Parish Ministry

Love of God and neighbor: Jesus says this is the greatest commandment . . . which means that it's also your personal mission -- a mission these pages will help you to fulfill.

Praying through just one of its 60 short, singularly potent chapters each day will usher you through a two-month-long spiritual retreat. It's guaranteed to increase your knowledge of God, to intensify your love for Him, and to cultivate within you the steadfast virtues of a missionary disciple, able and eager to lead others to that same knowledge and love.

Are there greater gifts you can receive? And then pass on to your neighbors?

Masterfully combining Bible passages and Church teachings with practical directions, Fr. John Bartunek, author of the best-selling book The Better Part, here serves as your personal 60-day retreat master. He shows you how to overcome the inevitable spiritual obstacles you'll face, how to nurture your holy desires so that they become stronger and more vibrant, and how to concentrate every element of your soul and personality in service of loving God and neighbor.

Among other things, he also shows you:

Every human society possesses a moral and spiritual imaginative vision, a set of assumptions and ways of looking at things according to which life proceeds. This essay is an attempt to contribute effective strategies to engage our own time and culture once more with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and – for a weary world – to awaken the Catholic imaginative vision. (Toda sociedad humana posee una visión imaginativa moral y espiritual, un conjunto de supuestos y formas de ver las cosas de acuerdo con las cuales se desarrolla la vida. Este ensayo es el resultado de un esfuerzo por contribuir con estrategias efectivas para comprometer una vez más a la cultura de nuestro tiempo con el Evangelio de Jesucristo y – en un mundo abatido – despertar la visión imaginativa católica.)

2025 Catholic Media Association Second Place Award, Liturgy or Worship

2025 Catholic Media Association Honorable Mention, Church Professional

In eucharistic adoration, the faithful spend time in the presence of Christ, who in turn is present to them. In communion services, the faithful unable to participate in the sacrifice of the Mass can still receive its fruit. The Catholic Church wraps both ceremonies inside a larger book called Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery outside Mass. A revised English translation invites a renewed acquaintance with these forms of prayer. Where did they come from? What is their purpose? How are they best celebrated? In Eucharistic Reservation, Paul Turner explains the new translation of these guidelines and refreshes all those who find delight in the eucharistic presence of Christ even when Mass is over.

"By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples." -- John 15:8

How does God's grace change our individual lives, families, neighborhoods, parish communities, and cities? In Fruitful Discipleship: Living the Mission of Jesus in the Church and the World, Sherry A. Weddell describes how the Holy Spirit is at work in all the baptized--calling and gifting us to "say yes" in ways that will be the longed-for answer to someone else's prayers and fuel the mission of the whole Church.

God has chosen to be present in this world through the faith and obedience of missionary disciples who witness to Jesus Christ and bear abundant fruit. In Fruitful Discipleship, Sherry

In 1993, Sherry A. Weddell created the first charism-discernment process for Catholics. She co-founded, with Father Michael Sweeney, O.P., the Catherine of Siena Institute (CSI) in 1997 to train twenty-first-century Catholic leaders. Her previous book, Forming Intentional Disciples: The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus (2012), has been influential in shaping Catholic leaders for successful evangelization and discipleship in the twenty-first century.

What if the Church radically shifted the focus of her mission to making disciples one person at a time?

Everett Fritz outlines a framework for one-to-one outreach that helps us develop as mentors in faith, furthering the Kingdom of God as Jesus commanded when he told us to go and make disciples. When we learn how to focus on a ministry of one, we will multiply our efforts to create a movement that meets the spiritual needs of many.

Whether you're someone who's actively involved in professional or volunteer ministry or an everyday Catholic who wants to share your faith, One Disciple at a Time reveals how you can live out your calling to spread the Gospel by focusing on forming disciples one at a time.

Drawing on insights gleaned from his personal spiritual journey and work in Catholic parish ministry, Fritz--founder and executive director of Andrew Ministries--shares practical steps for transforming our approach to living our faith and sharing it with others. In this book, you will learn:

Five years after she graduated from high school, teacher, youth minister, and sought-after speaker Katie Prejean McGrady returned to her alma mater in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to teach freshman theology. In the early years of her career, McGrady’s hormonal, sometimes grumpy, and often confused students taught her what it means to evangelize. Her frequently witty and always candid stories—and the ten lessons she offers—will inspire anyone who works with youth in the Church today.

As she began her first year of teaching, McGrady was eager to impart the Catholic doctrine she loves to her class in room 24 at St. Louis Catholic high school, but she was quickly rattled by the magnitude of the task, especially when she was challenged by a teen who said he didn’t believe. In ten brief and compelling chapters, McGrady shares humorous and hopeful interactions she’s had with her students that helped her learn that teaching them about Jesus and his Church is not as important as knowing them, loving them, and inviting them to know and love Jesus as a personal friend and savior.

Her frequent mistakes and occasional successes with her students taught McGrady how to evangelize young people by building relationships in joyful, humble, and prayerful ways. Likewise, McGrady determined that the power of inviting conversation, welcoming questions, and witnessing to faith through personal stories engages students and helps them fall in love with Jesus.