Then and Now: A Letter from the 2022 DR USA Conference
My first experience attending a Divine Renovation (DR) Conference was in the summer of 2018 in Halifax, Canada. Being blessed to participate in the most recent conference in Dallas, I can have a better appreciation of the journey we at Notre Dame have traveled these past few years and how the Holy Spirit has been moving within the Divine Renovation Ministry and other parishes in our Catholic Church.
Preaching on Purpose: A Focus on Homilies
O’Reilly says, “This book was born out of our conversations with priests we coach. The same question kept coming up – my homily is one of the most important ways of reaching my people with the gospel…but how do I preach in a way that really helps us make disciples?”
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: A Story from the USA
“I, at one time, referred to Saint Mary’s as Our Lady of the Comatose…We were the typical parish in the mushy middle,” states longtime St.Mary’s parishioner Dwain Robbins.
He continues, “People came, checked off, ‘I went to Mass.’ They tried to be the first out of the parking lot; there was was relatively little interaction.” Ten years ago if you tried to talk about evangelization “people’s eyes glazed over.”
Located in the Lower Blackstone Valley in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, St. Mary’s has not been immune to the problems facing the Church.
But if you were to walk into St.Mary’s today you would not find a sleepy parish, as Dwain beams “I can’t say that anymore; we are anything but.”
9 Churches, 1 Mission: A Story from the UK
“We’re in the unenviable situation where we’re one parish but nine locations. So, I’m the pastor to nine churches and I’ve got two assistant priests.”
A friend from seminary passed on the book Divine Renovation: from a Maintenance to a Missional Parish to Father Michael. He then went on to join DR’s group coaching and is now in one-on-one coaching.
This support has helped him guide the renewal of his parish as they move towards mission. He states: “ We give Him [God] all of the finite and he gives us the infinite.”
Happy Father’s Day!
Genealogies litter the Bible mapping the path of our forefathers from sin to salvation. God’s love is quite literally multiplied out through the generations.
Our lineages matter.
A Song to Sing: A Story of Priesthood Renewal in the USA
As a child, Father Paddy O’Donovan wanted to be either a performer, a politician… or a priest.
His humour, charm, and conversational agility make it clear he could have been all 3. But behind the warmth is a spiritual depth and a profound love for people. Quoting Father Hans Urs Von Balthasar, he states he ultimately chose theodrama, than that of the ego. And a reflection on his years in ministry demonstrate how God is using him to tell His story.
This month he celebrates 50 years of ordination.
New Life and a Fresh Heart: A Letter From the UK
Divine Renovation UK undertook a mission last month that was unlike anything we had ever done before. Over two weeks, I travelled together with Matt Regitz (Divine Renovation Leadership Coach) the length and breadth of the UK, visiting parishes, meeting with priests and bishops, and hosting and speaking at events.
It is a trip we will remember forever.
A Sign of Hope: A Letter From the Netherlands Conference ‘22
I am not an event person and I tend to be cautious in my pronouncements, so when a friend asked me how the “Missionary Parish” conference went and I said, it was “fantastic!”
She looked at me, surprised, and said, “Really?”
Really.
It was, I told her, the most hopeful development I’ve seen in the Church in the Netherlands in the last twenty years: a thousand people from around the country and from Flanders, all eager bring on better days in their parish.
Too Wonderful to Keep In: A Story from the UK
Every Saturday morning you can spot Tom Storey on the streets of Richmond, UK with his chocolate brown dog. But he isn’t just taking Rory for a walk – he is part of a homeless ministry out of the Loretto Twickenham home. Walking in a group of 4-6 other believers he talks with men and women who are on the streets and brings them tea and sandwiches.
His involvement is motivated by his Catholic faith, that he feels is “the thing that’s central…the key thing in my life.”
10 Things You Always Wanted to Know About Father James: An Interview
To celebrate Father James Mallon’s 25th Ordination Anniversary our resident DR Storyteller took to Zoom to discover 10 things you may not know about the man so dedicated to moving parishes from maintenance to mission.
