Our Mission— should you decide to accept it

Scribe staff

It has been a while, we know. Our newsletter has not been exactly timely or even lived up to an “almost quarterly” schedule. We’re fixing that. So, in case you’ve forgotten about us, we thought we’d take a few moments to re-introduce ourselves.

For starters, “Catherine of Siena” does not equal “Called and Gifted”. Our mission statement appears in these pages (page 10) as it has in preceding Scribes and in most of our publications. (Go ahead, read it now! We’ll wait right here.) A quick read-through reveals that we are focused on the formation of the laity. Four of the five points mention “lay” or “laity” at least once, and some variant of “formation” or “forming”. Nevertheless, some have so identified us with the Called & Gifted Workshop that we regularly receive checks made out to “Called and Gifted”. Understandable as this may be, we want you to know that our mission is much larger.

Lay formation starts with the seeker, develops the disciple, and sustains the active apostle. The Called & Gifted Workshop is principally aimed at the disciple, and we have focused upon it because Sherry Weddell saw a large gap in the Catholic world in this area that needed filling.

But we are also developing and helping promote evangelization programs for the un-churched and for Catholics whose faith means little more than attending Mass on Sundays. “Seekers” need evangelizing, and this includes everyone who has yet to consciously become a disciple, deliberately and personally. That’s a lot of people!

On the other end, we place a strong emphasis on vocational discernment for every Catholic. The task of every mature disciple is to become an active apostle, one who can answer the question of where God is calling them (at least enough to take the next step) and who knows they have a life work, a vocation, to accomplish.

Another word in our mission statement is “parish”. For all the wonderful programs floating about the Catholic Church in America, regrettably few are accessible to the average parishioner. We have stressed from the beginning that parishes are where one finds the vast majority of Catholics, and that, therefore, formation programs and support for apostolic efforts must focus their efforts on the parish.

Collaboration is also a major goal for us. We know we cannot possibly effect quality formation programs in even half our Church’s communities. But, through networking with other ministries, training people to implement formation, and working with the clergy to increase awareness of the need, we can indeed have a significant impact. We have begun summer seminars to help parish leaders make their parishes centers of formation for the laity.

One of the reasons we believe our work is especially important for today’s Church is that we have encountered so few who are looking at lay formation from a sufficiently holistic and developmental perspective that envisions the process of formation from beginning to end: from initial proclamation to supporting mature apostles. We are making a compendium of resources so that parishes can locate where a certain program falls on the developmental continuum from seeker to apostle, and thereby integrate it into a comprehensive formation program.

But if you still want to make your donation check out to “Called and Gifted”, that’s okay. You won’t hear anyone complain!