Fact Sheet: Christ Renews

(To be used within a receiving parish to help others understand the program. Please copy and paste into a Word or Google doc.)

1. Christ Renews His Parish is a copyrighted parish renewal process that has existed since 1969 and been recommended by the renewal office of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Christ Renews has been used as the primary instrument of personal and parish renewal in over 1345 parishes in 102 dioceses, in 39 states in the USA and in five other countries, without benefit of advertising and full time staff.  We believe that if the Lord wants to use CRHP in a parish, He'll tell someone there.  Parishes using Christ Renews agree to use the process only within their own parish after obtaining the legal rights to use it.  

2. Christ Renews is structured to become part of normal parish life without becoming another organization.  Christ Renews supports other parish organizations and ministries by sending renewed, previously uninvolved parishioners into these other groups.  The whole process is much more than just a weekend retreat.

3. Christ Renews has four parts:

A.  Attend one overnight weekend retreat: take the next step in your spiritual journey. Focus on self - your own relationship with God.  Done separately by gender.

B.  Serve on the next team: go through a time of team formation, preparation, and catechesis. Focus on small group – praying, working, learning together – us.

C.  Minister a Christ Renews weekend: authentic, approved experience of lay ministry in the parish. Focus on them – meeting, serving, ministering to participants – them.

D.  Search for the Lord's call to what is next.  Focus on the life of the church. Facilitates sending people into other ministries in the parish, community and diocese. 

4.  When people complete Christ Renews, they are called parishioners.  Most participants go on to be a greater part of parish life.  A few participants go on to coordinate the parish Christ Renews ministry under the pastor, thus lessening any addition to the task list of an already hard working pastor.

5.  Christ Renews requires assistance from outside the parish to start.  Once parish renewal has started, it continues using parishioners only.

6. Christ Renews is designed for Catholic parishes and/or sacramental/liturgical churches.  It works best in parishes with a reasonable number of members.  It is not associated with any particular school of spirituality or mode of prayer.  Christ Renews is based on Word and Sacrament and utilizes much prayer, Scripture, liturgy, and sharing.  It operates in a parish under the authority of the pastor.