{"id":102182,"date":"2018-02-16T00:46:25","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T07:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=102182"},"modified":"2018-02-12T17:48:48","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T00:48:48","slug":"want-vocations-make-disciples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/02\/want-vocations-make-disciples.html","title":{"rendered":"If you want vocations, make disciples"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Sherry Weddell wrote this a couple of years ago<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s more pertinent than ever:<\/p>\n

I know that many of us have had the wind knocked out of our sails a bit by the fairly grim news about the state of American Catholicism revealed in the Pew Forum\u2019s 2014 US Religious Study which was made public yesterday. Nothing that the Pew researchers found came as any surprise as they are what I\u2019ve been predicting for years. But it is different to see it in black and white.<\/p>\n

That there are 47 million former adult Christians in the US and 67% are former Catholics. That only 59% of the many millions who were raised Catholic still retain the identity. That 6.5 Americans leave the Catholic Church for every one who enters.<\/p>\n

All we have lost are the remnants of our illusions and ecclesial hubris. \u00a0This is necessary, though, \u00a0because in our generation, cultural Catholicism is dead as a retention strategy. In the postmodern West, God has no grandchildren. He has billions of sons and daughters, but no grandchildren.<\/p>\n

The great Catholic revival and the generation of saints in early 17th-century France emerged from circumstances vastly grimmer than our own. Eight religious civil wars in 32 years. Twenty percent of the population of Paris died in a religiously fueled siege. Finally, two generations after Trent, the exhausted survivors looked about them and begin to respond apostolically \u2013 collaborating across the generations and categories like bishop, priest, lay man or lay woman.<\/p>\n

It was God\u2019s Providence that the greatest figure of the great \u201cgeneration of saints\u201d was St. Francis de Sales, whose gentleness, and trust in God was proverbial. It was due to his leadership and influence that while the generation that lived through the wars was scarred for life, the next generation turned their energies to heroic systematic charity, evangelization, missionary work, Catholic education and creating the seminary system to form a new kind of clergy. They literally re-invented Catholic life, practice, and spirituality in an evangelical mode.<\/p>\n

Not in the image of the pre-Reformation Church, which was two generations gone, and not primarily in reaction to the terrible losses of the past but by really engaging the needs of their time \u2013 the early 17th\u00a0century \u2013 out of love and in the power of the Holy Spirit. \u201cLet us see what love will do\u201d was St. Francis\u2019 motto. Heroic love birthed a vast spectrum of creativity, renewal, and transformation whose influence lasted 150 years in France and gave birth to most of the institutions that 1950\u2019s Western Catholics regarded as immemorial and immutable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the rest here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sherry Weddell wrote this a couple of years ago.\u00a0 It\u2019s more pertinent than ever: I know that many of us have had the wind knocked out of our sails a bit by the fairly grim news about the state of American Catholicism revealed in the Pew Forum\u2019s 2014 US Religious Study which was made public […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[249],"class_list":["post-102182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-forming-intentional-disciples"],"yoast_head":"\nIf you want vocations, make disciples<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sherry Weddell wrote this a couple of years ago.\u00a0 It's more pertinent than ever: I know that many of us have had the wind knocked out of our sails a bit\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/02\/want-vocations-make-disciples.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"If you want vocations, make disciples\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sherry Weddell wrote this a couple of years ago.\u00a0 It's more pertinent than ever: I know that many of us have had the wind knocked out of our sails a bit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/02\/want-vocations-make-disciples.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-16T07:46:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-13T00:48:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/02\/want-vocations-make-disciples.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/02\/want-vocations-make-disciples.html\",\"name\":\"If you want vocations, make disciples\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-16T07:46:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-13T00:48:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\"},\"description\":\"Sherry Weddell wrote this a couple of years ago.\u00a0 It's more pertinent than ever: I know that many of us have had the wind knocked out of our sails a bit\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/02\/want-vocations-make-disciples.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/02\/want-vocations-make-disciples.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/02\/want-vocations-make-disciples.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"If you want vocations, make disciples\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\",\"description\":\"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\",\"name\":\"Mark Shea\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Shea\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"If you want vocations, make disciples","description":"Sherry Weddell wrote this a couple of years ago.\u00a0 It's more pertinent than ever: I know that many of us have had the wind knocked out of our sails a bit","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/02\/want-vocations-make-disciples.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"If you want vocations, make disciples","og_description":"Sherry Weddell wrote this a couple of years ago.\u00a0 It's more pertinent than ever: I know that many of us have had the wind knocked out of our sails a bit","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/02\/want-vocations-make-disciples.html","og_site_name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","article_published_time":"2018-02-16T07:46:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-02-13T00:48:48+00:00","author":"Mark Shea","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Shea","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/02\/want-vocations-make-disciples.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/02\/want-vocations-make-disciples.html","name":"If you want vocations, make disciples","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-02-16T07:46:25+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-13T00:48:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5"},"description":"Sherry Weddell wrote this a couple of years ago.\u00a0 It's more pertinent than ever: I know that many of us have had the wind knocked out of our sails a bit","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/02\/want-vocations-make-disciples.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/02\/want-vocations-make-disciples.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2018\/02\/want-vocations-make-disciples.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"If you want vocations, make disciples"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/","name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","description":"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5","name":"Mark Shea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Shea"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}