London: International Conference on Parish Renewal

Across the Catholic Church, many parishes sense that the status quo is no longer enough - yet remain uncertain what renewal might look like in practice. This May, an International Conference on Parish Renewal in London will invite priests and parish leaders into a deeper conversation: not about copying successful models, but about rediscovering missionary principles and learning how they can take flesh in real parish life.

The conference will take place on Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 May 2026 at St Elizabeth's Church, Richmond, immediately following the Alpha Leadership Conference. The timing allows participants already in London for Alpha to remain for two further days of Catholic-focused reflection on evangelisation, leadership, and discipleship.

The keynote speaker on Wednesday morning will be Fr James Mallon, author of Divine Renovation and one of the most influential voices in the global movement toward missionary parish renewal. Fr Mallon has long insisted that renewal is not achieved by importing programmes or replicating another parish's structures, but by embracing principles and discerning how the Holy Spirit wishes them to be lived locally.

Speaking ahead of the event, Fr Stephen Langridge, Parish Priest of St Elizabeth's, said: "There is a real hunger in the Church for renewal, but also a fear of 'franchise Catholicism' - the sense that renewal means copying what worked somewhere else. This conference is an attempt to show that when principles are lived faithfully and prayerfully, they can take very different shapes, while remaining deeply Catholic and genuinely missionary".

Rather than offering a blueprint, this conference sets out to make those principles tangible by situating them within the lived experience of a parish that has undergone sustained renewal over more than a decade.

Evangelisation as the Organising Principle

The first day of the conference will explore what happens when evangelisation moves from the margins to the centre of parish life. Participants will be invited to reflect on leadership culture, the Sunday experience, pathways of discipleship, and the deeper pastoral shifts that occur when a parish understands itself not simply as a place of sacramental provision, but as a community sent on mission.

Renewing Youth Ministry from the Inside Out

The second day turns to youth ministry - not as a specialist add-on, but as a natural fruit of parish renewal. Drawing on the same missionary principles, the day will explore how young people are evangelised most effectively when they encounter a parish culture marked by welcome, expectation, accompaniment, and spiritual depth.

The conference is open to priests, bishops, parish staff, lay leaders, and all those entrusted with the Church's mission today.

Further details and registration information are available at: www.catholicrichmond.org/renewal