St Emilie’s Catholic church at Canning Vale has embraced and embarked on the exciting journey of Divine Renovation. This journey did not begin with a grand plan. It started with earnest PRAYER, a simple INVITATION, a YES and then WAITING in prayer for the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
In early 2023, a parishioner was invited by her friend from Lourdes parish in Rockingham to attend the Divine Renovation Conference in Sydney. This friend had experienced renewal at her Parish and saw its potential to renew hearts and faith. Both women returned filled with zeal to start Divine Renovation at St Emilies and in prayer decided to start first with Alpha. Both women were new parishioners at St Emilie’s, and so were unsure of where to begin or who to approach. What followed was six months of prayer, planning, and faithful waiting on the Holy Spirit.
Unbeknownst to them, Fr Jean-Noël was also discerning how to re-ignite spiritual engagement in the parish. Taking a chance, he placed a small expression of interest in Alpha in the parish bulletin—an open call that these two women took as a sign.
In October 2023, Alpha at St Emilie’s launched with a pilot of two tables of guests personally recommended by the parish priest Fr Jean-Noël. It was a small beginning but infused with deep faith and expectancy. Since that humble beginning, the ministry has grown steadily and joyfully, with over 200 participants across evening, morning and High school youth sessions with people from surrounding parishes also attending. An outcome of Alpha has also been small Connect groups where parishioners continue to meet in their homes to share a meal and continue to grow in fellowship and in their faith
Despite this success, Fr Jean-Noel realised that Alpha was just the beginning and more needed to be done to bring about authentic Parish renewal. Hence the parish looked into Divine Renovation. This program focuses on changing parish identity to being a missional church. It consists of 7 modules which reflect the seven days of creation. Our parish started Divine Renovation with Day 1 on the Genesis Compass – Missional prayer on 29 May 2025. This was facilitated by a Parish Renewal Guide (PRG) and was attended by Fr Jean-Noël along with a team of 5 parishioners. Every session started in the church with prayer and silence, and yielding to the Holy Spirit was central to every decision the group made.
After six weeks of missional prayer and discussions, the very first initiative was agreed upon. It was to do a pilgrim prayer walk covering the entire physical boundary of the Parish. St Emilie’s parish has 4 zones with a total of 12000 people living within the parish boundaries. Of these, only 1200 are regular church attendees.
The purpose of the pilgrim prayer walk was to pray for every person who lived within the parish boundary, irrespective of their religion or beliefs. The prayer intention for the walk was: “We pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit, our parish will be transformed into a vibrant, missionary community that actively seeks to bring others to a deeper relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Four members of the team did a pilot car drive around Canning Vale parish boundary. This clarified the boundary and the walking paths. The entire parish boundary was 28.04Kms. The parish priest also put a notice about Divine Renovation and the prayer walk in the parish bulletin and made announcements at every mass. Expressions of interest was sought from the parishioners to undertake and be part of the pilgrim walk. Truly the Holy Spirit was at work and over 70 parishioners signed up to do the pilgrim prayer walk. Four WhatsApp groups were created for each suburb – Canning Vale, Southern River, Harrisdale and Piara Waters, to help parishioners communicate and share their experiences and photographs of the walk.
The date was set for the 19thJuly 2025, and parishioners walked on their own, in twos or small teams. Besides those who did the actual physical walk, there were others who were interceding for those walking. A beautiful community spirit was ignited, where the walkers were proudly letting the groups know which areas they had covered, prayers and number of rosaries prayed. This was a very special community event which brought many parishioners together.
The pilgrim walk was the start of our prayer walking initiative. The parish priest and the team encouraged parishioners to now walk within our residential areas -our regular constitutional walks, with a big difference – we are now prayer warriors, interceding for all the people who are our neighbours, we pray that through our daily actions and constant prayers, we will introduce Jesus to them.
Another outcome of Day 1 of Divine Renovation was the whole day silent adoration at St Emilies on every Wednesday with a missional focus.
Through these actions Canning Vale parish has experience growth in many areas.
Spiritually, many have encountered Christ personally, drawing them into a deeper relationship with God, a love for Scripture, and a renewed appreciation of the sacraments. Alpha, Divine renovation and ongoing adoration makes others aware of the need to go out and invite others to experience God’s love.
In fellowship, Alpha has fostered genuine friendships and community. Many participants have gone on to serve in other ministries, finding purpose and connection within parish life. We have seen Alpha guests, once unsure of their religious calling, join ministries such as St Emilie Care, RCIA, the choir, the acolyte ministry, proclaimers of the word, church cleaning, ushers, hospitality and prayer groups—to name but a few. Many also continue to serve faithfully within Alpha itself, generously offering their time and resources to help others begin the same journey.
Physically, the parish has come together to create welcoming spaces for everyone in the parish, with shared meals, thoughtful hospitality, and simple acts of service that reflect Christ’s invitation to the table. Parishioners also serve tea, coffee and biscuits at every Sunday mass, creating a space for community building and making people feel welcomed.
Divine Renovation and Alpha at St Emilies have created a pathway to an encounter with the risen Lord, to healing, and to belonging. Alpha series continues twice a year in the first and third school term. We are still at the start of Divine Renovation and will soon be embarking on the other modules of the Genesis compass so that we are fully a missional church. And so, our journey with the Risen Lord continues.
Joyeuse fête de la Pentecôte !
Fr Jean-Noël MARIE
Parish of Canning Vale
20 May 2026
