On Wednesdays we join CatholicMom.com as we explore Sherry A. Weddell’s book Forming Intentional Disciples. (Until July 31, you can purchase this book at the special price of $10 with free shipping. It’s a fascinating and challenging read.) If you haven’t read the book, you can still follow along with the study and discussion guide.
This week we are reading Chapter 7 on Openness. This is a chapter that really resonated with me. I did not know that this is the stage of faith where we lose many people to other traditions because their “spiritual needs were not being met” (p. 161) but as the chapter went on, this all made sense to me.
People in the stage of Openness are hungry and they might not know how or where to be fed. Weddell mentions “if they hesitantly come to talk to parish staff or leaders, the response is most often to try to connect them with some parish or diocesan activity” (p. 161). I’ve seen this happen. A lot. And some people stick around, while others drift away and still others abruptly disappear.
Worthy though these activities might be, that’s not necessarily what’s going to nourish the faith of a person in this stage. I think if you want to bring someone to the point of discipleship, this is the place where you need to provide them with a mentor of sorts.
The chapter concludes with a suggestion and a testimony. This is the time, the author suggests, to encourage such people to go to Adoration.
The study guide question:
Over the next six months, what changes can you personally make, to help your parish disciple those who are at the threshold of openness? If you are currently at this point yourself, to whom can you go for spiritual mentoring?
My parish is blessed to have an Adoration Chapel that is open 24/7. I think, though, it is underutilized by most of the parish. There is, of course, a core group of people who make sure someone is always present. But I feel that in a way the Adoration Chapel “belongs” to that small, closed core group. I have not visited it much, but when I do, I feel like I am barging in on someone else’s private prayer time. This might be a function of the size and layout of the chapel, which seats about 12 in a triangular space. Visiting more, not less, would probably help in that regard–yet I don’t really feel “welcome” in there. But I would also like to see my parish host an Adoration event on a larger scale, perhaps in the church itself, on a regular basis so that people would feel more welcome to experience Adoration outside of that tiny chapel.
Hmmm…connecting a couple of dots. You mention that this time (as the author suggests), to encourage such people (those that need to be fed) to go to Adoration. You say you feel as if you are intruding because the chapel belongs (it seems – lots of parentheses in this response, sorry ‘bout that) to that core group of 24/7’ers. I can only imagine how those people who are looking to be fed could be intimidated. Perhaps it’s up to us to take that mentor role that you suggest and bring them with you to adoration. It’s always better when you have a friend along. 🙂
Adoration (where I’m headed in about 30 seconds) is at my parish each week, but has not been promoted much by our priests over the years. It’s hard to be sure we even have 2 people per hour for the 6 hours of Adoration we have now. When I travel, it’s difficult to get someone to sub for me. So I am having a hard time believing that having Adoration is an answer, unless the answer also lies in the priest talking it up ALL. THE. TIME. :-/
I moved from working and worshiping at my parish to just worshiping there and right away I began feeling like many of our groups were closed. And others people began telling me they had the same feeling about different groups as well. No matter what the activity, it is a sign of something wrong when groups feel closed to us.
[…] wish for my parish is that it was more open. I feel like many things are only available to a small core group. Maybe that’s just my own social anxiety rearing its ugly head, but it’s the way I […]