Welcome - Christ Renews

What is Welcome Christ Renews?   

Welcome Christ Renews is a weekend experience designed to help you grow in your relationship with Jesus and with others.  As the name implies the weekend is all about renewal.  The men’s weekend is typically in May and the women’s weekend is October or November.  During the weekend, you will listen to scripture and many people share their real-life experiences.  Many participants enjoy getting to know others that share the same daily struggles and challenges.  Following the weekend, a formation process begins.  Formation is a fun way to grow spiritually and develop relationships with your team.  Your team also prepares themselves to ‘give’ the weekend experiences the following year.

Who attends the weekend?  

All St. Susanna parishioners are invited to attend.  You do not have to be a spiritual person to attend the weekend.  In fact, many men and women attend because they are not as spiritual as they would like.  People often attend because their spouse previously attended.  Others attend because they have a desire to find something that is missing in their life.  Still others attend because they are searching for peace and comfort.  All receive unconditional love and acceptance from their Welcome Christ Renews brothers or sisters.   

Why does St. Susanna need Welcome Christ Renews? 

St. Susanna is calling all its parishioners to renewal and Welcome Christ Renews is one way to develop a stronger faith and a deeper relationship with Jesus.  Welcome Christ Renews inspires and energizes parishioners as well as helps to continue to build connections within our community.  St. Susanna now more than ever needs its parishioners to grow in their love for Jesus and their love for each other. 

Why does Welcome Christ Renews seem secretive?

There are many special parts of Welcome Christ Renews that are better left unknown to the participants.  The Welcome Christ Renews process is well designed and has been successful in many parishes since the early 80’s.  We have found at St. Susanna, that the experience is richer when you do not know everything about the weekend or the formation process.  Additionally, one of the cornerstones of Welcome Christ Renews is confidentiality.  When someone denies your request to share information about the weekend or the formation process it is because they are following the confidentiality guideline, or they do not want to reveal something that will lessen your experience.