The meeting started like a lot of meetings at Catholic dioceses (or parishes, schools, ministries, etc.) - with a prayer. We bowed our heads and the leader said, “Lord, please bless our meeting as we pray, Hail Mary…hour of our death. Amen.” The closing prayer was an Our Father. In between, we took care of the REAL business....

Several of my friends and family are what you could describe as high-achievers. Still, some of these high-achievers cross over into being workaholics too. In conversation with one of them recently, I mentioned that even Jesus took a day of rest every week (he took the Sabbath rest very seriously). The response of my friend was that Jesus didn’t have kids....

The National Eucharistic Congress (NEC) is going to be the seed planted, which I believe will grow and ultimately bear untold fruit. This fruit will ultimately transform the Catholic Church from a Church of decline, maintenance, and lukewarmness into a unified Eucharistic Church on mission.

Our life of discipleship should be the primary marking in our lives. It should be our very identity as disciples (followers) of Jesus. Below are several of these characteristics or marks of discipleship.

**What should your parish do?** Ask a Mass-going Catholic this question and you will have a very very wide variety of answers! You probably have a lot of thoughts about this yourself. Many Catholics want a parish to...

If you want to talk about Churchy language, then the word, “kerygma” is at the top of the list. In modern times it is only used in Christian circles and even then, not widely. This is unfortunate, because a lot of the answers to our problems lie within understanding what the kerygma is an how we ought to be using it.

For many years we have had the same plumber (George). He is no longer a young man and we have had several conversations through the years about the lack of young plumbers (and young people taking on other trades). In one visit to our house, George had a new apprentice, who had recently graduated from High School. I told George that I was happy to see he had a new apprentice, but he responded by saying...

"The mission of the Church has always been evangelization. And yet, many of us have no idea where to start. Catholic Missionary Disciples has years of experience both evangelizing and discipling people of this current generation. There are few more equipped or better prepared to share the tools of sharing the Gospel and walking with people along the way of discipleship. They are a great gift to the Church today.”

“[Catholic Missionary Disciples] spoke to our diocesan priests here in the Diocese of Madison, as we launch an ongoing evangelization campaign in all of our parishes. The wisdom and inspiration offered a renewed perspective on the life and mission of the Church, as an extension of Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection, as well as helpful insights on the leadership methods of Jesus in forming His followers. They are visionary, practical and experienced in helping others think through the nature and methods of the new evangelization. CMD is a great blessing to the Church!”

“I have seen the impact that Catholic Missionary Disciples had on a leadership team at my home diocese, and we have been grateful for their leadership working with coaches and diocesan point persons during the National Eucharistic Revival. Catholic Missionary Disciples understands and helps other embrace the Holy Father’s call to be “permanently in a state of mission”

"I have known Marcel LeJeune for many years. He is a faithful Catholic, an effective leader, and a dynamic speaker. He has much to offer in the formation of missionary disciples."

I have a charism that causes problems for me periodically. It can feel like I am tossing a spiritual hand grenade into the room and walking out before it goes off.  But, before I tell you more about it, I want to make sure we all understand charisms the same. A charism is...

“My leadership team and I have grown exponentially through our training with Catholic Missionary Disciples. The tools, advice, and training have equipped us to better live our parish mission of growing disciples, seeking the lost, and advancing the kingdom of God. I have personally grown in my faith that we can never outdo God in generosity. When we put more trust in God and in His love and vision for our lives and our parish rather than in our weaknesses and all the obstacles that hinder us from achieving that vision with the help of His grace, tremendous things are possible. I would encourage everyone who is struggling to implement the Church's call to evangelization to join up with Catholic Missionary Disciples.”

Most Catholics rarely evangelize and when they do, it may not be in the most effective manner. If you are a Catholic disciple and would like to become a better evangelist, then hang on to your hats, because I fully believe in the tactic I want to explore with you below. Is it full-proof? Of course not....

I have seen hundreds of folks I know burnout in ministry. While it is neither cheap nor efficient to have turnover, sometimes we can’t control the fact that people move on. Is there anything we can do about it?

My friend is a Southern Baptist pastor and his statement about the Catholic Church floored me and it wasn't about what you are probably thinking it was. He told me a story about when he was in seminary in the 80s. One of his seminary professors was teaching a class on missiology, which is the study of Christian mission. They did an exhaustive historical study on the spread of the Gospel. Toward the end of the class, one student asked...

A false diagnosis of an illness means treatments may not work and in some cases can even make the illness worse. In some ways, this is happening in Catholic dioceses and parishes. The symptoms of our problems are obvious - decline in numbers, loss of influence, fewer vocations, etc. But, many have misdiagnosed the underlying illness.

I worked in Campus Ministry for 15 years. It is a place of "hellos" and "goodbyes", due to students coming and going every few months. This constant shifting landscape helped me better understand how to plan for anticipated change. This vision, anticipation, and planning made me a more proactive leader.

To my fellow Catholics - I get it. You are frustrated by too few good and strong leaders.  You want real renewal and changes that should have happened long ago.  You want piety and reverence, because it seems

I love my own free will, and hate everyone else’s. If only my wife, kids, and everyone else would do what I want, then the world would be perfect, wouldn’t it? We all think like this sometimes. As a father of five children, I sometimes base my happiness on ...