Getting Started: Two Options
Bringing Christ Renews His Parish to Your Parish
Christ Renews is an effective spiritual renewal process which calls together the members of the parish – priest, religious, laity – in order to experience personal conversion and Christian community in the environment of their own parish. Parishioners experience a renewal weekend, then go through a structured formation process, culminating in the giving of a renewal weekend for a new group of parishioners. Christ Renews has been successfully renewing parishes for more than 40 years, and was initiated in the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kan. in 2003.
If you’d like to bring Christ Renews to your parish, here are two options:
Option 1: Full Retreat
Step 1: The pastor of your parish (the receiving parish) contacts info@2wind.org (the email for the Christ Renews Regional Support Team). Someone will contact the pastor to answer questions about Christ Renews and determine when your parish can be scheduled for initial mission weekends.
Step 2: The pastor of your parish attends a Renewal Weekend at another parish. The pastor agrees to serve as spiritual director for the mission weekends and provide active support for Christ Renews.
Step 3: Pay fees and order manuals through the national office. The current cost is $495. You will also need to order 50-60 manuals at $45 each.
Step 4: The pastor sets dates for the initial mission weekend at your parish; one weekend for the men’s retreat, one weekend for the women’s retreat at least two weeks after the men’s retreat. Dates will need to be coordinated through the Christ Renews Regional Support Team.
Step 5: The pastor assists with identification of 20-25 men and 20-25 women to attend the initial mission weekend. Four approaches are listed below. Most parishes use a combination of 1 and 4.
Pastor identifies 6-8 men and 6-8 women to be part of a core startup committee. These people will attend the mission weekend and recruit others to attend, commit to formation and possibly volunteer for the ongoing Christ Renews Continuation Committee.
Pastor personally invites 24 men and 24 women who have been active in various ministries within the parish. This ensures that those invited will keep the commitment.
Host an information/sign up night and invite 50 men and 50 women who represent a cross section of the parish. Smaller parishes could invite any interested parishioner. The Christ Renews Regional Support Team can provide speakers and support.
Pulpit Announcement Weekend presents program to a broad range of prospective retreatants.
Support roles needed at the parish:
Communication Liaison will coordinate a process for completed invitations to the mission weekend and subsequent Renewal Weekends and contact with the mission team.
Facilities Liaison will assist with reserving space for the retreat: 4 rooms that comfortably hold 60 people (temporary chapel, Witness Room, eating area and sleeping area), host a walkthrough, and on-site support during the retreat weekend.
Kitchen Liaison to help identify and coordinate ministries or parishioners who might be able to provide meals for the retreat. Mission team can assist in how to solicit donations.
Sacristan / Liturgy Liaison will be available for consultation and needed on-site resources.
Option 2: Exploratory Team
Step 1: The pastor of your parish (the receiving parish) contacts info@2wind.org (the email for the Christ Renews Regional Support Team). Someone will contact the pastor to answer questions about Christ Renews and determine when your parish can be scheduled for initial mission weekends.
Step 2: The pastor of your parish attends a Renewal Weekend at another parish. The pastor can then make the decision to form an exploratory team.
Step 3: To ensure that the parish is ready to receive and sustain the program, the pastor will identify 6 men and 6 women who will form the exploratory team and attend a Renewal Weekend at a neighboring parish and will also complete formation at that same parish.
Step 4: After completion of the formation period, the pastor along with the group of 6 men and 6 women will complete discernment regarding the decision to bring the ministry to their parish. If the decision is made to bring Christ Renews to the parish, the pastor will serve as the spiritual director for the Mission Weekends and the rest of the group will form the initial Continuation Committee for the parish and be assigned the roles of co-spiritual director (CSD), facilitators for Discernment, History Giving/Faith Sharing,
Evening of Pentecost as well as oversight for Weekend Facilitator and Invitations/Kitchen Coordinator.
Step 5: Pay fees and order manuals through the national office. The current cost is $495. You will also need to order 50-60 manuals at $45 each.
Step 6: After the fees have been paid, the pastor sets dates for the initial mission weekend at your parish; one weekend for the men’s retreat, one weekend for the women’s retreat at least two weeks later. Dates will need to be coordinated with the Christ Renews Regional Support Team.
Step 7: The pastor will assist the Continuation Committee with the identification of 24 men and 24 women who should represent a variety of ministries to attend the initial mission weekends. The pastor will play a key role in the extending of invitations to the first wave of retreatants.
The Regional Support Team can provide best practices as utilized by other parishes to extend invitations.
Other Functions that might be fulfilled by members of the Continuation Committee:
Communication Liaison will coordinate a process for completed invitations to the mission weekend and subsequent Renewal Weekends and contact with the mission team.
Facilities Liaison will assist with reserving space for the retreat: 4 rooms that comfortably hold 60 people (temporary chapel, Witness Room, eating area and sleeping area), host a walkthrough, and on-site support during the retreat weekend.
Kitchen Liaison to help identify and coordinate ministries or parishioners who might be able to provide meals for the retreat. Mission team can assist in how to solicit donations.
Sacristan/Liturgy Liaison will be available for consultation and needed on-site resources.
Cost:
The Regional Support Team does not charge for their services and will provide most of the materials for the initial mission weekends. In addition to the costs for purchasing manuals and paying the fee to the national office, a parish should plan for:
Discussion of optional purchase of 50 sleeping mats/cots/inflatable mattresses for retreat
$40 per person for food, if not donated (approx. 100 people for two teams and retreatants)
Going forward, please expect to budget $1,500 to $2,000 annually. Costs can be deferred by donations.