Stories of parish renewal
from around the world.

Melissa and Cody Hedquist love their parish. They almost gush as they repeatedly explain “the way they do it at St. Patrick’s is…” relating their amazement at the difference they have found there. St. Patrick’s Parish in Yorkville, Illinois, has been committed to parish renewal since its Pastor, Father Matt, attended the DR’16 Conference in Halifax. He got into coaching with Divine Renovation, formed a Senior Leadership Team, started Alpha and the trajectory of the parish changed towards becoming missional. Another big shift happened three years ago when, as part of their focus on the primacy of evangelization, St. Patrick’s hired a Director of Children’s Ministry. The new hire, Samantha, brought in a focus on family formation to children’s faith education and the fruit has been multiplying ever since. For the Hedquist family, this change was tangible and deeply personal.

Angela is a parishioner at Mary Queen of the Apostles Parish, in Salem, Massachusetts, USA. In her early childhood she had already started volunteering with her local parish, a life of service that continued into adulthood. For the last three decades she has offered her gifts in the choir, as a lector, as a leader of a prayer group, with the youth, and says “I was a leader for many things.” From all signs, she was the ideal volunteer. But secretly, she was burned out. Her spiritual life was one of duty and striving. “I thought I had to do so much: doesn’t matter that I was overwhelmed, doesn’t matter that I was losing my mental health, doesn’t matter that I was feeling burn out – this is what you needed to do…this is what God wants from you.” But five years ago, everything changed.

Bill and his wife have seven kids and live in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they are part of a thriving DR-accompanied parish, Christ the King Catholic Church. Bill is also a donor. When asked why he gives to the ministry he responds, “I don’t know how to say this…it really just comes back to the Lord...how much He loved me and gave of himself for me. And then seeing the love of God and His generosity to me repeatedly…I just think this ministry is just such a beautiful extension of that.” Ultimately, he has a passion to support DR because, “I love the local parish… it’s where God acts in most people’s lives…It’s just a real place of grace for people.”

In 2021, Salvador returned to his childhood home in Chicago, a broken man. His partner and the mother of his children had kicked him out of their home in Las Vegas. Addiction and a life of fast living had brought his world crashing down on him. As a child, Sal had felt a strong connection to God. A cradle Catholic, he was involved in youth retreats at his parish and felt drawn to the Bible. But as a teen, he was afraid to be known in school as the one who chose God fully: “here in Chicago, I mean growing up, it was not easy... it was kind of rough.” At that time, the priests in the parish were Divine Word Missionaries from Mexico. “All these teachings were with the Bible... I was in love with that.” But it caused a tension within him – it didn’t fit with the persona he wore with his friends. His Pastor challenged him: “either you're hot or you're cold, you cannot be in between.” So, as a teen, in his rebellion, in his pain, in searching for his identity and worth, he decided “I'll be cold.” By the time he was 17 he was far from the Church and moved to Sin City. “I felt like the lost sheep.”