The Holy Spirit has chosen to lead our diocese in a direction that will greatly impact our local Catholic Church. It is all about "discipleship," the personal call inviting each of us to enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who calls us to be his modern day disciples. For those who embrace this call it becomes a "total way of life."

In 2015 the Diocese of Wichita celebrates 30 years of making "stewardship" a "way of life." In 1985 Msgr. Thomas McGread, while pastor of St Francis Parish in Wichita, conceived this mission to lead his parish with the blessing of then Bishop Eugene Gerber to become a "total stewardship diocese."

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, our diocesan shepherd, led a team of diocesan leaders to study this mission and have now chosen to move forward towards the goal to make the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois a "total stewardship diocese."

I have begun my own ministry as Director of Stewardship and Discipleship for our diocese. Having visited Bishop Carl Kemme, Father Ken VanHaverbeke, director of stewardship, Audrey Ronnfeldt and leaders of the diocese in Wichita, I have been studying and reflecting on their 30-year journey. Quite a few parish leaders and their parish priests from our diocese have visited Wichita as well. We are all excited for our future.

Having Bishop Paprocki as the "conductor of the train," as Father VanHaverbeke shares, is essential. "It is key that first and foremost the diocesan bishop has made the commitment to lead the diocese to live out this 'way of life.'" Bishop Paprocki is 100 percent committed. We now have scheduled our Spring Conference for March 10-11, which gathers the priests of our diocese for a spiritual conference. A team of presenters from the Diocese of Wichita will be at this conference which promises to be a great beginning for our priests in being formed as "intentional disciples." Father VanHaverbeke has also said that the priests must be "on board the train" if we ever hope to achieve success in our creating intentional disciples at our parishes.

We are asking all laity and religious throughout the diocese to begin now to pray daily for God's richest blessings to come upon this gathering, its presenters, and especially the priests of our diocese. A prayer card, at right, in this edition of Catholic Times is for the purpose of lifting up our priests as they gather for this spiritual formation event.

Thirty years ago the Diocese of Wichita began this mission to "go make disciples." With God's grace in the power of the Holy Spirit, we entrust this mission of "forming and creating intentional disciples" to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to our patron, Mary, the Immaculate Conception.