Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Moving into 2026, the big news is that we now have an International Episcopal Advisory Council. You can view who’s on the council and their photos here.

We’ve always been able to count on the support of the two neighboring dioceses, the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Diocese of Lansing, but with a new archbishop in Detroit and our own Bishop Boyea retiring from Lansing sometime after his 75th birthday in April, we thought the time was right to ask some of our other bishop friends to express their support for what we are doing and be available to advise us. We were astounded by their strong response. Virtually everyone we asked agreed right away and expressed their appreciation for what we do and were happy to offer their support. It’s really an amazing line-up of many well-known and highly-respected bishops. Since we are an international ministry we were grateful for the bishops from outside of North America who agreed to express their support—very significant bishops like Archbishop Anthony Fisher from Sydney, Australia, who is a Dominican and noted scholar, as well as a representative on a number of Vatican committees. Archbishop Fisher just recently asked me to deliver a lecture on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s important apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Nuntiandi, for the Archdiocese of Sydney, which I did via Zoom. Another bishop on our council is Archbishop Ginteras Grušas from Vilnius, Lithuania, who just recently completed his term as head of the European bishops conference. Since Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City agreed to join the advisory council he was elected president of the US bishops’ conference. The same thing happened with Archbishop Sample of Portland, Oregon, who was elected chair of the US bishops’ Religious Freedom Committee.

Additionally, we are extremely grateful to the recently retired Archbishop of Toronto, Canada, Cardinal Thomas Collins, who has also served for many years as episcopal advisor to our Canadian branch of Renewal Ministries, for agreeing to chair the board. We are very blessed and very humbled by their support.

Besides that, more of the (wonderful) same. Missions all over the world. There have been many opportunities to continue to preach the gospel throughout North America, as well as internationally. Pete Burak, who has just published his first book (see the reply card), continues his role as one of the go-to “anchors” for EWTN’s coverage of special events. In this case, he co-hosted coverage for the National Catholic Youth Conference, which 16,000 young people attended and which included a live Zoom session with Pope Leo.

I had the privilege of giving the annual men’s retreat at my own parish, Christ the King in Ann Arbor. I gave five talks on growing in holiness and loved the time with my own people. There were a lot of incredibly positive responses.

Shortly after that, I was in Simi Valley, California, giving three talks at a parish there that is known for hosting well-known but often controversial speakers, such as Charlie Kirk. Because of the hostility expressed towards these speakers, even though I wasn’t speaking on anything political, they provided me with two big bodyguards in case anyone tried to attack me. No one did.

Rachel Herbeck did her first long overseas mission with Lloyd and Nancy Greenhaw to Rwanda, which she writes about on page six, and Peter Herbeck and Rachel went out to Omaha to support Catholic radio there.

Occasionally, I am contacted by universities in various countries who have a student who wants to write their thesis or dissertation on evangelization. Since I am fairly well known for having published a lot on this topic, they sometimes ask me to serve on the examining committee for a particular student’s work. Recently, the only Catholic University in South Africa asked me to do so and in return they sent me their St. Monica Award.

In November, I was able to attend the CHARIS Ministries Gathering in Pennsylvania at The Ark and the Dove. I will share more about this in next month’s newsletter.

And what a wonderful expression of appreciation we received from our good friends and co-workers in Uganda! It’s addressed to you also!

“Today, in a special way allow me on my own behalf and on behalf of Emmaus Centre Katikamu and the so many bishops, priests, deacons, religious sisters and brothers, plus multitudes of lay people in Uganda and indeed in Africa, to sincerely thank all of you at Renewal Ministries USA and Canada for the tremendous financial and human resources given us over the years for the salvation of souls and for equipping saints with tools for mission. We can never thank all of you enough and the many supporters of Renewal Ministries wherever they are, whose generosity keeps both your mission and ours on the move, transforming lives for Christ! We thank God that during the last three years alone, sixteen bishops, 1,650 priests and 540 seminarians from nine African countries, including several thousands of lay people were deeply touched by the love of God during our joint outreaches including last year. All this was made possible because of your generous kindness! Indeed, gold and silver, we don’t have but we pray that….May the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob bless and reward all of you and your supporters abundantly as you continue to spread the Gospel of truth.”

We are blessed, and you are blessed, for being allowed to participate with the Lord in such fruitful work. Your support makes many, many things like this possible. Thank you.

Ralph Martin