Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley and the Archdiocese of Boston are celebrating 200 years as the Church of Boston. In honor of the anniversary, he has invited the team from RENEW International to work with parish leaders to implement a special process of spiritual renewal for parishes. This process is entitled ARISE Together in Christ.
ARISE Together in Christ, the specially-prepared process for Boston, is a three-year, parish-centered journey of spiritual renewal and evangelization. Since last fall, workshops provided by RENEW International have attracted almost three thousand attendees from over 150 parishes. The workshops were also offered in Portuguese and Spanish. Additionally, materials will be available in Vietnamese and Haitian Creole to meet the diverse needs of Boston’s Catholic population.
The purpose of these workshops is to train parish leaders to organize and lead small communities of faith, allowing them to grow in understanding of their faith and giving them the confidence to share it with others. These small groups will meet once a week for a six-week season to pray together and to share faith and build community.
RENEW International has a 28-year history of success providing ministries which serve many different pastoral needs of parishes and people. Parish leaders experience practical approaches to reaching out to parishioners and inactive Catholics to engage them in the life of parish. Additional information on the ministries of RENEW International can be found on their website: http://www.renewintl.org.
Over the next two-and-a-half years there will be five seasons. Each season will last for six weeks and will happen in the fall and spring of 2008/2009, in the fall and spring of 2009/2010 and in the fall of 2010. Each season will begin with “Sign-up Sunday” when parishioners in the Archdiocese of Boston will be invited to participate in these small faith communities that will be formed in participating parishes.
Additional workshops and resources will be offered to meet the needs of young adults, teenagers, and families with children.
Deirdre Malacrea
Director of Communications and Marketing
RENEW International
1232 George Street
Plainfield, NJ 07062
908-769-5400 x126
www.renewintl.org
Deirdre@renewintl.org
