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RCL Benziger Partnership TABLE of CONTENTS A process that accompanies ministry leaders as they prepare for ongoing change In Word and Witness | RCL Benziger Partnership TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..............................................3 A Church with a Mission ...........................4 Facing a New Reality .................................7 Making Disciples .......................................9 Cyclical Process .......................................12 Change Management .............................14 Obstacles to Change ...............................16 Catechetical Planning ..............................18 Digital Catechesis ....................................21 The Ecclesial Leader ................................23 Communication ......................................26 In Word and Witness | RCL Benziger Partnership 2 Christ Awaits INTRODUCTION The ministerial landscape is changing at a rapid pace due to long-term systemic issues as well as the recent global pandemic. Ministry leaders are trying to adapt to an ever-changing situation. Prayerfully seeking faithful, practical, new possibilities for accompaniment, we acknowledge that Christ is present in our discernment and that he awaits us in our response. As Pope Francis said in his letter to catechists: Catechists are creative; they seek to use different means and forms to proclaim Christ. This endeavor to make Jesus known as the highest form of beauty brings us to encounter new signs and ways to transmit the faith. Keep in mind the style of Jesus who adapted to the people he had before him in order to bring them closer to the love of God. We [catechists] must not have fear because he is ahead of us in this task. He is already in today’s man and he awaits us there.1 1 Pope Francis, Message to participants in the first International Catechetical Symposium (July 5, 2017). In Word and Witness | RCL Benziger Partnership 3 Christ Awaits A CHURCH WITH A MISSION and is the first part of catechesis; the second part is to lead people deeper into the faith.3 The Directory ✚ Why is there a Church? for Catechesis begins with the declaration that both ✚ To what end? catechesis as well as the broader process of renewal in the Church must be faithful to “the command of ✚ What is the mission of the Church? Jesus Christ to proclaim always and everywhere the Gospel (cf. Mt 28:19).”4 The Church, and parish communities in particular, can have tremendous impact on surrounding Many parish communities have realized the neighborhoods and communities. These communities importance of mission and have developed mission give hope, share faith, promote love, serve the poor statements to direct their activities. Yet any particular and homeless, foster connection, create spaces of mission statement must be held against the overall prayer and reflection, and call us to continuous mission of the Church given by Christ. It must flow conversion. Yet among all the different functions from Christ’s mission and be a particular expression of the Church, the question of “why” arises. Why of it in order to be part of the Church’s mission. A is there a Church? What distinguishes the Church parish’s mission is the way in which that particular from other institutions in society? What is the community will share the Good News of the Gospel, mission of the Church? Understanding the mission, rooted in the community’s particular identity, charism, the reason for which the Church exists, is the key to history, and context. identifying the ways in which the Church—and parish communities—should proceed into the future. The Choosing to Do Mission First mission of the Church is stated clearly by the highest Pope Francis writes extensively on the mission of the authority: Jesus Christ himself. He told his disciples, Church in his apostolic exhortation The Joy of the “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium). He reminds us that the baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the mission of making disciples calls us to go beyond our Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe own communities. We are called, as Church, to “go all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20). forth,” to take initiative.5 We cannot wait for people to come to us. This Scripture passage often is called the Great Commission, and its mandate is to “make disciples,” The mission of the Church is not just one part of what that is, followers of Christ. Therefore, the mission of we do or one item on a long list of tasks to complete. the Church is to be missionary: as disciples of Jesus, Rather, the mission is to permeate everything and we are called to go beyond our own buildings and take priority over other courses of action. Pope Francis parish communities into the neighborhoods and the lays out this vision: “I dream of a ‘missionary option,’ world. The Church “exists in order to evangelize.”2 that is, a missionary impulse capable of transforming Evangelization is sharing the Gospel with others everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways 2 Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelization in the Modern World (Evangelii Nuntiandi [EN]) (Vatican City, 1975) 14; also see Directory for Catechesis: New Edition (DC), (Washington, DC: USCCB, 2020) 28. 3 Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation The Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium [EG]) (Vatican City, 2013) 163-175, “kerygmatic catechesis” and “mystagogical catechesis.” 4 DC 1. 5 EG, “go forth” is mentioned twenty-four times throughout the document. In Word and Witness | RCL Benziger Partnership 4 Christ Awaits of doing things, times and schedules, language Pope Francis invites us to follow the great criterion and structures can be suitably channeled for the of Matthew 25 to feed the hungry, welcome the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her stranger, care for the sick, and so on. He tells us to self-preservation.”6 be prayerful, passionate, bold, joyful, discerning in our decisions, and living in community in order to The word “option” emphasizes that parish life is grow toward holiness. A mature disciple is a person formed by concrete decisions regarding resources, who rests in faith and prayer, and is also transformed spaces, and schedules. A missionary transformation every day to be more grateful, more forgiving, more requires us to take this option instead of other, compassionate, more loving, and more giving. This is often very good, options. Saying no to or letting go an invitation to all of us to hear and heed this call to of priorities and programs that do not advance the holiness and to transform our communities according mission in favor of the missionary option is a critical to the missionary option to make disciples as well as part of change. An example of this challenge is when to become missionary disciples. a parish cannot use a room for a new evangelization program, because a parish group already reserved the The Directory for Catechesis recognizes the role of room to play bingo or cards on those weekday nights. catechesis within the mission of forming disciples, Other options face resistance, because the hospitality stating: for a new activity would cost more money than the income it would create. A community with a mission puts sharing the faith first and other matters second. In the multiplicity of ministries and services with which the Church realizes her mission of What Disciples Look Like evangelization, the “ministry of catechesis” Once the mission is clear and its importance apparent, occupies a significant place, indispensable the question remains, “What must one do to be a good for growth of the faith. This ministry provides Christian?”7 What is discipleship? What does a mature an introduction to the faith and, together disciple look like? Pope Francis describes in Rejoice with the liturgical ministry, begets children of and Be Glad (Gaudete et Exsultate) the call for all the God in the womb of the Church. The specific faithful to follow Christ. He lays out holiness in the vocation of the catechist therefore has its section “The Saints ‘Next Door,’”8 describing holiness roots in the common vocation of the people as conversion in small steps and actions, being yourself of God, called to serve God’s plan of salvation in everyday life while following Christ’s mission. The on behalf of humanity. The whole Christian mature disciple is a person who lives according to the community is responsible for the ministry of Beatitudes. Living the Beatitudes leads us into holding catechesis, but each one according to his difficult tensions in life. For example, “blessed are the particular condition in the Church: ordained 10 peacemakers” includes refraining from gossip and ministers, consecrated persons, lay faithful. building relationships just as much as facing conflict head on instead of ignoring it.9 6 EG 27. 7 Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Rejoice and Be Glad (Gaudete et Exsultate [GE]) (Vatican City, 2018) 63. 8 GE 6-9. 9 GE 87-89. 10 DC 110-111. In Word and Witness | RCL Benziger Partnership 5 Christ Awaits Missionary Option Evangelization Rather than Self-Preservation • What is our image of mature discipleship? The Missionary Impulse • What impulses in our community seek to • How do we already live according to the transform everything toward mission? Beatitudes? In what ways can we live more fully the vision laid out in the Beatitudes? • What in our pastoral work is life-giving, disciple-making? • What initiatives can start small and build a positive energy that will foster more change • Who are the people who are on fire for toward mission?
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