In consulting with Parishes and Dioceses, I have begun to ask some questions that are (I confess) a bit unnerving. They are questions that, I believe, must be addressed if we are going to seriously take a leap of faith and trust the Spirit.

A Paradigm That Hinders Searching for Solutions

The current paradigm for parishes is highly restrictive to parish exploration in new methods for implementing the New Evangelization. The Church Fathers encourage us to seek and explore, but parishes are held to the old methods until a new method is found. So if I am working as a DRE in a parish, but I am still responsible for preparing for sacraments as usual, I have no time to explore!

At the end of the year, the Diocese has a census and requires each parish to report all Sacraments given in the course of the year. This made total sense when Sacraments were a legitimate method of measurement. This is no longer the case. Plenty of people are getting sacraments and have little belief in God.

How About A New Measurement?

If I were a DRE in a parish and was given authority by my Pastor (and the Bishop), I would seek to change the criteria for measurement. I am not saying that I would not want our people to get baptized or receive other Sacraments. I would simply help my people begin to look at other essential elements that a Disciple should have.

For example, how about this inclusion to the Diocesan Census?

Current Questions:
How many Baptisms were performed this year? ________
How many students received their Confirmation? ________
…

New Questions:
How many people were evangelized this year? ________
How many people went through the post evangelization process? _________
How many people went through phase one of the Disciple Training Process? _________
How many people went through phase two of the Disciple Training Process? _________
How many people went through phase three of the Disciple Training Process? _________
How many people were trained in one-on-one evangelization? _________
How many mature disciples were involved in active formation of others? ________

Utilizing these types of questions would cause:

  • A radical realignment of what parishes are trying to accomplish.
  • Staff to redefine their purpose and work toward attaining effective results.
  • Parishioners to question what is going on and inquire about the reasons for the changes.
  • Parishioners to begin to examine their own lives and question whether they have been evangelized or not.

While presenting the NEM process to a parish council, I clearly articulated the evangelization process. One astute woman on the council replied after I was done, “If this is true, then we need to be evangelized, because what you’re describing has never happened to me.”   

The reason why our own parishioners are not buying what we are offering
is not because we really don’t have something to offer.
It is because we don’t know how to articulate what we are offering!