“A Little Child Will Lead Them”: A Story from the USA
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.
The Rest of God: A Story from the USA
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.
“I love the local parish”: A Donor Story
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.”
“I Felt Like the Lost Sheep”: A Story from the USA
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.”
Welcoming People Home: A Focus on Hospitality
Father Mark explains, “I am completely convinced that what people desire more than anything is to belong, and to feel welcomed and to be accepted, and to be embraced as they are… And I think the message of Jesus, the great revolutionary message of Jesus, in many ways, is that you do belong, and that you are accepted – that you are welcome.”
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.
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.”
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.
