By Msgr. Noel C. Burtenshaw

The opportunity is unique. Not only can I hear Father Chuck Gallagher talk about his renewal program, but I am in a position to see what it does.

It was June 14, and I was in St. John the Evangelist parish in Hapeville. There is a difference in the air. A sort of new glow. From pastor Father Michael Woods through the parishioners I meet in the rectory or on the grounds, there is a new happiness of belonging.

They will tell you, Father Mike, the sisters, the parishioners, the whole parish, they got it from this man who is visiting them. He is ruggedly handsome, chain smoking, Marriage Encounter-famous, Jesuit Father Chuck Gallagher. He calls his program the Parish Renewal Experience. Obviously, it is an experience.

There are two prongs to this captivating program. One is what it does to the pastor and two, what it does to the parish--through the pastor. St. John’s is an excellent example.

Father Mike Woods in his lilting northerly Irish accent says, “we put Chuck’s program in and it has reformed this parish. Last week as the activities ended for the summer, we celebrated with a parish party and dance. Six hundred showed up. That kind of response was not there before. They came together, not just to have a good time, but to know each other and experience each other as a unique family of Catholic people.”

That is the message of Father Chuck Gallagher. The Parish Renewal Experience does not focus on Catholicism, it focuses on Catholics. “Catholics are unique, we are no better than others, but we are called upon to look upon each other as unique in a fearless way. Catholics are afraid sometimes to acknowledge their pride in being Catholic. We have a poor corporate image. That must change. When it does, people change.”

Father Chuck Gallagher has thought it all through. He feels his parish experience is the answer. “It is all based on John 17,” says Father Gallagher as he paces the room (“I think better on my feet”). “Jesus said love one another as I have loved you. It is in the close relationship that we find the answer.”

As a young priest, this New York Jesuit started his youth work in 1958. But he felt that it was in young people’s relationship to their parents and their home that they would find their best selves so he confounded the Marriage Encounter Movement for families. That ministry went well but Chuck Gallagher wanted more. Not just parents and children, he wanted the church at the parish level to find renewal, so in 1978 he had his first Parish Renewal Experience.

“That was a good year to start,” says Father Gallagher, smoke constantly billowing from him. “Anger was dying down after the many changes. Prayer was coming back. People were searching. People had tended to go away from Catholic involvement. It was time to call them back.”

That’s what the Parish Renewal Experience does--call Catholics back to the support and love of each other.

Father Gallagher uses the parish priest to do it. “Since 1978 we have seen 10 percent of the American priesthood participate in this renewal--about 6,000 priests. We are now in 70 dioceses and in 24 foreign countries. People are excited about their Catholic faith again.”

Chuck Gallagher openly declares that a debt of gratitude is owed to the charismatic prayer movement. “They got us praying again.” However, his renewal is not charismatic. It is simply a conscious practice of the Catholic faith within the parish structure as priest and people reach out to each other. Four elements are central to the renewal:

1. A weekend is given to the parishioners by the pastor or one of the priests in the parish.

2. The expressed aim of this renewal weekend stresses dignity and worth because of lives based on participation in sacraments.

3. Reconciliation expressed through prayer, sacrifice, affirmation and personal sharing in small groups.

4. Unity with other parishioners. Unity means closeness, service, knowing and being known.

After traveling throughout the country and to other parts of the world, Father Gallagher is most concerned about the condition of priesthood. “There is a lot of anger in the life of the priest today,” he says. “The priest is on the front line of the church, yet most priests believe that what they think does not make any difference. They feel they are not being heard.”

“There is also great pain of movement in the life of the parish priest. Just when he and his people may be developing a relationship, he is moved. He is also at the center of the burden of finances. He is often seen as successful only if he can meet his budget. To fail often means to be moved. I am concerned because I have heard priests express in anger that nobody knows and nobody cares.”

“There is a great need for priestly reconciliation with each other, with superiors, with bishops.”

Father Gallagher sees parish priests needing renewal as they begin to see themselves as merely bachelors rather than celibate ministers of the Gospel.

Father Michael Woods, after completing the renewal with Father Gallagher, rolled up his sleeves and began the weekends at St. John’s. “I challenged them,” said Father Woods. “They had to give up the complete weekend and be together at the parish from Friday night till Sunday night. They came.”

He was surprised. He has personally conducted seven weekends for his parishioners and over 800 have completed this phase of the renewal. “No one was left out,” said Father Woods. “The sisters came, the lay teachers came and the School of Religion staff and teachers were all a part of the weekends.”

The difference can be seen at St. John’s. More people are at daily Mass, confessions are up, more non-Catholics want information and the expression of Catholic solidarity is everywhere to be seen.

“We are really not asking very much,” says Father Chuck Gallagher. “We are reminding them as Catholics they are responsible for each other. The need for family prayer is there, the rosary, penance, scripture reading, a shrine of some kind in the home, these are the daily practices that bind them to each other as Catholics. These things radically change us for the better.”

Priests and people are listening to Father Gallagher. The results of his work are there to be seen. Right now you will find them among the priests and people of St. John’s parish.