Precious Blood Renewal Center update March 2026

About 50 people attended the Feb. 15 Healing Mass and Anointing of the Sick, which Precious Blood Renewal Center holds annually to commemorate the World Day of Prayer for the Sick. Fr. Ron Will presided at the Mass, and Fathers Lac Pham and Timothy Armbruster joined Fr. Ron in laying on of hands and anointing all present with Chrism oil.  

The Lenten season brings a full slate of activities to the Renewal Center. On Mondays in Lent, Fr. Ron Will is leading a six-part study and discussion of Pope Leo’s apostolic letter “Dilexi Te,” Latin for “I Have Loved You.” The letter, Pope Leo’s first teaching document, is a reflection on the love of Christ and what that means for poor and marginalized people among us. Pope Leo calls for converting hearts and dedicated energies to building a society where the gifts of God’s creation are shared among all for the thriving of all. 

On Feb. 28, the Renewal Center hosted a daylong Lenten retreat, “Come to the Well.” Based on the gospel story of the woman at the well, the day included prayer, reflection, and thoughtful conversation about the values that guide our spiritual journey. It was led by Fr. Ron, Fr. Timothy, and Vicky Otto, director of the Precious Blood Spirituality Institute.  

March activities include the annual Iftar (fast breaking dinner) that the Renewal Center has hosted with the Dialogue Institute of Kansas City for our Muslim brothers and sisters during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. This is the ninth year the Renewal Center has cosponsored this interfaith event.  

Some have asked us why we have interfaith events at the Renewal Center. Our first reply is to quote Pope Francis: “Ecumenical and interreligious dialogue is not a luxury. It is not something extra or optional, but essential, something which our world, wounded by conflict and division, increasingly needs.” Exchanges with people of other faiths is very much in line with the ministries of renewal and reconciliation called for by Precious Blood spirituality. 

To be clear, the programs hosted by the Renewal Center are not formal dialogue sessions among faith leaders, and they are not academic sessions among theologians of different faith traditions. The programs here are what Cardinal Francis Arinze, the Vatican’s Prefect of the Secretariat for Non-Christians from 1984 to 2002, called “the dialogue of religious experience.” Talking, walking, eating, and laughing together with believers of other faiths, we share stories, jokes and recipes, and through that we also share our prayers and love of God.  

The Vatican document Nostra Aetate, “Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions,” reminds us that the Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in other religions. “Other religions reflect a ray of that Truth that enlightens all humanity,” it says. The guidelines for implementing that document states that the Church must always promote better mutual understanding “to overcome the reciprocal ignorance” and the frequent confrontations among people of different beliefs. 

Note that idea of overcoming “reciprocal ignorance.” We learn from them and they learn from us. 

Catholicism has deep and varied traditions. We want to study practices used in other faith traditions because we believe we can learn from other traditions. Learning more about and from another faith tradition isn’t abandoning one’s own. In fact, learning from another tradition can deepen one’s own faith and practices. That is what we strive for at the Renewal Center.