September Issue: Diamond for Disciples

September 28, 2022

by Mary Walker

For Father Brian Eilers, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Bryan, the numbers are the motivation. The population of the Bryan/College Station area has approximately doubled in the past 20 years. Demographics suggest that about 19%, or 50,000, are Catholic. Yet, Mass attendance had not changed prior to the pandemic and has declined since. If we are to follow Christ’s commission to proclaim the Gospel and make disciples, we are not only failing Catholics, but also those outside the Church who need to hear the good news.

“I’m not willing to sit back and let the Titanic sink slowly,” said Father Eilers.

He alone could not turn the situation around—teamwork was needed. When Father Eilers became pastor of St. Joseph’s, he continued a process he started at St. Patrick Parish in Hutto. There, he worked to help the parish council grow into a leadership team that focuses less on buildings and operations and more on the pastoral care of the parish, its true purpose according to a number of Church documents.

The first step in shifting this focus is to have a parish council made up of those who are interested and capable of being leaders in the pastoral life of the Church. Although each person has gifts, not all can conceptualize a vision of how to form and empower missionary disciples. Current council members were asked to discern if they had this gift, and others in the parish were invited to discern whether they should be part of this leadership team.

With the pastoral council in place, the meeting format changed. For the next three months, the council studied the book, Divine Renovation: Bringing Your Parish from Maintenance to Mission by Father James Mallon. The book and study guide challenge readers to think beyond the membership model of parish life and transform parishes into communities of disciples, who share the good news of the Gospel within the parish and beyond.

The parish council then sponsored a strategic planning day to talk about the vision, mission, and core values of the parish. The planning strived to answer the question of what kind of parish St. Joseph’s wants to be. Again, the focus was on mission, which is to follows Jesus’ example and mandate to form disciples.

Father Eilers also searched in Catholic and Protestant circles for a model to illustrate the process of forming disciples. His research led him to the baseball diamond. In baseball, getting to each base is great, but the ultimate goal is to score a run. In pastoral care, Jesus tells us that the ultimate goal is to make disciples. The progression from somebody expressing even mild curiosity about the Gospel message (pre-evangelization) to becoming a disciple committed to bringing the good news to others can be represented by running the bases.

The baseball diamond model gave the parish leaders a way to talk about discipleship, and also gave the pastoral council a way to evaluate the various parish ministries. Where does this particular ministry fit on the diamond? How effective is this ministry today in moving participants to the next base, continuing on the path of discipleship?

Most ministries seemed to fall between second and third base, that is, operating on the path of developing disciples. At this stage, the ministry assumes that the participants have the knowledge, interest, and qualities of a disciple. Of course, our pastoral experience tells us that this is not always the case!

One way that St. Joseph Parish meets people where they are right now is through the Alpha process for evangelization. Alpha invites participants to explore the basics of Christianity: who God is, who Jesus is, and what it means to be in a relationship with him. Alpha is not RCIA and not geared to make the participants fully formed Christians. Rather, it is an environment where they can learn about and encounter the Lord. They can also discuss their questions in a welcoming environment.

The process is simple. For 15 weeks, participants meet to share a meal, watch a short video, and then have small table discussions in an open and nonjudgmental way. More information about Alpha can be found here.

Alpha also gives parishioners who are already motivated to form disciples a venue for their missionary energy. For example, at St. Joseph’s, there was a group of recent retirees who wanted to be on mission. They were leaders in the first Alpha, which renewed their own faith. They then invited Catholics who had stopped attending Mass and non-Catholics to the next Alpha.

Alpha, the first letter in the Greek alphabet, is only an initial step in forming disciples. After Alpha, participants are invited to participate in Foundations, which dives deeper into the faith with a more theological approach.

For Catholics, of course, the sacraments are fundamental to our spiritual life, and are key to the discipleship process. When parents ask about baptism, they can also be invited to Alpha. A number of Foundations participants had not been to confession for a long time. They were invited to return. Those preparing for confirmation can be asked to discern how their manifestation of the gifts of the sacrament can be used for discipleship.

After Foundations, the next step for non-Catholics could be RCIA, and for Catholics, becoming part of a Quad. Discipleship Quads are groups of four of the same gender who meet regularly, study, strengthen, and hold each other accountable. Quads meet for about a year, and then each member is encouraged to go out and form another Quad, thereby serving as missionaries and multiplying the disciples.

Quads originated at the Franciscan University of Steubenville and more information can be found here and here.

One St. Joseph parishioner who is engaged in the process said that he senses a different level of excitement about the faith. He pointed out that you can’t make disciples unless you accompany others in their faith journey— like Jesus did. You can’t accompany people if you don’t have a relationship with them. The pastor can’t do it alone for the entire parish. You have to form a team.

Father Eilers is currently on sabbatical until December 1. However, he welcomes questions and discussion about this discipleship process, and is happy to share more detailed information. He can be reached at [email protected].