(OSV News) ─ In the first meeting of its kind in the 175-year history of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, representatives of over 40 evangelization apostolates and mission groups met under one roof to discuss how to be missionary disciples.
The gathering has been part of Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda's vision for unity in the archdiocese since his 2022 pastoral letter, "You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent From the Upper Room," said Deacon Joseph Michalak, pastoral letter and formation adviser for the archdiocese.
"(People) are hungering: 'Give us more formation,'" the deacon told The Catholic Spirit, the archdiocesan news outlet.
"For all of our riches, we actually don't have a practical way of working together," Deacon Michalak said, referencing organizations such as NET Ministries in West St. Paul and the Catechetical Institute at St. Paul Seminary. "(In) one aspect of increasing our unity, we recognize that we need to begin building those relationships amongst all these different groups and apostolates."
"They all share a common mission: Evangelization and missionary disciple formation. … They have different focus areas, but an incredible commonality of vision," he said. "We want to build relationships. We want to pray together. We want to begin a conversation around a shared language, common language for mission and evangelization. And then we want to start getting really concrete."
The Partners in Mission gathering, which took place July 16-17 at St. John Neumann Parish in Eagan, sought to answer two questions: What is a missionary disciple, and how to form missionary disciples?
Over 40 mission organizations had representatives at the meeting, including St. Paul's Outreach in Mendota Heights, Twin Cities Prison Ministry, the Institute for Diaconate Formation at St. Paul Seminary and the archdiocese's Latino Ministry and Office for the Mission of Catholic Education, all in St. Paul.
During the 2025 Archdiocesan Synod Assembly, held June 7 at Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul, adult formation and discipleship in daily living were among the propositions that received the most votes in each of the three rounds of voting.
The voting results were a Holy Spirit moment because this comprehensive gathering was planned well before the assembly, Deacon Michalak said.
At the meeting in Eagan, the Office of Discipleship and Evangelization defined a missionary disciple as "one who participates by grace in the Divine Life and mission of Jesus Christ and who therefore as priest, prophet, king endeavors to bring all dimensions of life under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. One in whom Jesus is living his divine life anew (Gal 2:20)."
"How do we help pastors get a vision for this, and practically, concretely?" Deacon Michalak said. "What exactly that implementation is going to be remains to be seen. The archbishop and people are discerning that right now. That discernment goal will go into fall. ... But regardless of what the concrete application or implementation looks like, whatever it is, it's going to need the wisdom of, 'How do you actually, in a parish and with staff, form missionary disciples?'"
Father Brian Fischer, a spiritual director with the Bethany Center for Prayer and Renewal in Scandia, shared that during a large group discussion, unity in the room "was already there."
"God was working in the different groups," Father Fischer said. "I was amazed at how quickly we had a common understanding of conversion, giving your life to Jesus. … This was already happening, and it's beautiful that we came together as (it was) a long time coming. Perhaps, really, the only thing to do is just to do it again."
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Josh McGovern is a reporter at The Catholic Spirit, news outlet of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. This story was originally published by The Catholic Spirit and
distributed through a partnership with OSV News.
