Lay engagement is a working plan to bring about parish renewal.

There can’t be more convivial places than Boodle’s Club in London to discuss the renewal of the Church. It was the venue for a dinner and fundraising initiative for Divine Renovation, a highly developed and systematic plan for parish renewal, which is attracting many parishes in Britain, North America and around the world.

Fr James Mallon, who founded Divine Renovation, spoke about what had driven him to begin the movement: the spectacle of priests burning out because all the work of a parish devolved on them. He is a Glaswegian who moved to Nova Scotia. “I saw many priests wear thin … they were losing the passion. Every priest is at one time a hopeless romantic, and priests had their hearts broken.” The movement is all about parishes moving from simple maintenance of numbers to growth and renewal; he described how the dynamic of a parish can change when the focus shifts from lay Catholics relying entirely on priests, to active engagement, specifically by and with the young. To launch his movement he had to address gatherings of his fellow priests. “I was terrified of speaking to priests. They’re the worst audience”, he said.