Prayer is at the Heart of Mission: A Story from the Archdiocese of Toronto
It wasn’t until Father Michael Simoes became a parish priest that the weight of sustaining a parish in maintenance mode dropped on him. Moving from assistant to pastor, he found he had to “tread water to survive” and that “the parish always just felt like there was something missing.” Despite all the activity around him, the central missional point of their spirituality was missing. He says it felt like “the wilderness.”
After trying a few ideas, the pandemic put a hold on any new growth. But it did provide time for Father Michael to start looking through any resources on parish renewal he could get his hands on. He was finished with just surviving: Father Michael wanted his parish to thrive.
From a Warehouse to the Lord’s House: A Story from Lithuania
In 2018, Švč. Mergelės Marijos Ramintojos bažnyčia (Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Peacemaker) in Vilnius, Lithuania, started its first Alpha. Today, their Alphas are so fruitful that over 60% of participants identify as unchurched — and even as they run the course twice a year, they still need to put people on a waitlist.
But the history of this church is much older and more convoluted than their present-day evangelistic fruitfulness would suggest.
Renewal is a Team Sport: A Story from the Netherlands
Father Jochem Van Velthoven has been intensely pursuing parish renewal for the last three years at Catharina Parochie in Oosterhout, Netherlands. He has established a leadership team, set in place a regular cycle of Alpha for evangelization, and even created “The Journey of Hope” a program facilitated by his lay leaders to pass on the missional principles he learned through DR to his parishioners.
But on June 16th, Father Jochem could not get out of bed.
Casting Off into Renewal: A Story from Czechia
Father Petr’s priesthood has often been in isolation, as Zuzana explains: “Father Petr is used to being alone, because he was alone being ordained a deacon, alone being ordained a priest, in his year, in the seminary he was also alone” as others around him left priestly formation. So being able to be in a coaching cohort with brother priests was a welcome change.
Since Kickstart, Father Petr has jumped into parish renewal with both feet.
