Parish priesthood is demanding work.

 

Beyond the Sunday homily and the sacraments, there’s an enormous amount that keeps a parish running — the administration, the finances, the maintenance, the pastoral care, the endless decisions that land on the person at the top. Most priests carry all of it with great dedication and love for their people. It’s simply the reality of the role.

But many priests also carry something else: a quiet hope that their parish could go deeper. Not dissatisfaction with what is, but a genuine longing for what could be — a community more fully alive to its missionary calling, more confident in sharing faith, more intentional about making disciples rather than maintaining what exists.

And often, it isn’t a lack of desire that holds things back. Many priests have a real heart for mission and for drawing their people more deeply into the life of the Church. The harder question is practical — where to begin, how to be more intentional, and how to bring others alongside you in a way that actually works.

That question is exactly what Divine Renovation has been sitting with for over a decade.

 

For more than twelve years, Divine Renovation has walked alongside priests and parishes around the world who carry that same longing. At the heart of the work is a simple but profound conviction: parish renewal isn’t ultimately a human project. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit — and the role of a parish and its leaders is to cooperate with what the Spirit is already doing. Out of that foundation, a genuine network has grown — priests and parish communities sharing what they’ve learned, encouraging one another, helping each other find a way forward. Less a programme than a movement, built on the belief that renewal is possible and that no priest has to figure it out alone.

Renewed & Sent is an opportunity to step into that community.

 

On 1–3 October 2026, Divine Renovation and the Diocese of Wollongong are hosting the Renewed & Sent Parish Renewal Summit at St Gregory’s College in Campbelltown, NSW — a few days to step back from the day-to-day, pray, and hear from parishes where renewal is already taking root.

The summit opens with a dedicated Clergy Day on Thursday 1 October — time set aside specifically for bishops, priests, and deacons for prayer, reflection, and honest conversation with other clergy. The following two days open to parish teams, and if you can bring a couple of key people with you, all the better. What you learn and discern together is far easier to carry home.

Speakers include Fr James Mallon, founder of Divine Renovation; Bishop Brian Mascord of Wollongong; Sr Anastasia Reeves OP of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney; and Matt Regitz, Director of Coaching at Divine Renovation.

 

And for some priests, all of this might be new territory. The language of “parish renewal,” conferences and summits, frameworks and movements — none of it may have been part of how you’ve thought about your ministry, and there’s no reason it would have been. The vocation is to shepherd the people in front of you, faithfully, day after day. If the idea of a renewal summit feels unfamiliar, that’s not a gap to apologise for. It’s simply an invitation worth considering — a chance to see what’s been quietly stirring in parishes around the world, and to ask whether any of it might speak to yours.

Most priests who attend come away with something they didn’t necessarily expect — not a to-do list, but renewed clarity about where to begin. A fresh perspective from parishes that look and feel a lot like their own. A genuine hope that renewal isn’t reserved for someone else’s parish.

And a clearer sense of direction — a next step that feels real and achievable rather than overwhelming.

You don’t need to arrive with a plan. Just come open.

 

Early bird registration has been extended by two weeks and now closes 14 May — $200 until then, $225 after. More information at renewedandsent.com.au/priests.