2017 USCCB Convocation Participants Guidebook and Journal | Page 19

The Call to Missionary Discipleship
the Church. This approach reminds us of our co-responsibility for
the mission of Christ.
The Call to Missionary Discipleship in
America: A Deeper Understanding of the
Landscape and Needs
As noted above, in convening the Convocation of Catholic
Leaders, the bishops of the United States are collegially respond-
ing to Pope Francis’s call to them in Evangelii Gaudium:
In [the bishop’s] mission of fostering a dynamic, open and
missionary communion, he will have to encourage and
develop the means of participation proposed in the Code
of Canon Law, and other forms of pastoral dialogue, out
of a desire to listen to everyone and not simply to those
who would tell him what he would like to hear. Yet the
principal aim of these participatory processes should not
be ecclesiastical organization but rather the missionary
aspiration of reaching everyone. 22
“Reaching everyone” is not a lofty, unattainable goal; it is the mis-
sion of the Church. As Pope Francis has taught, “In fidelity to the
example of the Master, it is vitally important for the Church today
to go forth and preach the Gospel to all: to all places, on all occa-
sions, without hesitation, reluctance or fear. The joy of the Gospel
is for all people: no one can be excluded.” 23 This mission can only
be accomplished when all the baptized live as disciples who are
sent as Christ’s witnesses—as missionary disciples. “Reaching
everyone” means providing the baptized with the means by
which they can encounter Christ, deepen communion with one
another, and go forth to witness to the world in word and deed.
To accomplish this goal, we must go beyond the status quo. We
are a people of continual conversion in and through Christ, not
simply as individual members of the community of faith, but as
the Church, together.
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