Maintenance to Mission

November 2025 Newsletter

the stones moss-covered and ancient, and feeling an overwhelming sense that I was not alone. Generations prayed there before me. Their faith, their hopes, their songs still lingered in the air.

As November unfolds, I find myself returning to that memory. The Church calls this the month of All Saints and All Souls, a sacred time of remembering. The communion of saints feels especially near: those who have gone before us, those who walk beside us, and those yet to come. Together we form one body in Christ, held by a love that neither time nor death can diminish.

At RENEW International, our mission is to help people notice these “thin places” in daily life. Moments when God feels close, when hearts open, and when community reveals something eternal. Sometimes that happens on a pilgrimage across the sea; other times, it happens in a parish hall, around a kitchen table, or in the quiet stillness of prayer.

The saints remind us that holiness is rarely dramatic. It reveals itself in the quiet ways we love. Sometimes it’s the patience we show when life frays at the edges. Sometimes it’s the humility to begin again after failure. And often, it’s the steady confidence that grace is already at work within us.

As we honor all the saints and all the souls this month, may our hearts become more open to God’s presence and to the communion of love that surrounds us. In each prayer and every act of kindness, heaven and earth draw close enough to touch.

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Loss and Transition: Coping With Grief During the Holidays

Saint(s) of the Month

All Saints

This month the Church doesn’t point us toward one name or one story. Instead, we look out over a vast horizon of holiness: the known and the nameless, the canonized and the 

quietly faithful. All Saints’ Day reminds us that heaven is filled with ordinary people whose lives reflected love, fidelity, and hope. They were not perfect, but they kept turning toward God, often in quiet, unseen ways that changed the world around them.

Holiness was never meant to belong only to the extraordinary few. It is the invitation given to each of us at baptism. The saints we know by name — Francis, Teresa, Oscar Romero, Kateri Tekakwitha — remind us what that invitation can look like in flesh and blood. But the saints we’ll never know — the grandmother who prayed for her family, the nurse who stayed late with the sick, the teacher who treated every child with dignity — are no less radiant in the light of God.

To celebrate all saints is to recognize how grace unfolds in real life. Sometimes it looks like forgiveness that doesn’t come easily. At other times it’s the quiet choice to keep showing up and serving, even when no one notices. And often it’s the simple act of trusting God through uncertainty. One step, one prayer, one day at a time. This feast is a gentle push to begin again right where we are, with the life we have, among the people God has placed around us. The saints remind us that holiness is not about shining brighter than others. It’s about letting the light of Christ shine through us, just enough for someone else to see the way.

Ministry Spotlight

This month we shine a light on one of the most compassionate ministries in parish life: the ministry of accompanying those who mourn.

As the days grow shorter and the Church invites us to remember our beloved dead, the work of bereavement ministry becomes all the more sacred. Grief visits our parishes, our families, our neighbors and it doesn’t follow a calendar or a

predictable path. What matters most in that place is not speed, but presence. Not answers, but accompaniment.

A parish bereavement ministry offers exactly that: a place of safety where people can speak honestly about loss. It’s where someone can cry without embarrassment, share a memory that still stings, or sit in silence and be held in prayer. In that space, grief is acknowledged rather than avoided, and compassion becomes the language everyone understands. Bereavement ministers mirror God’s mercy in their listening hearts and gentle, steady presence. They remind us that mourning isn’t something to “get over,” but a passage through which love can deepen and faith can be tested and refined.

Through memorial Masses, support‐group gatherings, a card of condolence, or simply a hospitality ministry that holds the space, this ministry points to the one who walks with us even in the valley of tears. Jesus promised: “I am with you always.” And in this ministry we seek to live that promise on behalf of our communities.

It might encourage you that RENEW International offers resources to support this ministry: the small-group booklet Grieving the Death of a Loved One is a six-week faith‐sharing experience designed to walk with those who have recently lost a loved one. RENEW also provides training to help parish leadership establish or enhance a bereavement ministry.

If your parish already has a bereavement ministry, take a moment this month to thank those who serve in it. If there’s not one yet, consider what beginning such a ministry might mean for your community. At a time when presence means everything, there is no greater work of mercy than standing with those who mourn.

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