<em>Lay engagement is a working plan to bring about parish renewal.</em>
There can’t be more convivial places than Boodle’s Club in London to discuss the renewal of the Church. It was the venue for a dinner and fundraising initiative for Divine Renovation, a highly developed and systematic plan for parish renewal, which is attracting many parishes in Britain, North America and around the world.
Fr James Mallon, who founded Divine Renovation, spoke about what had driven him to begin the movement: the spectacle of priests burning out because all the work of a parish devolved on them. He is a Glaswegian who moved to Nova Scotia. “I saw many priests wear thin … they were losing the passion. Every priest is at one time a hopeless romantic, and priests had their hearts broken.” The movement is all about parishes moving from simple maintenance of numbers to growth and renewal; he described how the dynamic of a parish can change when the focus shifts from lay Catholics relying entirely on priests, to active engagement, specifically by and with the young. To launch his movement he had to address gatherings of his fellow priests. “I was terrified of speaking to priests. They’re the worst audience”, he said.
<strong>1</strong> Hannah Vaughan-Spruce, Wendela Lumley, Ekaba Davies <strong>2 </strong>Fr James Mallon, Lord and Lady Brennan <strong>3</strong> Fr Paschal Uche, Jordan Kelly, Kevin Bailey <strong>4 </strong>Chris Purslow, Oliver Roylance Smith, Bruce Bower <strong>5 </strong>Gerard and Pauline Penfold
The principles of lay engagement work in practice, often by utilising a Catholic version of the evangelical Alpha Course, and introducing simple innovations such as the ministry of welcome for people coming to church. It’s about turning parishioners from consumers into disciples. One guest at the dinner described his Divine Renovation approach: “We’ve got a new priest in my little village parish near Manchester. I’m going to go to him and ask, ‘What do you need?’” That’s the spirit of lay engagement.
Two English priests testified to the potential transformative effects of Divine Renovation. Fr Stephen Langridge is a parish priest in Richmond and has been appointed by the Archbishop of Southwark as episcopal vicar for parish renewal. “We try to apply the principles of Divine Renovation and what’s happened is that now we have a parish full of happy parishioners, people who serve generously in so many different ways in the parish – and then people invite others, so we are a growing community. Some 28 per cent of parishioners are aged between 18 and 30.”
Fr Paschal Uche, a parish priest in Colchester, is an enthusiastic practitioner of Divine Renovation. “It’s about unlocking the good-ness of God and people’s baptismal grace,” he said. “There’s a problem of isolation for priests. Divine Renovation is a great blessing – you share difficult stories. It’s bringing to the Church a new encouragement to keep going. I’m excited about the local Catholic secondary school in my area; after they’re confirmed, they come back. This will change the Church in beautiful ways.”
The movement has grown worldwide and shows very encouraging signs of growth in Britain. “By 2033 we want to be accompany-ing one in three parishes towards renewal,” said Hannah Vaughan Spruce, executive dir-ector for the UK. “Already we are coaching 130 parishes; by 2033 we’d love it to be 750.”
Divine Renovation is a welcome change from the narrative of decline in churches. But in the view of the <em>Catholic Herald</em>, a new name would help. “Parish Renewal?” maybe. Or just, “Renewal”?
