What do you think of the Renew program?

[Blanka]

I just finished attending 6 weeks of Renew. I enjoyed meeting some of the people from the parish whom I had not met before but I didn’t seem to get much out of the actual Renew material. Is this a good orthodox Catholic program? Our Bishop seems to promote it widely. Does anyone have any information or experiences with Renew?

 

[puzzleannie]

we are reviewing it as one of several possible programs, purpose to promote evangelization and do something to help our parish function more as a community. I would also like to hear opinions about this program. I understand it is revamped from the earlier program of the 90s and from Renew 2000.

 

[Blanka]

Here is my concern about the recent Renew program:

The theme this past season was “Reconciliation” which was used in the context of becoming more ecumenical. There was much discussion of how we are alike other Christian denominations. It was evident by the end of the first meeting that members of the group were at all levels in their individual faith formation. One participant criticized the fact that non-Catholics cannot receive communion along with Catholics. Most alarming was the fact that no explanation was given to the member and the meeting seemed to be run as a “group therapy” type of meeting where everyone’s comments were listened to and accepted without correction. Also, it seemed curious to me that “confidentiality” was stressed with regard to everything said in the meetings (this is in the Renew booklet). The idea that kept occuring to me was that if we are being encouraged to reach out to others in ecumenism, then we first need to become firmly grounded in our own faith. I think a better approach in the Renew material would have been a balance of Catholic apologetic info along with some basic beliefs (and differences) of other faiths. Only then should we have been encouraged to reach out to people of other faiths in a loving and ecumenical way. Afterall, isn’t it our great desire to see other faiths come into the fullness of the Catholic Church?

 

[kxaddiso]

We have just completed our Renew At Your Word Lord season here in London (Archdiocese of Westminister) and it has gone well. The group that I was in went very well, and we had about 40% non catholic participation. The one success point is that although we differ on some issues, there is a lot that we have in common!

It was so successful that 2 of the members are now considering doing the RCIA course, and we are also continuing our weekly meeting after Easter! This is great as it has got us all talking, and although the material may sometimes be a bit lacking, our groups seem to have a lot to talk about.

All I can say is PRAISE GOD!!!

 

[PTD]

The original Renew program that went through many dioceses in the 1980’s was badly flawed, not by teaching heresy but by giving omitting crucial doctrinal elements, that caused what was presented to be misunderstood out of context. It exalts the subjective element of religion, so that each person’s personal “experience” or opinion is more important that things like truth, maybe more important than God. Unfortunately it got through most American dioceses before the bishops formally examined it, and they found major problems then. In the Buffalo diocese I knew a couple people who tried to make the best of a questionable situation by trying to “baptize” Renew when it was imposed on their parish. For instance, they would take each topic that Renew was focusing on this season, and insert supplementary written materials that present the Catholic doctrine that related to that topic (which was of course lacking in the Renew materials). If you are looking for materials, besides the Catechism of course, check out Catholics United for the Faith @CUF.org. But better still, try to encourage people in your diocese to develop some other program, than trying to “fix” a flawed program like Renew.