Parish Programs for Renewal in the Catholic Faith

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There are many programs circulating around the Catholic world these days - such as:

“Intentional Disciples”, “Alpha for Catholics”, “ChristLife”, “Maintenance to Mission”, “Christ Renews His Parish,” “RENEW”, “Light of the World”, “The Amazing Parish”, “Living the Eucharist,” “Dynamic Catholic (Matthew Kelly)”, “Charismatic Renewal”, etc. etc.

If anyone here has experienced one or more of these or any other “Programs” for renewal (which may include – official leaders sent from headquarters, guide books, manuals, small groups, music CDs, video teachings by experts, one- or two- or three-year process or more, etc. etc. …
  • can you please respond and give me a brief review, good or bad, effective or not, took root or lasted only x months or years and then all was “back to what used to be before”… and anything else you could say about it -
    and specifically:
    Was Mary, the Mother of Jesus, given an integral place in the program - or was Mary and Marian devotion hardly mentioned or not mentioned?
I ask because I’ve encountered several of such programs with little or no place for Mary at all. Surely this is not typical - or is it?
 
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We did Christ Renews His Parish CRHP maybe 12 years ago. I was on parish council at the time and three of us were invited by a CRHP team to attend their next retreat, learn, and bring it to my parish. Father was interested and encouraged us to go.

I found the experience to be moving. We focused on the sacraments. Through discussion we shared what our faith means to us, and how God has acted on our lives. We prayed the Holy Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet as a group. We sang a lot, and did sing a couple Marian hymns. It was a Roman Catholic men’s retreat, and surprise, surprise, featured typical Catholic devotions.

It lasted a couple years as CRHP, and the women held their own retreats during that time. CRHP as a program didn’t last, but it evolved into Mens’ and Womens’ groups where we host day-long retreats once or twice a year, get together for Bible study, meet in a public place to say a mass Rosary, and other things. CRHP had a very positive affect on my local parish.
 
Alpha is for those just on the threshold, for the unchurched person. It is basic Christianity. Catholic 101. Yes, Mary is spoken of, but, this is like waterskiing across basic Christianity, not a deep dive into anything.

I’ve done “Why Catholic?”. It was overwhelmingly successful. It was a success because our pastor was very excited about it, led the first group of sessions himself. The small groups continued until the new pastor came, and that pastor was not interested in the program. It has been so many years ago, I do not remember specifics about Marian dogma/devotion.

A couple of the other things you mention are not programs.

Charismatic Renewal is not a program that one purchases and introduces to a parish, but, a spirituality. I’ve attended big Charismatic Renewal events and small prayer groups. The focus is on faith healing, exorcisms and speaking in tongues. Edit to add. Every Charismatic person I know has a deep Marian devotion.

Intentional Disciples is a book, there is an associated seminar that helps people discern their gifts. The book helps change our way of thinking about reaching souls for Christ.

For those who wish to dive deep into Marian devotion, the “33 Days to Morning Glory” program would be my first suggestion.
 
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Thank you for the response. Can you say approximately what percentage of the total parish participated in the initial CRHP offerings, and what percentage have continued/evolved into the Bible studies , Rosary praying, day-retreats, and other things?

Concerning the Marian aspects - have you had Catechism or other Faith formation sessions either in CRHP or following, that enable a deeper grasp of the Marian dimension of the Catholic Faith /Beliefs? That is, in understanding better why Mary is so important to the Catholic Faith? For example, as the Catechism states:
Catechism # 971 “All generations will call me blessed”: “The Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.” The Church rightly honors “the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of ‘Mother of God,’ to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs… This very special devotion … differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration.” The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an “epitome of the whole Gospel,” express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.
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Thanks again if you can say more…
 
Thank you, Little Lady. Can you expand Alpha a bit on “Mary is spoken of”?

And yes, I know the things I listed are not all “programs” in the same sense. (That’s why I put the word “Programs” in “quotes”, and wrote, “Programs” for renewal (which may include –… with “may” in italics to stress that they are not all programs of the same structure or format.

I’ve not had your experience with Charismatic persons as being so uniformly Marian, as you apparently have. Some are, some are not, in my experience - with (in my experience, for the non-Marian groups) any Marian dimension overshadowed by the emphasis strongly on the expression of charisms in public prayer together. Most of these groups I’ve visited, though, were mixed Catholic/non-Catholic, and the ecumenical pressures may have led to suppression of the Catholic devotion to Mary.

Thank you for your response.
 
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fide said:
Most of these groups I’ve visited, though, were mixed Catholic/non-Catholic, and the ecumenical pressures may have led to suppression of the Catholic devotion to Mary.
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You nailed that one on the head. At risk of starting a debate that will go far afield, the Charismatic Renewal is an import from the non-Catholic world, so, in groups you will find this to be the dynamic.

I’d say half of my real-life Catholic friends are deeply into the Charismatic movement. They each have a deep devotion to Mary, they pray the Rosary many times each day, they speak of Our Blessed Mother in just about every conversation, (they also tend to hold the same political views, interestingly enough!).

As for the “Christianity 101” programs such as Alpha, there is not going to be a deep theological discussion of the Perpetual Virginity or Mary as the New Ark. Think of something similar to Fr Barron’s “Catholicism” TV Documentary Series episode on Mary.
 
I should have included Fr. Barron’s presentations - I haven’t seen any of his on Mary. What are your thoughts and observations on his teachings generally, but especially on his that include Mary specifically, from the perspective of their Marian dimension? On those in particular, what “spiritual/theological grade level” would you rank them as- 1st Grade level to 12th to … up to PhD?
 
As a heads up about Christ Renews His Parish. The CRHP available now is not the same as the one from three or more years ago. It was bought out by Dynamic Catholic/Matthew Kelly and has been totally revamped and re-branded to reflect the Dynamic Catholic brand. If you love Dynamic Catholic/Matthew Kelly, you’ll love the new CRHP. But if you loved CRHP three or more years ago, you’ll find the new CRHP very different from the one you remember.

And Mary/Marian Devotion is non-existent in the current CRHP… but I don’t think it was in the previous edition either…
 
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“Life in the Spirit” seminars, as sponsored by the Charismatic Renewal. However, one must be an active participant, desire great improvement in their faith life, and have the courage and humility to become absolutely docile to the Holy Spirit. In a very rare moment, I was able to muster the above and what occurred was that my charisms were revealed to me. Nothing ostentatious, crowd-pleasing or flamboyant, they arrived slowly and included:

Losing the fear of discussing my faith, a love of scripture reading, a newfound appreciation for the Holy Eucharist, devotion to the Rosary, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and on and on. There was simply no looking back.
 
I am sorry that I can provide no statistics regarding the participation and “success rate” of CRHP at my local parish.

Charismatic Renewal has got a foothold in my area. I associate them with Catholic dissidents, like wanting female and married priests, and other controversies. They seem to me very much NOT Catholic - it’s like a new religion that is evolving out of the Church and is heading in a direction away from the RC church. It’s Pentecostalism, regardless of what snappy new label that they wish use today. The pentacostalists from a neighboring parish held a special men’s retreat with the help of two guys from our Mens’ group. They brought out all of the slain in the spirit stuff only after the priests retired for the night. I witnessed it first-hand, and it was like some sort of jungle witch doctor stuff. I got out of there. It turns out that the organizers had lied to our Pastor about their agenda. They won’t be invited back.
 
Thank you po18guy - I appreciate your response, and I rejoice with you and for you in the new life in the Spirit that you came into, as a result of the seminars. What I’m about to say may or may not seem important to you, but I think that what “happened” to you was not a revealing of charisms, but something much better: a growing - a maturation - of sanctifying grace in your soul, through the activity of the infused gifts of the Spirit first given with Baptism (the 7 gifts listed in Isaiah 11:2-3) - and not the charisms discussed by Paul (in 1 Cor 12:4-11 as examples).

The two kinds of gifts are very different, and importantly so, both for theologians who seek precision in truth, and for the members of the Body receiving the gifts. The sanctifying gifts (Isaiah) make the soul holy. The charisms make the soul useful for others - for the Church the Body of Christ, and through her for the world.

As Paul stressed in the beautiful chapter on love in 1 Cor 13, all the charisms outpoured by the Spirit into members of the Body can be good for nothing, if they be not used as intended by the Spirit, in holy charity, in love.
1Cor 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
1Cor 13:2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
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Indeed, charisms can be very dangerous if received and used in a prideful, self-aggrandizing way. Charisms are given not for the benefit of the one receiving the charism - charisms are given for others, through the one receiving them, to be a blessing for others. Therefore if charisms are received in humility, and exercised in charity, then they become a blessing for the recipient. If used to puff up the recipient in the eyes of others - to “show off” - they are become harmful to the soul!

Therefore be happy you did not receive something (as you wrote) “ostentatious, crowd-pleasing or flamboyant”! Such gifts are dangerous, and can tempt the receiver toward his own glory before men, and away from God. What you did receive, I believe, and I praise God for it, was something much better: a deeper and more mature living of His grace in the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity - a deeper living of the interior life of grace. In that life we are all called to grow, by our Baptism into Him.
 
One problem I saw with RENEW (and similar programs) was the lack of any doctrinal content. It was all social, oriented to social action. It tried to encourage community, but not rooted in Catholic Faith.

I was deeply in Charismatic renewal. I found it mostly positive. At least it believes in the supernatural part of Christianity, so often omitted. Most charismatics were pro Marian devotion, a few opposed.

A negative aspect was sometimes extreme emphasis on the subjective, on personal experience. But overall the good outweighed the bad. Locally the charismatic renewal has mostly faded away as a separate movement, except for MANY healing Masses and a few outreach programs.

I recommend the Life in the Spirit program, in conjunction with study of the Catechism.
 
Thanks, Phillip _Rolfes - I did not know that about the “new” CRHP by Matthew Kelly. I am very sorry to read that “Mary/Marian Devotion is non-existent in the current CRHP” - regardless of what it was previously. I am doubly sorry, knowing how incredibly popular Kelly’s ideas and books are, these days.

What has happened in the Church? How have we forgotten what so much of what we have been given - entrusted with - and are responsible for? What is this, that has come upon us, bringing such impoverishment? This is true and remains true:
Catechism 971 … “The Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.” …
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What then are we doing?
 
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Commenter: I appreciate your focus on the very nature of so many “similar” renewal programs: with the concern of whether they operate in the natural, or in the supernatural. My experience also, is that many - even while using language appropriate to supernatural objects, participants are guided to remain in the realm and experience of the natural. This is not good at all, because a crucial need for Catholics is to grow in the life of the supernatural - the supernatural theological and moral virtues, and the Gifts which are given to perfect them.

But rather than guided by wisdom into wisdom, there has come a “dumbing-down”, I’m sorry to say, in our catechesis in general. The Catechism is certainly a great gift to the Church - but it is very commonly not used in many parishes, in favor of more “readable” and “up-to-date” authors on the circuit.
 
I found Fr Barron’s documentary to be what I would call an entry level teaching on the Church, very good for the person who has never studied their Faith.

To say “what age level” is difficult. I’ve taught all ages of RE through RCIA. I would likely use these videos for teens and up (but, there are younger kids, the sort who are rabid readers and curious learners who would benefit). I know adults who need to learn the basic facts of the life of Mary, the Marian dogmas at a high level, but who have deep devotion to Mary.

I will be honest, I found the “Catholicism” videos to be very basic and while it was playing on the screen, it quickly lost my attention.

Any of these courses are going to be led differently depending on the leader/facilitator.

This is a blurb about Catholicism

 
I must agree - entry level. But even so, Catholics who know very little about their Church, and interested non-Catholics also, deserve more than what I heard included in the (free to watch) one full 40-something-minute video in his Catholicism series: Episode 6 - The Mystical Union of Christ and His Church.

What I heard was all in the dimension of the natural (human/ecclesial history, natural reasonableness, natural beauty, etc) and not those elements that are in truth “mystical” - supernatural, spiritual, eternal. Also what I did not hear was the word “Mary”, or matters of Marian devotion, or anything of her intrinsic place in the mystical union of Christ and His Body - the Church. The sacred human physical body of our Lord was derived from and through the completely human and yet sinless physical body of His virgin mother - and thus the Church, which is spiritually the “Body of Christ”, is physically and spiritually, intimately and intrinsically “of” and through and formed in His Mother and our Mother, Mary.

Therefore how can Mary be left out of a presentation on The Mystical Union of Christ and His Church?
 
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I would consider you to be on a much more advanced/deeper level.
 
Replying to myself, I’m beginning to conclude that parish renewal programs that explicitly include the rightful place of the Virgin Mother Mary, must be the rare exception and not the common rule, in these sad days. Why is this? The Scripture that keeps coming to mind is a hard one to hear:
Lk 18:8 … When the Son of Man returns, will He find Faith on the earth?
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Is the approval of this world so valued, or needed, that many in His Church will throw overboard true treasures of divine light, in exchange for the acceptance of men in love with darkness?
Catechism # 971 “All generations will call me blessed”: “ The Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship .”
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