Forming Intentional Disciples

The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus

Sherry A. Weddell, Foreword by Bishop Philip A. Egan

How can we transmit a living, personal Catholic Faith to future generations? By coming to know Jesus Christ and following him as his disciples.

As we emerge from a pandemic into a post-Christian world, these are times of immense challenge and enormous opportunity for the Catholic Church in the United States. Consider these statistics:

-Fully 15 percent of all adults in America are ex-Catholics.

-Nearly three-quarters of young Catholics think that they could be a good Catholic without going to Mass every Sunday.

-Catholic marriages have declined by almost two-thirds since 1969, even as the number of Catholics in the United States has grown significantly.

-Only one-third of Catholics believe that the bread and wine actually become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ at the consecration during Mass.

If the Church is to reverse these trends, the evangelizers must first be evangelized. In other words, Catholics in the pew must come to know and follow Jesus as a disciple in the midst of His Church before they can draw others to him.

Ten years after it was first published and changed the conversation about discipleship among Catholics, Forming Intentional Disciples is still widely used by bishops, clergy, dioceses, parishes, and lay Catholics as a guide to twenty-first-century evangelization and the transformation of parish life. Author and speaker Sherry Weddell leads you through the steps that will help Catholics enter more deeply into a relationship with Jesus Christ and the river of apostolic creativity, charisms. and vocations that flow from the relationship for the sake of the Church and the world.

Trade Paperback

277 Pages

2022

Our Sunday Visitor

9781681922072