Catherine of Siena Institute wins $1.25 million grant

By Linda J Oppelt

(PHOTO: Sherry Weddell, founder of the Catherine of Siena Institute, speaks at a Making Disciples 101 Conference that took place July 31-Aug. 2 at Holy Apostles Parish. Photo courtesy of Gary Niemerg)  

COLORADO SPRINGS. The Catherine of Siena Institute (CSI), based in Colorado Springs, has been awarded a $1.25 million grant by the Lilly Endowment as part of Lilly’s “Thriving Congregations Initiative.” 

According to their Sept. 30 press release announcing the grant, CSI will be establishing a five-year program, ‘“Who are our Generation of Saints for Today?’ which will help parishes and dioceses create an evangelization strategy called a discipleship pathway to raise up members equipped to be an evangelizing presence” both within the parish and the community. 
Lilly awarded about 250 grants to a variety of religious organizations for this initiative.

Quoting the press release, “The aim of the national initiative is to strengthen Christian congregations so they can help people deepen their relationships with God, build strong relationships with each other and contribute to the flourishing of local communities and the world.”

Sherry Weddell, Executive Director of CSI, wrote about “The Generation of Saints” in the first chapter of the book, “Becoming a Parish of Intentional Disciples” published in 2015 by Our Sunday Visitor. 

The title “Generation of Saints” refers to an amazing cadre of people, including religious, clergy and laity, in France in the 1600s who worked together within the Catholic Church to revitalize the Church after many years of religious civil wars. 

In an interview, Weddell explained the CSI approach to applying for the grant, which started about a year ago. “When it came to innovative ways to help congregations thrive, and people grow spiritually, we thought ‘It’s got our name on it!’”

The plan is to take three cohort parishes through the CSI three-year process, which includes “Making Disciples” training, the Called and Gifted Discernment Process, Ananias training, as well as to expand on and further develop what they currently offer. 

“Because of the grant, we’ll have a chance to interview people throughout the process so we can actually track people’s spiritual growth, both as individuals and in terms of changes within the congregation,” Weddell said. “Our goal is that parishes will thrive when disciples are made —  people who have that living encounter with Christ and choose to follow him, and then all the fruit that flows out of that as they grow.”

The foundational work for the Catherine of Siena Institute’s approach to evangelization is Weddell’s 2012 book, “Forming Intentional Disciples,” which outlines and explains the five spiritual thresholds that contemporary adults need to cross in order to become a fruitful disciple of Jesus Christ. Someone who is already a disciple can use the awareness of these thresholds to accompany a person more effectively when they know that person’s current threshold. Learning how to listen well to the person is key to understanding their current spiritual reality. 

Weddell said that they are looking to see where they can improve the whole process, and make it more effective. Having already worked in 162 dioceses in the U.S., and about 1,000 parishes, they have seen that the process works. 

“As people become disciples, they send the ripples of change out into the parish culture, just automatically. And the other people around them see them on this journey, and hear them having these experiences of God, getting excited about new things . . . and ask, ‘Can I do the same thing? Is it possible for me?’” explained Weddell.

The goal of the process, Weddell said is, “We are looking at both how to help them grow spiritually, to journey into discipleship and ultimately into apostleship, meaning not just seeking to follow Jesus but now they are at the point where he can send them out. Then they become leaders and models of what is possible . . . if you have emerging disciples and apostles, then you have people who could walk with [other] people to that place too. Then the parish, instead of being inwardly focused, becomes outward focused . . . in terms of being more missionally minded and oriented toward the needs of people around them, and the call of God to bring the Gospel to everyone.”

The funds provided will be used mainly to hire additional staff that will be needed for the administrative work and interviews with people who are going through the process. CSI will be required by Lilly Endowment to provide updates and feedback on their desired outcomes during the five years. 

According to Weddell, one of the desired outcomes for parishes that are part of “Who Are Our Generation of Saints for Today?” would be that parish leaders would emerge as intentional disciples by the end, and would be “able to accompany and help others — whatever their faith background — to make the journey to intentional discipleship.” Another is “a change in the overall spiritual climate of their parish as the community becomes a place where individual conversion and spiritual growth of parishioners is becoming more common.”

Although not part of the Thriving Congregation Initiative, there are a number of parishes within the Diocese of Colorado Springs already going through the CSI program. Gary Niemerg, Director of Catechesis, Evangelization, and Youth Ministry for the diocese, has offered, with CSI, “Making Disciples 101” to interested parishes and their faith formation staff, which took place in early August 2024. The next phase will include a deeper dive into evangelization, based on threshold conversations and sharing the Jesus Story with others.