The Valley Catholic April 4, 2017 | Page 6

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COMMUNITY

By Joseph Ku Chinese Catholic Community

In 1991 , Monsignor Tom Kleisser and Sister Mary McGuiness , founders of Renew International , came to our San Jose Catholic Community to introduce the Renew program to us . It was the first time we participated . Seven years later , the Diocese of San Jose worked with Renew International to promote this renew program again in 1998 . This was the second time we were involved . Ever since this renew program , our community has developed many small faith-sharing groups throughout Santa Clara County . We felt very blessed in our spirituality not only as an individual , but also collectively in the whole community .

Lately we heard the Diocese promoted this Renew Program again . Our Parish Council thought it is a good time to revitalize our community , since we did it 16 years ago . Our Pastor , Father Alberto Olivera , also encouraged us to sign up . We felt more interested now that this program has been revised in 2006 , and the contents were designed to be more relevant to our contemporary life . The theme of this Renew Program

Arise ! Together with Christ

is “ Arise ! Together with Christ ,” which focuses on building up intimate and personal relationships with Jesus Christ . Although we Catholics are supposed to have an uttermost relationship with Christ through the Eucharist , ironically , we seldom emphasize Jesus as my personal savior among us , let alone conversion experience .

This renew program will spread to

Five Seasons :

• Season 1 : Encounter Christ Today

• Season 2 : Change Our Hearts

• Season 3 : In the Footsteps of Christ

• Season 4 : New Heart , New Spirit

• Season 5 : We are the Good News ! Each season we provide material for the small group leader and their members to prepare before the meeting . As

we prepared our Renew Program for the whole community , we help Renew International to translate their English booklet into Chinese version . Now these material are available for Chinese Catholics worldwide , which is a significant contribution to the Evangelization of Chinese seekers . In the meantime we also translated a beautiful hymn , “ By the waking of our Hearts ” by Ricky Manalo , into Chinese lyrics and use it as our theme song for the Renew Program .

We started Season 1 in the Fall of 2016 . The first season we had 25 small faith-sharing groups signed up , total participation of 250 people . After 6 weeks of faith-sharing sessions , many small groups were so fired up , and continued their meetings in between seasons . We

April 4 , 2017 | The Valley Catholic

felt very encouraged after seeing the outcome . Through our experience , we observed that if the small group leader facilitates the meeting in a right way , Christ , himself is enough to attract people , no need to find way to entertain people in order to keep them interested .

Season 2 , we started the week of Ash Wednesday . We have more people this time : 27 groups , a total of 300 people . The contents of these six weeks are very relevant to the Lenten season reflection , and more meaningful actions were recommended , which are beyond “ give up sweet ” or “ restart failing New Year resolution ” during Lent .

We are looking forward to three more seasons to complete this Renew Program . We encourage all other Parishes who have not yet participated to go for it . Even if you only have a handful parishioners encounter Christ and have profound conversion experiences , that would be enough to boost the spirit of the whole parish .

Pope Benedict XVI has said , “ we can only have faith in Christ if we encountered Him . We can only encounter Him by following Him . Only if both things are true of us can we bear witness to Him and carry His light to the world .”

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Remembering Saint Joseph

Bishop Patrick J . McGrath celebrated Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph on March 20 in observance of the Feast of Saint Joseph , a patron saint of the Diocese of San Jose . The Bishop was joined on the altar by , from left , Father Michael Syjueco , Parochial Vicar , Cathedral ; Monsignor Francis V . Cilia , Vicar General ; Monsignor Wilfedo Manrique ; Father Joseph Benedict , Cathedral , Pastor , and Father Andres Ligot .