Lots of people are talking about\u00a0Forming Intentional Disciples<\/em>, by Sherry Weddell, and with good reason; here\u2019s my somewhat personal take on it.<\/p>\n Forming Intentional Disciples<\/em>\u00a0is a book the Church desperately needs today. It is first of all a description of the Church (and of Christianity in general) as it currently is\u2014not as it was fifty or even twenty years ago, but as it is now. Sherry has all of the statistics in hand. It is secondly a vision of what the Church can be, is meant to be, with glimpses of parishes where the vision has already taken root. And finally, it is a deeply pragmatic book with practical steps for achieving that vision given the situation we currently find ourselves in.<\/p>\n The core of the vision centers on Christ our Lord, and on what Sherry calls \u201cintentional disciples,\u201d people who make it their business to be disciples of Christ, who devote themselves to the love of Jesus before everything else, and to their fellow men and women because He loves them. She makes the point over and over again that a strong, living relationship with Jesus is crucial\u2014and that if we want our parishes to be bursting with life and service to God and our neighbor, we must first foster that strong, living relationship.<\/p>\n Any evangelicals among our readers are nodding and saying, \u201cWell, duh\u2014of\u00a0course<\/em>\u00a0that\u2019s where you have to start.\u201d I need to say a few words to them; the rest of you, feel free to follow along if you like.<\/p>\n I was a member of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship when I was in college. I was a member of a rather evangelical Episcopalian (later, Anglican) parish for many, many years before I returned to the Catholic Church. I\u2019ve known about the importance of a strong friendship with Jesus since I was in my teens. And it\u2019s only since I rejoined the Catholic Church in 2007 that I feel like I\u2019ve begun to get the hang of it.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s this?\u201d you ask. \u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s not the usual way.\u201d And, alas, it isn\u2019t the usual way. \u00a0Sherry makes that point, that those who leave Catholicism for Evangelicalism are doing so because they want to grow in Christ. \u00a0The evangelicals they know are used to talking about that, and are excited to talk about it; and the Catholics they know aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n And yet, at the same time, it\u00a0is<\/em> the usual way.\u00a0\u00a0For almost two thousand years, the Catholic Church has had members who have stepped apart from the world and devoted their lives to building their relationships with Jesus. We call them monks, and friars, and sisters, and nuns, and canons, and hermits. We call them Dominicans and Franciscans and Benedictines and Carmelites and a whole host of other names. There are those in the Church who not only know the way but have mapped it out in detail; and not only mapped it out in detail, but have mapped out a number of routes, suited to every variety of temperament. Dominican spirituality is not the same as Benedictine spirituality. But all of them are about coming to Jesus, knowing him, loving him, and accepting his discipline and teaching. \u00a0And all of this is available to the layman as well as the consecrated monk or sister.<\/p>\n As a Protestant, I felt like I had a do-it-yourself kit and no hardware store in sight. The books I read were some help, but they only went so far. As a Catholic, on the other hand, I\u2019ve got the experience of the ages available to me, and I\u2019ve done my best, with God\u2019s help, to take advantage of it. I look back on my days as an Anglican, and I feel like I was trying to get the job done with one hand tied behind my back and a blindfold.*<\/p>\n The Catholic Church as a body understands how to know and love and follow Jesus. But many of us in the pews do not; and that\u2019s what this book is about: encouraging Catholics like me to spread the word, as well as sage advice on how to go about it. Here\u2019s a hint: it doesn\u2019t look like a sales call. And mostly it involves listening, not speaking.<\/p>\n This is not properly a review; I don\u2019t feel qualified to review the material in this book, especially after only one reading. But I\u2019ll be reading it again; and I\u2019ll be passing it around.<\/p>\n _____________<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n * I\u2019m not criticizing my non-Catholic brothers and sisters here; I knew many people whose spiritual life was deeper than mine. \u00a0 I\u2019m talking about my own personal experience trying to put my faith into practice.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lots of people are talking about\u00a0Forming Intentional Disciples, by Sherry Weddell, and with good reason; here\u2019s my somewhat personal take on it. Forming Intentional Disciples\u00a0is a book the Church desperately needs today. It is first of all a description of the Church (and of Christianity in general) as it currently is\u2014not as it was fifty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1131,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[178,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-church","category-review"],"yoast_head":"\n