Given the creation of parish-based Synod Evangelization Teams across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and the related May 20 Activated Disciple Seminar that drew more than 1,500 people to Minneapolis, I’m running into a good number of the faithful who are seeking to better understand what’s going on.
The questions are arising not only during men’s ministry activities, but from fellow parishioners. A recent Sunday Gospel verse is a reminder that places emphasis on the mission — a mission we’re all on whether we are part of a parish evangelization team or not: “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few; so, ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
The three-year Archdiocesan Synod culminated in a June 2022 Synod Assembly that drew 500 people and led to Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s pastoral letter released in November 2022, “You Will Be My Witnesses, Gathered and Sent from the Upper Room.” The Synod and the letter call for forming parishes that are in the service of evangelization, forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’ love and respond to his call, and forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young.
This mission of evangelization, this pursuit, this responsibility as Christians, applies to all of us, not just with the evangelization teams of 12, which will soon increase with the formation of more activated disciples through parish small groups.
We need to keep it going at the parish level. So, pray to the master, just like Jesus did in the “ask” of his first disciples. He chose his disciples, pointed out to them that there are plenty of people who need healing — spiritually and physically — and then sent them on their first mission.
Yet, first and foremost, these apostles were to pray that God would raise up workers for his kingdom. Our Lord told them that they — his first disciples — were going to help multiply his efforts to shepherd the lost sheep.
In helping execute this first year of Synod implementation, the shepherds of our archdiocese are guiding us (as Jesus did) to the abundance of the harvest, and to the need to pray for more disciples to work its plenty. The parish Synod Evangelization Teams, or SET, are simply setting the stage — tilling the soil — for more disciples to come and diligently build God’s kingdom, guided by their pastors and overall, by Archbishop Hebda. Just like Jesus with his first disciples, the archbishop and clergy are sending people out on mission to evangelize the world. This ministry started with the original disciples, then more disciples, and we are still at it, making more disciples for the harvest 2,000 years later.
“True disciples become workers out of the overflow of their growing relationship with Jesus Christ,” according to a book titled “No Man Left Behind, Catholic Edition: How to Build a Strong Disciple-Making Ministery for Every Man in Your Parish,” published by Wellspring in 2017.
The emphasis here is on first making disciples of men who are on fire for loving God and loving their neighbor, before simply saying, “hey, sign up, we need more men workers for the parish.”
Extrapolating this to the broader Synod implementation plan and inspiring what parish evangelization teams would call activated discipleship, the Church needs people who love God — with their heart, soul, body and strength — and love their neighbor.
“Only by moving through the discipleship gateway can people truly affect their parish, and their parish can affect them,” contend the writers of “No Man Left Behind.”
The gateway to discipleship (per the aforementioned book) for the Catholic Watchmen is following the basic disciplines of the movement that witness to love of God and love of neighbor. The basics of building that gateway are prayer, reading Scriptures, being a spiritual father, attending Mass, serving others, going to confession and having regular fellowship with a band of Christian brothers.
This all starts at home and extends to the parish community — strengthening family and parish life —and helping to evangelize and transform the culture. Ready, SET, go forth!
Deacon Bird ministers to St. Joseph in Rosemount and All Saints in Lakeville and assists with the archdiocesan Catholic Watchmen movement. See heroicmen.com for existing tools supported by the archdiocese to enrich parish apostolates for ministry to men. For Watchmen start-up materials or any other questions regarding ministry to men contact him at gordonbird@rocketmail.com.
