The Making Disciples Today Blog has reflections to help you grow in your journey of missionary discipleship, reviews on recommended Catholic evangelization resources, and practical insight on how to evangelize in your daily life.
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- Written by: Kristin Bird
Lent calls us deeper. Deeper into prayer. Deeper into fasting. Deeper into generosity. Lent calls us to a generosity that stretches us beyond comfort, beyond obligation, beyond the extra we happen to have.
When Jesus watched people putting money into the temple treasury, He didn’t praise the ones who gave large sums out of their abundance. Instead, He pointed out a poor widow who dropped in two small coins—everything she had to live on.
"Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on." (Mark 12:43-44)
She gave everything. And that’s exactly what Jesus asks of us.
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- Written by: Kristin Bird
Evangelizing Answers to Every Catholic's Favorite Ash Wednesday Question
We don't presume to have the right response for every situation, but there are a few suggestions below that might help give you a foundation whether the questioner is a stranger just trying to be helpful...
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- Written by: Kristin Bird
Two Parishes, Two Paths
I recently had the opportunity to work with two different parishes, both filled with faithful, dedicated people who love their Church. But their approaches to ministry—and more importantly, to evangelization—couldn’t have been more different.
One parish’s leadership made a bold decision: they committed to freeing up their staff and clergy’s time so they could focus more explicitly and intentionally on evangelization priorities that lead to true parish renewal. Rather than being consumed by administration, their goal was to build a culture where evangelization wasn’t just another task—it was the heart of their mission.
They asked tough questions about how their parish could shift from maintenance to mission. They restructured meetings, re-evaluated programs, and asked, “Does this serve our mission to make disciples?” before committing to anything new. They weren’t just trying to keep things running; they were actively creating a culture where every baptized person understood their role in evangelization.
The other parish, however, was stuck in the weeds. Their leadership was exhausted from trying to manage internal complaints, keep existing programs running, and maintain a fragile sense of peace among those already in the pews. Instead of focusing outward—on reaching the lost and forming missionary disciples—they were caught up in being a Church focused on Pope Francis calls “self-referential navel-gazing.” Their energy was spent keeping those who already belonged happy (or at least minimizing complaints), rather than equipping and sending people to share the Gospel.
Both parishes were filled with good, faithful people. But only one had truly the mission of evangelization.
So I have to ask: which kind of parish are we building?
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- Written by: Kristin Bird
Fr. Dan Beeman, a priest and pastor from Norfolk, VA shared some tips on social media for navigating conversations about faith and spirituality at your Thanksgiving gatherings.
Sometimes we feel like our family and friends can get "sick" of hearing us talk about our faith. Even the most open-minded, prayerful, and loving comments we make and stories we share can be perceived as judgement and lecture. Just mentioning the slightest thing about spirituality and faith seems to cause certain family members to shut down or roll their eyes. We, in turn, find ourselves getting defensive and avoiding the topic completely - often feeling like we can't be authentic and true to ourselves. It's a vicious cycle of judgement, defensiveness, and silence that leads to cultural maxims like: "We just don't talk about religion here."
Fr. Beeman's suggestions are great if you don't have anyone actively hostile or defensive (on either side of the faith discussion) sitting at your Thanksgiving table. But what can you do if you feel like anything you say related to faith and spirituality is outright ignored, causes anger, inflates tension beyond bearable levels, or is openly mocked?
