Denver Catholic

10 OCTOBER 28-NOVEMBER 10, 2017 | DENVER CATHOLIC Around the Archdiocese 303.743.8804 HoranCares.com Helping You Honor Life BY AARON LAMBERT I t was one of Christ's chief com- mands to his apostles: "Go, there- fore, and make disciples of all nations…" (Mt 28:19). Unfortunately, the Catholic Church has lost its way in some regards when it comes to living out this call. Father James Spahn, pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Northglenn (IHM), has decided to do something about it. Disciple Maker training is an eight-week program designed to help Catholics in the pews more fully live out the call of disciple- ship that Christ commissioned. With this program and others, he is attempt- ing to build a culture of discipleship at his parish, among both the sta" and his parishioners. Mica Brougham, 39, is a one such parishioner at the parish who has gone through both of the Disciple Maker training sessions the parish has held thus far. It was a personal invitation someone gave her at the right time that spurred her to go, she said—discipleship in action. A parishioner of six years at IHM, the program has helped her to see what she can do as individual to help her impact the Church as a whole. "I felt like it made you think about what you could do at an individual level, instead of always thinking what the greater Church could do or what the priest could be doing," she said. "It's opening up doors to think of ways that you can really step into peoples' lives." Her husband, Joe, went through the second session with her, and they've discerned that they'd like to try and be mentors to other married couples. Brougham has also started a classi- cal learning group with other fami- lies from Frassati Catholic Academy, where she will be sending two of her four kids starting in the fall, and has brought lectio divina (the prayerful reading of scripture) to that group, which she learned from the Disciple Maker program.± The seed for the program was planted when Father Spahn was a pastor at Our Lady of the Valley in Windsor and St. Mary in Ault. He was part of a ministerial alliance with other ecumenical leaders from around the area that would meet occasionally to discuss how to get more people to Church. However, six years ago, he had a paradigm shift—one that he thinks came from the Holy Spirit. "I began to really feel in my heart a conviction that before we can look outside and get [more] people to come in, we need to look at the people that are coming in the pews. I began to see more and more that even the people in my pews needed [to be evangelized]," Father Spahn said. "The people in my pews didn't know how to pray. The people in my pews didn't know Jesus." The reason for this is, in part, a fail- ure on the Catholic Church's part, he said. Too much focus on doctrine and dogma has mixed up the sequence in which authentic± discipleship should happen. "In some ways, for decades, I think the Church has kind of failed because we focus so much on dogma, doctrine and Church teaching—which is import- ant—but that comes secondarily in my opinion," he explained. "I've come to see that fi rst, people need to know who Jesus is." The result of this failure? Lots of "cafeteria Catholics," or those Catho- lics who pick and choose which±Church teachings to follow. " Why would they listen to the Church if they don't even understand what the Church is or what the role of the Church is?" Father Spahn said. Around the time he was assigned to Immaculate Heart of Mary, Father Spahn had just finished reading The art of discipleship I began to really feel in my heart a conviction that before we can look outside and get [more] people to come in, we need to look at the people that are coming in the pews. I began to see more and more that even the people in my pews needed [to be evangelized]." FATHER JAMES SPAHN " Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish trains parishioners to be disciples of Christ Home Equity Line of Credit Projects? Tuition? It's cash when you need it. Rates as low as Your savings federally insured to at least $250,000 and backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government National Credit Union Administration, a U.S. Government Agency NCUA Your savings federally insured to at least $250,000 and backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government National Credit Union Administration, a U.S. Government Agency NCUA Uniting Your Faith and Finances 4.25 % APR * *APR = Annual Percentage Rate. See website for complete details – Fideliscu.org Call today to nd out Your Home's Equity 303.424.5037 GOT EQUITY?

• Cover