It is amazing how the Holy Spirit seems to create a theme for the Goodnews without my realising it. Over these last few months I seem to have had lots of conversations with people who have been involved in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal since the beginning and hearing their stories of those early days.

The thing that has struck me the most from their accounts, is that the people concerned, really didn’t know what was happening and they learnt as they went along. This created a great dependence on God even if at times people made mistakes. As we celebrate this 40th anniversary year of the CCR, perhaps one of the dangers we face is that as we have become more experienced and better at organising things, we can start to rely on our own expertise instead of having that simple dependence on the Lord of those early times. Fr Chris Thomas, from the Emmaus Family of Prayer, reflects on this in his article, “Rediscover Your First Love.”

Kevin and Dorothy Ranaghan, leaders of the People of Praise community in the United States, were involved in the CCR right from the early days. They gave an excellent presentation at the 40th anniversary celebration day at Westminster Cathedral on 5th May and told the story of those times and suggested priorities for the future. So many people asked for a copy of this talk that we have decided to print it in two parts in Goodnews starting with this issue. There is also a report of the day in the news section of the magazine.

Jamus Smith, who with his wife Helen, started the first prayer group in Scotland, reflects on the role of prophecy in the development of their own group, and what he feels the Holy Spirit is saying to the CCR today. Mary Matthews, who with her husband, David, comes from a House Church background, also shares her memories of the early days when they were part of a pioneering ecumenical community in Belfast that brought together Catholics and Protestants across the sectarian divide. This stress on the importance of unity is echoed in Charles Whitehead’s article where he reflects on the importance of christian unity if we are to be a credible witness in our secular society today.

We are also starting a new series looking at Baptism in the Spirit asking various well known leaders and thinkers for their views, beginning this issue with Fr Pat Collins. Here he looks at the various ways Baptism in the Spirit has been interpreted together with his own insights. Frances Weaver, who has been involved in CCR in the Southampton area since the early 1970s, tells us how after many years, she was able earlier this year to organise a healing weekend in her parish, which has had remarkable fruit and led to the setting up of a parish healing team.

Stephen Cade, who has been helping out at Goodnews with marketing for a couple of months, shares his testimony and how it was attending a Harvesters’ Mens’ weekend that first brought his Catholic faith alive. He explains how events such as Celebrate and the Charism schools run by the Cor et Lumen Christi community have encouraged him to step out and use the charisms in his every day life. We also have the very inspiring story of Mary’s Meals, a ministry of Scottish International Relief (SIR) based at Craig Lodge in Scotland. This shows how, when people are open and obedient to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Mary, what can happen!

Dominique Ferry from France, who is one of the newest members of the English NSC, and has been involved in the CCR for many years, shares the insight the Lord gave him about the temptation we can have to strive for perfection, instead of allowing ourselves to be saved by the Lord. Rob Clarke, who with his wife, Anne, leads Kergyma Teams in Ireland, reflects on the change of mentality among young people today and the different approach that is needed in evangelising and discipling them.

We also have started a new CaFE page where you can catch up on all the latest on this very effective Evangelisation ministry. There are also, as usual, the regular news pages and Sue Whitehead’s very popular column, The Other Half.

The English CCR can also be very proud that, despite being very small in numbers in world terms, has another English president of ICCRS, the world wide council for the CCR. Charles Whitehead, as many know, served as president for ICCRS for ten years in the 1990s, and now Michelle Moran, one of the founders of Sion Community, and the current chairperson of the English NSC, was elected president of ICCRS at their elections a couple of months ago. We offer her our congratulations and prayers.

Kristina Cooper