Discipleship A Community of Disciples Disciple one who

Discipleship? A Community of Disciples?

Disciple? • ‘one who learns’ • a pupil who follows, shares the life of and imitates a master

The normal way in ancient times to learn anything from a trade to a philosophy: an apprentice Prophets, John the Baptist, the Pharisees all had ‘disciples’ Jesus of Nazareth had learners

Jesus • His early plan: conversion of all. ‘Repent, the Reign of God is at hand’ • Later plan: leave a community of learners to continue his work • Jesus ‘strategic plan’: call a group of learners and form them to carry his message to others: as ‘followers of the Way’ (cf, Acts) = ‘education and formation in discipleship’

Discipleship: a wonderful concept for a Catholic school: a learning community

Discipleship through the years • Degrees of discipleship (from ‘fellow travellers’/’the crowds’ to ‘the select representatives’) • Serious business when Christianity was ‘counter-cultural’ and ‘dangerous’ • The radical ethic broke down when Christianity was ‘established’

Discipleship through the years • Before Vatican II Catholicism restricted true discipleship to priests and religious • Protestantism had restored discipleship to the whole community • JPII: Church is ‘community of disciples’ • Church: counter-cultural again? • Image of discipleship: Church is pilgrim and always learning

What do disciples do? We remember We celebrate We believe

‘Catholic Discipleship’: remembering, celebrating, believing, doing, praying. . . • Interconnected and interwoven • Spokes of a wheel radiating from the hub, Jesus Christ

Being Catholic Today David Walker, Bishop of Broken Bay ‘Being Catholic is a personal and communal response to the love which God has manifested in Jesus, as it is perceived, proclaimed and lived by the Catholic Community in the light of its scriptural and historical traditions and its contemporary interpretation of them’

Group 1: three consecutive passages in Matthew 19: verses 16 -22; 23 -26; 27 -30 Group 2: Church as ‘community of disciples’ in Acts 2: 42 -47; 6: 1 -7 Group 3: Mary (sister of Martha) chooses the ‘one thing necessary’ as a disciple. Luke 10: 3842. The example of washing of the feet. John 13: 1 -14 Group 4: Calling the learners: Mt 4: 18 -22; similar to Mk 1: 16 -20. Also Mk 3: 14 Group 5: the ‘Mission Statement’ of Jesus - what does it mean for his disciples? Lk 4: 16 -23 Group 6: sent on a ‘mission’: Lk 10: 1 -16; Mt 28: 16 -20