Have you ever wondered why certain things in ministry just come alive when you do them? Why some conversations energize you while others drain you? Or why the Holy Spirit seems to work through you in very specific ways?
Numerous Milwaukee parishes are helping people discover the answers to these challenging questions through the Called and Gifted program offered by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s Office of Evangelization and Catechesis.
“Called and Gifted is a discernment process that helps (people) really discover and discern the charisms that they were given at their Baptism,” said Meg Aspinwall, Associate Director of the Lay Initiative for the archdiocese.
“We’re given gifts from the Holy Spirit, which are charisms that are meant to be used for the sake of other people and to build up the Church. This process helps us determine what those charisms might be.”
The program, a ministry of the Catherine of Siena Institute, began 10 years ago through the generosity of grants provided to the archdiocese.
“In 2016, we trained our first team to teach Called and Gifted and provide personal gifts interviews through a generous grant from Faith In Our Future,” said Margaret Rhody, Associate Director for Parish Renewal for the archdiocese’s Office of Pastoral Leadership.
“In 2022, Faith In Our Future provided another grant to train (more) teams for parishes to host Called and Gifted and offer interviews. Since 2016, the Catholic Stewardship Appeal has paid the annual licensing fees to make Called and Gifted available at any parish with a trained team for a small fraction of the cost of a workshop.”
Participants receive a 10-week, multi-step path that goes far beyond what they might experience in a psychological testing process, and includes mentorship and community in their journey of understanding God’s calling.
“There’s a live workshop that usually is done in one day or a couple different evenings throughout the week. They learn all of the charisms,” said Sarah Daszczuk, Director of Parish Life at Christ King Parish in Wauwatosa.
“The second phase, which is really important, is a one-on-one discernment interview that’s usually about an hour long. We, as interviewers, listen for patterns of how God typically uses them, patterns of giftedness over the years.”
She said that interviewers sometimes ask questions like, “Tell me a story about a time when you showed up with five loaves and two fish and God moved in extraordinary ways” to help illuminate the participant’s charism, which may be one of 23 often-discovered gifts that they could identify within the program.
“The third phase is then getting into a small discernment group with other people who’ve also gone through the workshop,” Daszczuk said.
“You’ve narrowed down to one charism that you want to discern with. I might be discerning writing and somebody else is discerning leadership. That’s okay, but we’re coming together every few weeks to encourage each other and to say, ‘Here’s how I’ve been experimenting. Here’s what I saw. Here’s what did not go well.’ You’re just sharing together and trying to notice patterns. Where is God working? What does he seem to be doing?”
Rhody shared how people who encounter the workshop, interview and group sharing say they find a life that is more fully alive with God.
“They experience so much joy when they grow in confidence in the gifts God has given them,” Rhody said.
“It’s an adventure to see what God does when they ‘prayerfully hang out’ in places where their gifts would bless others. It teaches us how to discern what God is doing, so that we can do it on purpose, and it’s always an adventure to see what God will do when we invite him and share what we have.”
Aspinwall said that sometimes people are fearful of diving into such a personally deep process, but she encourages those with such apprehension to trust in what God has in store for them.
“When we take assessments like this that tell us about (ourselves), there’s a bit of a fear that it will put us in a box or that people are then going to think that this is the only thing that they can do,” Aspinwall said.
“When we understand our charisms and use them in the way that the Lord intends, there’s so much freedom that allows us to live in those gifts, and do things that not only bring us joy and that are fruitful but that also help other people in the way that they’re intended to.”
“Once they discover their charisms, we have seen people start businesses and ministries that transform our world and help people know Christ,” Rhody added. “We’ve seen people make small changes that make a big difference, integrating the use of their charisms in their family, work and parish life.”
The following parishes will be hosting Called and Gifted workshops:
– St. Dominic, Brookfield, starting April 20.
– St. Gabriel, Hubertus, starting May 12.
– St. Jerome, Oconomowoc, starting May 30.
– St. Leo the Great, Racine (in English and Spanish), starting Aug. 8.
– St. Mary, Hales Corners, starting Nov. 7.
You need not be a member of a host parish to attend. To find out more, go to archmil.org/called-gifted.
A stained-glass image of the Holy Spirit, a symbol central to the Called and Gifted program, which helps participants discern the charisms given to them for service in the Church.
