The document discusses the concept of discipleship within the Catholic tradition, emphasizing the importance of personal attachment to Christ as a norm for Catholics. It highlights the need for intentional discipleship, characterized by active engagement and personal decision-making, and outlines various elements and stages of this spiritual journey. It also notes the ongoing challenges and opportunities faced by Catholics in the contemporary spiritual landscape, with a call to rethink evangelizing and catechetical practices.

1. naming
discipleship
Forming
Intentional
Disciples
discipleship
an introduction to Sherry Weddell’s
Forming Intentional Disciples
Colleen Vermeulen, M.Div.
Twitter: @EvangelToolbox
Website: http://practicalevangelization.wordpress.com/
Created Feb 2014
Feel free to re-use any slide, but please attribute. 

2. what is discipleship?

3. disciple.
(noun) learner, student
-ship.
condition of being,
implying a skill
Image: The Saint John’s Bible Seeing the Word Blog

4. discipleship
in the Catholic Tradition

5. • Profess, spread, and live the faith
of the Church (§1816)
• Establish habits befitting a
disciple of Christ (§1494)
• Are initiated and nourished by
the Eucharist (§1275)
• Respond to Jesus’ invitation to
enter His kingdom (§546)
using the language of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, disciples:
• Pray (§2601, 2612)
• Abide in the Word (§2466)
• Witness to Christ and work using
the gifts received from God, in
ecclesial and temporal affairs
(§1319, 2427)
• Imitate Jesus (§2347, §2470)

6. discipleship as transmitted by the Church is:
• an active response
• for everyone
• personal (yet in community)

7. discipleship in
the Catholic faith
experiences of
Catholics in our time
not to scale ;-)
our challenge

8. the majority of Catholics in the United States
-- Weddell, Forming Intentional Disciples, 46
are sacramentalized but not evangelized
They do not know that an explicit, personal attachment to Christ—
personal discipleship—is normativeCatholicism as
taught by the apostles and reiterated time and time again by the
popes, councils, and saints of the Church.

9. For me, faith is born from the encounter with Jesus. A
personal encounter, which has touched my heart
and given direction and new meaning to my existence.
-- Pope Francis, Letter to La Republica
Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or
a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person,
which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.
-- Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est §1
.
The proclamation of the Gospel kerygma leads a person to, one
day be “overwhelmed and brought to the decision to
entrust himself to Jesus Christ by faith”
-- Blessed John Paul II, Catechesi Tradendae, §25

10. of Catholicsonly 48%
were absolutely certain that the God they believed in was
a God with whom they could have a personal relationship
Forming Intentional Disciples, Chapter 1

11. assessing the state of discipleship
without vilifying
Image: “Paul Preaching to the Athenians,” Leonard Porter Studio, 2009

12. naming
discipleship
Forming
Intentional
Disciples
FID + ministry
formation = ?
the book

13. Chapter One:
God Has No Grandchildren
Image: Military Council of Catholic Women Fiat, “Book Club,” www.mccwfiat.wordpress.com

14. in review: there were lots of statistics

15. The spiritual winds blow both ways in our postmodern world:
into and out of the Church.
Our spiritual climate provides us with real opportunities
…and very definite threats
if we do not adjust our evangelizing, catechetical, and pastoral
practice to the unique challenges
of the times in which we live.
-- Weddell, Forming Intentional Disciples, 18

16. key
point1
the origin of intentional discipleship

17. All we meant…was “intentional” as in Peter
and his brother, on the sea of Galilee, they
dropped their nets, and they followed him.
You don’t do that accidentally, you don’t do it in your sleep,
and neither can any of us be disciples in our sleep!
--Sherry Weddell, onlineinterview with Bishop Sheridan (Colorado Springs)
Image: CC license, flappingwings via Flickr

18. of course, “unintentional discipleship” is impossible,
but using explicit language like “intentional discipleship”
seemed to break the mysterious spell
that makes it difficult for many Catholics to think and speak of
discipleship in meaningful, real-life ways
-- Weddell, Forming Intentional Disciples, 65

19. key
point2
characterizing intentional discipleship

20. intentional discipleship is characterized by:
• a “drop the net” decision
• primary motivation from within, a “Holy Spirit-
given hunger and thirst for righteousness”
• worship and love of the Blessed Trinity with
one’s whole heart, soul, mind, and strength,
and love of neighbor as one’s self as source
and end of all things
Weddell, Forming Intentional Disciples, 65-66

21. some fruits
of intentional
discipleship
passionate
prayer
desire to
worship
love for
the Church
joyful
service
generous
giving
hunger to
learn more
about their
faith
vocational
discernment
loving
care for
the poor
seeking to
know and
live God’s will
sharing
the really
Good News
sharing the
faith with
one’s family
taking risks
for the
Kingdom of
God
attend to
issues of
justice
Weddell, Forming Intentional Disciples, 80-81

22. key
point3
intentional discipleship is ecclesial

23. 1. The personal interior journey of a
lived relationship with Christ resulting
in intentional discipleship.
2. The ecclesial journey into the Church
through reception of the sacraments
of initiation.
3. The journey of active practice –
receiving the sacraments, attending
Mass, and participating in the life and
mission of the Christian community.
three spiritual journeys 1 2 3
2
1
3
+ many more variations…
Weddell, Forming Intentional Disciples, 54

24. key
point4
discipleship matters for everyone

25. As we listened to Catholics talk about their spiritual journey, we began to
realize that many assumed there were two basic spiritual “tracks”:
“ordinary Catholic” and “saint.”
We discovered that many Catholics, including some pastoral leaders…have
no imaginative category for one who is an intentional follower of
Jesus “on the way” yet not a saint.
There is a strong tendency to account for those who try to live as
disciples by labeling them “extraordinary,” either positively, as called to
priestly or religious life, or negatively, as pretenders to sanctity.
-- Weddell, Forming Intentional Disciples, 63

26. “We must be convinced that all the baptized – unless they
die early or are incapable of making such a decision – will
eventually be called to make a personal choice to live as a
disciple of Jesus Christ in the midst of his Church”
--Weddell, Forming Intentional Disciples, 70
Image: CNS, Catholic Review, Tom McCarthy Jr., 2012

27. key
point5
seek stories, not labels

28. baptized
liberal
confirmed
atheist
left
married in the Church
conservative
evangelical
right
progressive
practicing Catholic
fallen away Catholic
pro-life
convert
clergy
laity
active

29. key
point6
offering a framework for the
[often overlooked] Spiritual Journey #1

30. trust
curiosity
openness
seeking
intentional
discipleship
5 thresholds
of conversion
the
a framework for
spiritual journey #1

31. not the only framework

32. key
point7
expect charisms (spiritual gifts) and grace

33. You and I have no right to judge another’s internal disposition,
nor can we see justification happen in an individuals’ soul.
But this does notmean that no fruits of personal faith are
observable from the outside.
-- Weddell, Forming Intentional Disciples, 122
And it certainly does notmean that a dramatic and
widespread absence of these fruits in the community
overall cannot be recognized and addressed.

34. Arlington • Baltimore • Boise • Boston • Charleston, SC • Chicago • Cleveland • Colorado
Springs • Denver •Detroit • Fargo • Fort Worth, TX •Fort Wayne – South Bend • Green Bay
•Dubuque, IA • Joliet, IL • Knoxville • La Crosse, WI • Lansing, MI •Lexington, KY • Los
Angeles • Madison, WI • Manchester, H • Milwaukee •New York • Newark • Oakland, CA •
Ogdensburgh, NY • Oklahoma City • Omaha • Orange, CA • Richmond • San Antonio • San
Francisco • San Jose, CA• Scranton, PA• Seattle • Springfield, IL
at least 91 dioceses in the U.S. are deliberately engaging with the ideas in
Forming Intentional Disciples:
[+ dioceses in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and 4 other countries]
since 1997, over 65,000 lay, religious, and ordained Catholics have
participated in the Catherine of Siena Institute programs that inspired the book
The book has made a splash.
• in the Amazon Top 5000 nearly continuously since publication
• still breaking into the hourly Amazon Top 20 “Catholicism” best sellers

35. what next?
naming
discipleship
Forming
Intentional
Disciples
?
Study the book.
Talk about it in your parish or ministry
setting.
Reflect on:
 if/how your parish or ministry deliberately
allows space for spiritual journey #1
 ways to be sensitive to and discern the
many thresholds and complex conversion
processes of those who are not yet disciples
Check out additional resources at:
http://practicalevangelization.wordpress.com/tag/r
esources-for-intentional-discipleship/