Our Diocese is beginning a new program called "Disciples In Mission." It looks as though all of the Parishes in our Diocese will be participating with it. It soulds as though it has been well received in other parishes and I was wondering if anyone else has participated. If so, what was your experience with it?

It was originated and promoted as a parish evangelization process by a group or order of Priests known as the "Paulist's." It is a five year process, beginning with a year of training and is focused around small faith sharing groups through the season of Lent. As I understand it, the culmination of the program is a goal setting retreat hosted for the participants. The purpose of the goal setting is to build on the strengths of your Parish while addressing areas of need through the coming year.

-- Leon (vol@weblink2000.net), May 16, 2003

Answers

Response to Is anyone familiar with "Diciples In Mission" program?

Jmj
Hello, Leon.

I am not personally familiar with the "Disciples in Mission" [DiM] program. According to the program's Internet site, just six of the (roughly) 200 dioceses in the U.S. and its territories have completed the program, and fewer than thirty others have begun to use it. Perhaps someone with personal experience will reply to you.
I have mixed feelings about the DiM program, based on what I see at its Internet site.

(A) Most of the stated objectives look good, though a couple seem questionable. Here they are, copied from the DiM site:

----------------- QUOTE -----------------
Objectives for Parishioners:

1. implement the United States bishops’ document Go and Make Disciples: A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States;
2. renew/grow their Catholic faith;
3 increase awareness and knowledge of their baptismal call to participate in the Church’s essential mission of evangelization;
4. build their confidence as witnesses to Jesus Christ and proclaimers of the Good News;
5. develop the character and habits of Christ’s disciples in their families, neighborhoods and workplaces;
6. actively apply Church teaching to their daily life, particularly in regard to issues of social justice;
7. come together in Lectionary-based, small faith-sharing groups during Lent.

Some Disciples in MissionObjectives for Parish Communities:

1. implement the United States bishops’ document Go and Make Disciples: A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States;
2. become more welcoming, particularly at eucharistic celebrations;
3. reach out to, and seek reconciliation with those Catholics who have left the active practice of their faith;
4. help families move toward their evangelizing potential as the “domestic church”
5. include children, teens, and young adults in the evangelizing ministries of the parish;
6. support youth religious education in parishes and Catholic schools
7. call forth lay leaders in the parish to collaborate with the pastor in implementing the parish’s mission of evangelization;
8. become more sensitive to mutilingual and multicultural dimensions of evangelization;
9. raise awareness of the ecumenical and interreligious dimensions of Catholic evangelization;
10. increase the number of inquirers in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.

Some Disciples in Mission Objectives for Arch/Dioceses

1. implement the United States bishops’ document Go and Make Disciples: A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States
2. implement the Holy Father’s call to a “New Evangelization”
3. to build an evangelizing culture among the Catholics in the arch/diocese;
4. increase the visibility and impact of the Catholic Church within the geographical boundaries of the arch/diocese;
5. develop a stronger commitment to Hispanic and multicultural ministry;
6. enhance collaboration of diocesan staff, offices, ministries, agencies, and parishes around the mission of evangelization.
------------------ END QUOTE from DiM --------------

(B) Of the 28 (or so) currently participating (arch)dioceses, one is the Diocese of Lincoln. Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz is the kind of leader who would not intentionally allow something like DiM to be used if it were seriously flawed. (If there is something wrong with DiM, it slipped through, unnoticed by Bp. Bruskewitz and his advisors.)

(C) Of greatest concern to me is the fact that the program was devised by the Paulists. The Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle (commonly called the Paulist Fathers) does not have a perfect record of Catholic orthodoxy.
The DiM is a project of the Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association [PNCEA]. Their Internet says this about the Association and its role in DiM:

The PNCEA "builds up the body of Christ by equipping active Catholics for the work of evangelization and by proclaiming the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ to inactive Catholics and the unchurched."

"The Role of [the PNCEA:]
The PNCEA works with a diocese as a partner in Disciples in Mission, and assists the diocese and its parishes in four critical areas.
1. PNCEA staff members work with the diocese in all phases of the program and are available for consultation on specific questions.
2. The PNCEA provides leadership training in Washington, D.C., for all Diocesan Leadership Team Coordinators and goes to each diocese to train the entire Diocesan Leadership Team before launching Disciples in Mission in its parishes.
3. The PNCEA provides, on a cost-per-item basis, all the materials that the diocese and its parishes need to run Disciples in Mission. These items are listed in the Order Form, which is published yearly in the summer. The only expense the parish incurs from the PNCEA is the cost of the items it purchases from the Order Form.
4. The PNCEA develops new materials, as needed, to serve the Disciples in Mission ministry, and provides additional services and resources to further the evangelization ministry of the diocese and its parishes."

(D) The reason I have always been leery about the Paulists is that they are one of the biggest Catholic publishing houses in the U.S. and they do not restrict their publications to orthodox Catholic writers. Instead they mix in works from some of the most notorious dissenters -- for example, Fathers Charles Curran, Richard McBrien, and Richard McCormick, Sister Sandra Schneiders, and Monika Hellwig. They carry hundreds of books, and it could be that scores of them are by heterodox authors whose names are not familiar to me. Here is a page that will let you gain entry into the Paulists' online catalog.

And here is the home page of the "Disciples in Mission" site.
I would just say, "Leon, be optimistic, but keep your eyes open for potential problems."

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), May 16, 2003.

Response to Is anyone familiar with "Diciples In Mission" program?

Thanks for an insightful and very well researched response. As the program has been promoted it sounds as if it can be a good process to help energize our community.

We have a sister at our Parish who participated in the program at a parish in Minnesota and said that she really enjoyed the response that was received in her Parish. She said that the process was similar to "Renew," however she felt that the material was much better. I wouldn't know as I was not here for Renew.

Thanks

By the way . . . what's the Jmj stand for at the start of your posts.

-- Leon (vol@weblink2000.net), May 16, 2003.

Response to Is anyone familiar with "Diciples In Mission" program?

Hey Leon

JMJ - works in English or Latin, meaning "Jesus Mary Joseph". It helps to identify people and their writing as Catholic. If your parents were taught in Catholic schools they probably had to write JMJ or other sacred abbreviation(there are many) at the top of each page.

It is a helpful reminder that we are serving God but I will let John explain the reason and significance of using JMJ personally to him.

-- kiwi (csisherwood@hotmail.com), May 16, 2003.

Hi Leon,

I'm hopping in here a little late.

The Disciples in Mission program was in my diocese awhile back. Some of my friends acted as "facilitators," hosting small prayer groups in their homes.

I'm not really terribly familiar with it, as I was not a participant in the program. But I did skim some of the books used for the program.

Each prayer gathering was to begin with a little ritual. My friends thought the ritual was silly and for the most part, meaningless, and omitted it. I tend to agree. Sometimes it involved passing around a bowl of water, or a plant, or a rock, as I recall...However, my friends substituted the use of sacramentals, such as holy water! Something with real spiritual meaning and power!

That's all I can tell you. Sorry.

Pax Christi.

-- Anna <>< (flower@youknow.com), May 19, 2003.

Passing around a rock?
The very though gives me the creeps. It makes me worry that people with pantheistic tendencies may have been involved in setting up this program.

As I suggested, Leon ...
"Be optimistic, but keep your eyes open for potential problems."
[Kiwi was right about "Jmj." The upper-case "J" is for Jesus.]
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), May 19, 2003.

Thanks, John

Actually, there is much to learn about God's creation in something so simple as a rock. We used it a couple of years ago as an object lesson in our first confirmation class.

I don't know what the DIM rocks were used for, but ours were used to appreciate the individual character of each of our class participants. We taught them that each of them were created by God, and that they were all integral parts of Gods creation. Taken as a whole, all rocks look pretty much the same, but each has individual qualities if you take the time to appreciate them. Each of the members in our class was created by God to be unique in their own ways. The things that made them different were put there be God and as such should always be treasured and appreciated.

Kids can be pretty hard on themselves. Their self image is formed too much, by what they see on TV and in the world. If they don't measure up to MTV standards, they can be left feeling as though they are lost or left behind. God's message has to be heard in the world in which they live. We did it with rocks and I think it was a healthy way to present it.

Hope you can agree.

OK Anna, I've got the Jmj figured out, now how about Pax Christi?

-- Leon (vol@weblink2000.net), May 19, 2003.

Jmj

Hi, Leon.
I see nothing wrong with what you did with rocks (as symbols in a discussion). However that was quite different from what Anna described:

Each prayer gathering was to begin with a little ritual. My friends thought the ritual was silly and for the most part, meaningless, and omitted it. I tend to agree. Sometimes it involved passing around a bowl of water, or a plant, or a rock, as I recall.

Note that "prayer" and "ritual" were involved here. Involving (holding/passing around) natural objects in the midst of such holy proceedings can be, at best, confusing/ambiguous. At worst, it can be a sign of pantheistic influence.

"Pax Christi" is Latin for "The Peace of Christ."

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), May 20, 2003.