
people from every language and nation to be a "house of
prayer for all peoples," then preaching, formation and
religious instruction must attract.
Effective preaching is not the mere presentation of
information or ideas, he said, no matter how important or
profound such information or ideas may be.
"Effective preaching should be engaging," Archbishop Lori
said. "It should be brimming with the attractiveness of the
Gospel, that is to say with the attractiveness of the person
of Christ. It should engage the faith with the struggles and
challenges of daily life, while offering hope, vision and
fresh strength."
Archbishop Lori noted that preaching should draw people not
to a set of rules, "but to a wholly new way of life that can
only be lived in communion with Christ, a communion that is
achieved in and through the sacraments, most especially the
Eucharist."
Church leaders offer formation and religious instruction not
as requirements, he said, but "as those who seek to know,
love and follow the Lord."
Congress participants heard from more than 80 speakers on a
wide range of topics covering everything from church
management to Bible study, liturgy and the sacraments.
Weddell cited a Canadian study examining why young adults
raised in Christian traditions, including Catholicism,
remained in or left their faith.
Those who stayed, the study found, "had an experience of God
or answered prayer; they were able to ask questions openly
and discuss spiritual questions; they understood the Gospel;
and they had older adults living as 'disciples' around them,
modeling faith."
"We can't depend on inherited religious identity," Weddell
said. The audience laughed as she noted that church leaders
tend to separate everyone into two tracks: "the saint track
and the rest of us, who were normal." That didn't allow for
someone who has begun the journey to discipleship.
Part of the problem, she noted, is that "we never created a
safe space for (young people) to wrestle with saying a
deliberate 'yes.'" "We presume the yes," she continued,
believing it occurred in religious education classes or youth
group, or in learning catechism as children.
She advised church leaders ask people to tell their stories
about their relationship with God.
In a Feb. 13 talk about trends affecting the Catholic Church,
Matthew Pinto, founder of Ascension Press, said he sees a
noticeable movement toward "intentional discipleship."
He speculated that the leadership of Pope Francis will cause
"progressive" Catholics to have a greater deference to the
papacy in the years to come, while it simultaneously
challenges "orthodox" Catholics to "come out of their comfort
zones" in serving those in need.
"I think in decades to come, we are going to see doctrinal
orthodoxy with a social justice emphasis," Pinto said.
Other trends Pinto said the church must be aware of include
the rising acceptance of homosexuality, shifting
demographics, the emergence of new groups of laypeople ready
to serve the church, increasing challenges to religious
freedom and the growth of the new evangelization as promoted
by the last three popes.
Damon Owens, executive director of the Theology of the Body
Institute, emphasized in a Feb. 13 presentation that in
helping people live by God's law, church ministers must
encourage a personal encounter with Christ.
"The cold objective law is received by the heart as a rebuke
until it becomes personal," he said.
Likening God's laws to guardrails that keep people safe,
Owens said it isn't enough to "stay on the right side of the
road."
"Merely following the law is not a joy-filled life," he said.
"It's about an encounter of the heart. Then we can see the
law not as the restrictive restraint, but as protective
guidance."