For Immediate Release
Contact: Christine Valentine-Owsik • (215) 230-8095 •
HUNTINGTON, Indiana, January 30, 2015 – Following her 2012 runaway bestseller, Forming Intentional Disciples—a book that changed the conversation about what it means to be Catholic—Sherry Weddell has gathered a team of experienced pastoral leaders who demonstrate, often from personal experience, how parishes can be transformed and equipped for the work of making disciples.
In this groundbreaking follow-up, Becoming a Parish of Intentional Disciples (Our Sunday Visitor, 2015), Weddell and these leaders combine field-tested approaches with hard-won insights for a one-of-a-kind resource showing how every parish can be a center of invigorated discipleship and Catholic outreach.
Re-thinking the goals of parish life, re-imagining ways to “go out” to the world, incorporating low-key “fireside chats,” revolutionizing youth ministry, developing dynamic intercessory prayer—these and other simple yet energizing approaches can help engender a rebirth of the faith and a new missionary fervor.
“Are we willing to answer the call and pay the price to befriend Christ and become a new generation of saints through which He can do extraordinary things?” asks Weddell. “As St. Vincent de Paul said – and this holds true today – I’m sent not only to love God but to make Him loved. It’s not enough for me to love God, if my neighbor doesn’t love Him.”
Pope Francis, as if confirming de Paul’s insight, says in his 2013 Apostolic Exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel, “It is not the same thing to have known Jesus as not to have known him … to walk with him as to walk blindly… to hear his word as not to know it…. We know that with Jesus, life becomes richer….This is why we evangelize.”
Still a bestseller, Weddell’s first book, Forming Intentional Disciples: The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus (Our Sunday Visitor, 2012) now joins Becoming a Parish of Intentional Disciples to help Catholics across the globe understand and embrace the life-changing power that accompanies the conscious decision to follow Jesus as His disciple.
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For an interview with Sherry Weddell, please contact Christine Valentine-Owsik at: (215) 230-8095 or
ABOUT OUR SUNDAY VISITOR
The world’s largest English-language Catholic publisher, Our Sunday Visitor serves millions of Catholics globally through its publishing, offertory, and communication services. Established in 1912, Our Sunday Visitor publishes a wide range of books including Bibles, biographies of the saints, books by Pope Francis, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, children’s books, devotionals, bible studies, inspirational works, and curriculum. Our Sunday Visitor is a not-for-profit organization, returning a portion of net earnings back to the Catholic community through the Our Sunday Visitor Institute. For more information, visit
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sherry Anne Weddell created the first charism-discernment process specifically designed for Catholics in 1993. She co-founded and serves as co-Director of the Catherine of Siena Institute, an affiliated international ministry of the Western Dominican Province.
Sherry has developed numerous unique formation resources that are used around the world. She trains and leads an international team of teachers and trainers who have worked directly with over 100,000 ordained, religious, and lay Catholics in over 120 dioceses on 5 continents. When not hanging around airports, Sherry enjoys tending her high altitude Tuscan garden in the Colorado Rockies.