Why would anyone pay to go through messy, physically demanding obstacle courses and “comically extreme” challenges (Fast Company, Jun 2017)? Indeed. Why? From Tough Mudder CEO, Will Dean, it’s got something to do with ritual and community. As he explains, Tough Mudder events, “are…
#CatholicConvo: The Joy of the Gospel in America
Last week the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) convened a strategic conversation of 3,500 Catholic leaders on forming missionary disciples to truly animate the Church, so that the “joy of the Gospel,” as Pope Francis has written, might resonate, shine, and…
Conversion: Moment and Process
This week our Church celebrates two great missionaries–Peter and Paul. Often when we talk about conversion in the Christian life, there can be almost a rivalry between the idea of our life-changing conversion as a particular moment (i.e. I remember on such-and-such…
Introducing “Living as Missionary Disciples”
Have you ever wanted a CliffNotes version of doing evangelization in parish life? Look no further. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recently released the leadership resource Living as Missionary Disciples, a rich, yet concise, guide to the theological foundations…
Seeing as God Sees
For the past week-and-a-half I’ve been travelling the same route to and from work, through the densely populated outskirts of Accra, Ghana, via bus or taxi each day. There’s a tedium to it, yes, but it’s counter-intuitively captivating at the…
Pre-Evangelization and Liturgy. Yes.
Does it matter that liturgy is something bigger than us? Something God gives, not something we make or create? In his 2010 post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Verbum Domini, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI emphasized the relationship between human history and Christianity: “The…
Seeking Bread and Seeking God
Today’s Gospel reading ends with a convicting line from Jesus: the work of God is believing in His Son (Jn 6:29). If I’m to do the work of God (and I want to in my life, right?) it’s not cleaning…
He is Risen. Now What?
As Jesus the Risen Christ prepares to ascend to His Father, he announces: “you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of…
Healthy Relationships. Healthy Parish Life.
Evangelization demands from us, calls us to, and compels us toward healthy parish life. Why? Because the normative path in Christian life, after conversion, is into Christian community. And, if our community isn’t one where strengths are utilized, where relationships…
A Parish That’s Thriving, But Irrelevant?
Would the community be impacted if your parish ceased to exist? Would there be a decline in concrete acts of love? Would fewer people experience transformed lives in the power of the Risen Lord? There’s no such thing as a…