Renew ends first season with thumbs-up reviews

"I haven't heard anything but positives," diocesan Renew 2000 coordinator Kathy Menard said of Renew's first season, which officially ended three weeks ago. (Some parishes are using different schedules.) "People have managed to work through the kinks so the first season has been a success, not a trial."

Since she began traveling around the Diocese more than a year ago to prepare parishes for Renew, Dr. Menard said that she has been impressed with the dedication and commitment of those taking on leadership positions for the process. As a result, she had high expectations for Renew, but "the unfolding of the first season has exceeded those expectations."

Unanimous

"We prayed for each other week to week," she said. "It was really good."

Mrs. Trombley noted that her group also completed a first-season project: assembling and delivering a food basket to the parish food pantry. "We're looking forward to next season," she stated.

Feedback

One example is in Schenectady, where Our Lady of the Assumption parish is concentrating on developing stewardship. Parishioners told Dr. Menard that their Renew groups worked from a booklet with that theme for their first season.

Other parishes have formed Renew groups for youth to coordinate with efforts to start or maintain youth ministry programs, or expanded the parish mission required by Renew to include other parishes in their clusters.

"That's the kind of thing we're trying to encourage: Let Renew be your servant, not your master," the coordinator stated.

Artistic flair

Many of the accomplishments Dr. Menard applauded might have otherwise gone unnoticed. She cited St. Lucy's parish in Altamont, where one "thrilling" Renew group includes three generations of parishioners; and St. Joseph's in Scotia, where Renew has provided a springboard to renew support for the parish's St. Vincent de Paul ministry, especially restocking its food pantry.

At Christ Sun of Justice parish in Troy, on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a Renew group for young people planned a menu, bought groceries, cooked a meal and delivered it to Joseph's House for the needy.

"There's a service component that has sprung from participation in small groups and that seems to be growing," Dr. Menard commented.

Youth involved

At her parish, two Renew groups were held simultaneously each week: one downstairs for young people and another upstairs for adults, many of them parents of the youth.

The effort was so successful that Ms. McDonald is continuing to lead the youth group until Renew's next season begins. In the interim, the group will spend two weeks each month socializing and two learning answers to questions about their faith that they have placed in a "question box."

"They're loaded with questions," the leader said. "They want more."

Coming up

One change she expects to make will be moving away from the large training workshops initially held for parish leaders in Renew to smaller, "decentralized" workshops. She plans to hold more such workshops in the spring, between seasons two and three of Renew.

"I feel very proud of the people of the Albany Diocese," she concluded. "They've been wonderful to work with, and I'm very impressed with the commitment."

(For more information on Renew 2000, call your parish or the diocesan Renew 2000 office at 453-6646.)

(12-03-98) [[In-content Ad]]