Precious Blood Renewal Center update Nov. 2025
November and December are busy, busy months at Precious Blood Renewal Center.
On Nov. 4, the Renewal Center and the Dialogue Institute of Kansas City team up to present the program “Mary: A Bridge for Christians and Muslims.” Islam, like Christianity, has a long tradition of reverence for Mary, the mother of Jesus. Did you know that the Quran has a sura (a chapter) dedicated to Mary? This evening explores the question: What can we learn from each other’s devotion?
This program and the next one fulfill part of the mission of the Renewal Center to foster ecumenical cooperation and interfaith dialogue.
On Nov. 5, Lama Matthew Palden Goch, the spiritual director of the Rime Buddhist Center in Kansas City, Missouri, will lead a workshop on Buddhist meditation, part of our yearlong “Teach Us to Pray” series. On the first Thursday of the month, we are learning about variety of prayer styles, mostly from the Catholic tradition but also from other faiths, from a practitioner of that style. We’ve already looked at Christian meditation, known as Centering prayer, and lectio divina, a way to pray with scripture.
On Dec. 4, Carlos Garcia Alayon, a New Testament professor at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas, continues the “Teach Us to Pray” series with “Reading Scripture with Our Lady of Guadalupe.” All these programs are available through Zoom and some of them are recorded. You can find the videos on our website at www.pbrenewalcenter.org/blog/category/videos/.
We are very excited to welcome back to the Renewal Center Lisa Wagner-Carollo of Still Point Theatre Collective. Lisa is well known for the one-woman play “Haunted by God: The Life of Dorothy Day.” On Nov. 23, she will debut the play “To Pray Marvelously Well,” a play about the spiritual friendship of St. Edith Stein and St. Teresa of Avila. The new play was written by acclaimed Chicago playwright Jenny Magnus and is directed by Virginia Smith, who also directed “Haunted by God.” This program can’t be Zoomed, but we hope for a packed house.
Two short notes about personnel. In September, the Provincial Council appointed Dennis Coday interim executive director of the Renewal Center. The main duty of the interim director is to form a search committee to plan and conduct a nationwide search for a permanent executive director. Before the search begins, Dennis is updating and reorganizing administrative structures to reflect changes at the Liberty campus since the two provinces became one. Watch this space for updates.
Joining the Liberty staff is Fr. Tim Coday. Returning to the U.S after four decades in the Tanzanian missions, Fr. Tim has been appointed the director of operations here. He is responsible for the care and maintenance of the buildings and grounds of the Liberty campus, duties for which he has long experience. He is living at the Mission House. Yes, Tim and Dennis are brothers, and a third Coday brother, Gerard, works part-time on the lawn here.