2017 USCCB Convocation Participants Guidebook and Journal | Page 24

The Call to Missionary Discipleship
more than one distinct cultural group. When surveyed,
76 percent of Catholics attending those parishes con-
sider themselves “active Catholics” and US-born Black
or African-American respondents were most likely to be
involved in ministries or activities in addition to regular
Mass attendance (CARA, Cultural Diversity in the Catholic
Church in the United States, Oct. 2016).
While these numbers give us a sense of the people who are in the
pews, missionary disciples do not only look within the Church;
rather, they look to the men and women who are disconnected or
absent from the community. It is important that disciples reach
out to those on the peripheries.
At the Convocation, there will be several opportunities for dele-
gates to explore the landscape in greater detail. A plenary session
on the morning of Sunday, July 2, will give a broad look at the
mission field in this country where missionary disciples are being
sent. Following the large group gathering, twenty-two breakout
sessions will go even deeper into several aspects of the landscape:
• The Church in the Current Political and Cultural Climate
• The Landscape of Intercultural Awareness and Dialogue
in the Church
• The Rise of the “Nones” and Understanding Inactive and
Disconnected Catholics
• Catholic Social Thought: The Role of Business, Advocacy,
and the Community in Reducing Poverty
• Growing Isolation in America: Individualism and
Indifference
• Social Media and Digital Media: Their Impact on the
Church Today
• The Reality of Singleness in the Church
• Addressing and Understanding the “Throw Away Culture”
• Violence and Unrest in Our Communities
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