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News
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News from Ireland
Pentecost Gathering At Maynooth About 700 people came from all parts of Ireland, including a coachload from Belfast, and others from the North, to celebrate Pentecost together at this year’s national charismatic conference organised by the National Service Committee of Ireland at Maynooth 7th-9th June 2003. After a chaotic start, with people dragging their luggage around the site, trying to find their accommodation, people relaxed into the more residential mode of this year’s conference, which in the past was always held in the larger Royal Dublin Showground. The main hall was given a festive feel and hung with huge banners from past conferences. These encapsulated the message of the weekend and seemed to inspire speakers and participants alike. The opening hour of prayer set the scene and a prophetic word was given, “I have called you TOGETHER to praise me, to worship me, to lift me high for I am your God.” The music, which was a mixture of old favourites and newer ones, was led by Ascension, a group of young people from Sligo. The timetable of the days was relaxed and as well as the main talks there was a communal hour of adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament allowing people to pray and reflect on the input of the speakers and to respond to the prophetic words shared when God reminded the people to “Come to me and LISTEN. Come to me and let me be the God of your lives. I am the God who loves you.” This was the first conference under the leadership of the new NSC chairperson, Marie Beirne from Leitrim, she replaces Patricia Mitchell who stepped down last summer after her 4 year term. Apart from two testimonies (which we will feature in coming editions of Goodnews) from Miriam McGowan from Leitrim and John Pridmore, who heads up the Youth 2000 Mission Team in Ireland, all the talks were given by Fr Tom Forrest CSSR, still fiery and full of passion at 75 years old. His stirring delivery got a great response from the participants as he shared his Brooklyn wit and wisdom, exhorting people to “Get the Package! Get the fruits of the Spirit”. He highlighted the importance of the Eucharist and coming to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and the graces that were available through it. “Get close to God. Lose your worries!” adding, “When God phones for a chat, don’t hang up!” Many times over the weekend witness was given to the power of intercession, in particular the unrivalled power of a mother’s prayer for her children. This was underlined by Fr Tom’s teaching on Mary’s role at Pentecost. During the breaks and lunch hours, prayer ministry was available, led by Gerry Moore and a team of volunteers. There was also a lot of sharing and fellowship in the queues and at the tables at meal times and people left in high spirits, reminding each other of the events coming up – New Dawn in July, Waterford in September and Limerick in October. NB Sr Helen Byrne has written a vivid reflection of the day with some of the prophetic words given. This has been printed on a separate sheet for Irish readers. Readers elsewhere who would like a copy can write to Good News. Kerygma Teams Discipleship Training School This autumn, Dublin will host for the first time a Kerygma Team Discipleship Training School headed up by New Zealander Rob Clarke and his Irish wife, Anne. The Kerygma Teams are an initiative of the ecumenical missionary organisation, Youth With a Mission, which has extensive experience training and sending out young people on short term missions round the world. In the early 1990s several of the leaders of YWAM, who were either Roman Catholic or had a particular heart for the Roman Catholic Church met together to reflect on the Pope’s call for “fresh enthusiasm and new methods” in a “New Evangelisation”. They began to sense a calling to launch a new ministry specifically geared to equip young lay Catholics for the New Evangelisation. This was launched in Krakow, Poland in 1996. Schools have been held in Australia and the Netherlands and draw on Catholic speakers from all over the world. Regular celebration of the Eucharist and teaching on the Sacraments is also, unlike on other YWAM schools, an integral part of the training. The Dublin school this year will also have the added bonus of having training in multi-media to equip the young people for multi-media age.
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News from Scotland
The Dunkeld diocese launched its celebration of 25 years of charismatic renewal in the diocese with a large Life in the Spirit course over the Pentecost weekend at St Patrick’s church in Dundee. The local parish priest, Mgr Hugh McInally, although he is not involved in Charismatic Renewal, let the team use his church hall. The team used the format that they found on the Ann Arbor web site, which proved very effective. Seventy people attended. These including many people, who were new to Charismatic Renewal. Steve Lavery, one of the organisers, comments, “It was a fantastic event. We used all the charisms in our whole diocese – teaching, music, administration, welcome. Everyone really pulled together and there was a great atmosphere.” One of the immediate fruits was the music ministry in Steve’s own prayer group doubled by the next meeting. Towards the end of the summer the team plan to hold two hours of praise and worship in the City Square of Dundee in the heart of the town. Following this there will be a day of renewal in the autumn. The main speaker at this will be Fr Laurence Brassill OSA, who was the leader of the first charismatic group in the town, which met 25 years ago at St Columba’s vestry. Steve comments, “ Like most places across the country many changes have taken place. Faces have come and gone but at the moment there is a feeling of something stirring. So it’s with expectant hearts that we are praying and planning for the coming year.” Edinburgh Diocese The Gilles Pastoral Centre which has been the venue for most the days of renewal for the St Andrews and Edinburgh diocese in the past, looks like it will be still out of action for the near future, so the Edinburgh DST will be continuing their policy of taking the upcoming days of renewal out to the parishes. This proved very successful last year and they will be returning to the same parishes to build on what happened before. These included St Mary and St David’s parish in Hawick, St John Ogilivie’s in Edinburgh, St Margaret’s Dunfermline and Our Lady and St Ninian’s in Bannock. The team was assisted by the Living Water Ministry, an international team, who evangelise in schools and lead retreats for young people. Craig Lodge Youth Festival July 2003 The community at Craig Lodge are organising a youth festival over the first weekend of July (3rd-6th) at their place in Dalmally. With their very own mountain at the back, and lots of beautiful countryside, as well as a team of exciting speakers, including John Pridmore and the Youth 2000 Mission Team from Ireland, and the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal from the Bronx, the community are hoping for a large response from young people (16-30year olds) from all over Scotland and further afield. They are relying on their friends to spread information about the festival as much as possible, as a serious car accident, severely injured two of their community members, Lisa and Nadine, who usually help with the organisation and promotion. The two girls are both improving and it is hoped that Lisa will be well enough to be at the festival. For further details contact Craig Lodge, Dalmally, Argyll, Scotland PA33 1AR. Tel 01838 200216 NB REMEMBER LEADERS DAY FOR CORE GROUP LEADERS 25TH OCTOBER
AT MOTHERWELL.
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News from England & Wales
Cardinal Cormac at Celebrate
In his talk he said, “This is a good time to be a Christian and a Catholic. God is calling us at this time. We have to be brave.” Celebrate, which is organised by Charles and Sue Whitehead and a team, and is now in its 7th year is so popular with Catholic families, that it is fully booked within days of it being advertised. This year 1450 people, of whom 43% were under 22, squeezed into the John Fowler Holiday Parc for the week. The range of activities for children and adults is quite overwhelming as the charismatic dimension is mixed in with every aspect of Christian life. Thus workshops on how to use the charisms or help renew your parish jostle alongside those on business ethics and painting icons. Likewise there is a full programme for young people from three to twenty-two led by the various youth mission teams and communities that have emerged from the Charistmatic Renewal. Apart from the main teaching sessions, another of the attractions is also simply the great atmosphere that is generated when Christians who are enthusiastic about their faith gather together and share one to one with each other about what they are doing in their parishes and lives back home. The theme of the conference was “Equipping the Church”. This was looked at from many different angles with talks by a whole list of speakers including Marcellino D’Ambrosio and Fr Tom Forrest CSSR from the United States. Interestingly it was Damian Stayne’s talk, however, calling on people to use the charismatic gifts as a normal part of their Christian life, which seemed to resonate the most and met with a standing ovation from everyone in the hall. This desire to bring the charisms back to parish life was highlighted by the fact that over eighty people later participated in the four sessions - Cor Lumen Christi charism school, which was run as part of the seminar programme at the conference. Organiser, Charles Whitehead commented, “Several people commented to me that they really felt equipped when they left this year and had acquired new understanding, knowledge and practical skills in all kinds of areas, and they now felt more able to contribute.” The Indian Connection This summer has seen a number of successful visits to England and Ireland by missionary priests from India, known for their healing ministries. Fr Joseph Bill, who has visited Ireland before, made his first visit to England 16th-21st June and visited parishes in Bradford, Birmingham, Huddersfield, Stafford, Stoke on Trent and the Poor Clare’s at Ellesmere. He is to return later in the summer to run a week’s retreat at the Poor Clare’s from July 20th-27th. Meanwhile crowds of 400 people a night packed the various venues in the London area for another priest, Fr Clement Machado, for his ten day visit at the beginning of June. Word got around and an estimated 800–1000 people attended his one day retreat on the final Saturday at Willesden Green. “People are hungry for a simple message, and solid Catholic teaching that opens them up to the traditional aspects of their faith as well as the charismatic element,” said, Fr Clement, who spent hours hearing confessions as well as preaching and ministering. The biggest draw of the summer, however will probably be the visit of Fr Matthew Naickomparambil VC, who founded the Potta Healing Retreat Centre in India which attracts 6000 people every week to do their seven day healing and evangelisation retreats. A nation wide tour, under the patronage of Bishop Ambrose Griffiths from Hexham and Newcastle, is being organised for him from 3rd- 20th August visiting Bristol, London, Newcastle upon Tyne, Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham. (see coming events). Two thousand people are expected to attend the open air retreat day organised on 9th August at Aylesford Friary in Kent. Gateshead Family Day Instead of the usual day of renewal, which tends to attract the older age group, the Hexham and Newcastle diocese decided to run a Family Day of Renewal at their usual venue at St Joseph’s in Gateshead last March. The day was organised by The Springs group. Instead of a main talk there was a wide variety of workshops ranging from such things as “praying through painting” and banner making for the children. The day culminated with Mass where the children performed a really moving drama. The day was a real success, drawing in many people who don’t usually go to Renewal Days and the team hopes to do a similar day in the future. News from Wales There have been some changes on the National Service Committee of Wales. Ruth Massey has stepped down and Pat Williams, the booking secretary for the national conference is the new chairperson. This year’s national conference at Carmarthen, in South Wales will be 18th-22nd August and the theme is “That they may be one” (John 17.22). The speakers are Fr Sean Conaty and Michelle Moran. Further information and booking forms can be obtained from Mrs Pat Williams, 42 Mur Gwyn, Rhiwbina, Cardiff, CF14 6NR. Tel 02920 617374. The Welsh NSC organised a small retreat at Courtfield Ross on Wye in Herfordshire from 4th-6th April, which was led by Philomena Fletcher. Numbers were small but the message was that God was doing a new thing in Wales and people were to look to the future and not the
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Cardinal
Cormac Murphy O’Connor, the primate of England and Wales, came
for the first time to the Celebrate Family conference, which is held
every Easter at Ilfracombe in Devon. He had heard about Celebrate from
various members of his staff who had been in the past with their families
and was keen to see it at first hand. He was obviously impressed by
the huge range of activities on offer, as he visited all the different
children’s and young people’s streams to say hello, before
addressing the main conference. |
International News
NSCs Of England Ireland Scotland And Wales Gather In Unity Kristina Cooper reports on the recent meeting “Widen Your Tents” was very much the heart of the message at the historic gathering of National Service Committees for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales which met together at the end of May this year. The gathering was the idea of Tom Mullen, the chairman of the Scottish NSC, who felt it would be beneficial for the NSCs of the four countries to come together and share, so together they might discern what the Lord was saying. The first sign of the tangible anointing at the meeting was the overwhelmingly positive response from the various NSCs to the idea. This resulted in an unprecedented 40 members from the 4 NSCs coming together over the May Bank Holiday weekend at the headquarters of the Sion Community in Brentwood Essex. Michelle Moran from the Sion community, who is the ICCRS representative for Northern Europe gave a general overview of the European situation and called particularly on leaders to help promote and mentor young leaders. Preserve Ecumenical Dimension The meeting was a time of feedback and sharing about the situation in the different countries. Although some groups still were very vibrant and active, the situation generally in all countries was of smaller and fewer prayer groups and a general diminuition of the use of the charisms. At the same time there was also a sense that things might be about to change. Marie Beirne, the new chairperson of the Irish NSC commented “There is a feeling bubbling under the surface that something is going to break forth, which might be different from what we have experienced before, but we should be prepared to be surprised.” She also felt that there needed to be a stronger emphasis on unity and that every effort should be made to preserve the ecumenical dimension of the Charismatic Renewal which had been there since the beginning, but which had been lost in recent years, in the desire to see local parishes renewed. Listen In Eucharist Adoration Tom Mullen, the Scottish NSC chairman, said he felt the Lord was calling on the Renewal very much to listen in Eucharistic Adoration. If this was done he was sure that the Holy Spirit would show the way forward. One of his concerns was that not many priests were generally involved in the Charismatic Renewal and many of the clergy saw charismatic renewal as elitist and a challenge of CCR was to change this perception. Pat Williams the new Welsh NSC chairperson, shared that there had been difficulties in Wales in the past in the leadership and one of the priorities of the NSC was to try and heal some of these hurts. The Cardiff DST “Cariad” was also in the process of forming a community called the Lamb of God, which was meeting regularly for prayer praise and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament with Fr Matthew Jones, one of the priests involved in Charismatic Renewal in the diocese. Serving The Church Charles Whitehead shared how in 1996 the English NSC, who were at the time looking at the way forward, had decided that they should divide their outreach into two. One would be to support the charismatic renewal movement as expressed through prayer groups, days of renewal, life in the Spirit seminars etc and the other would be to promote the more general work of the renewal of the church through communities, events and teaching material, which while being inspired by the Charismatic Renewal, would not necessarily be labelled as such. This had led to the setting up Catholic Evangelisation Services (CES), which was initially set up to promote the Alpha course in a Catholic context. Over the years, however, the office has developed a whole series of extremely successful catechetical teaching videos drawing on some of the best communicators in the Charismatic Renewal world wide, including Fr Raniero Cantalamessa OFM Cap, the preacher to the pope. These have been used not only in the UK but all over the world, particularly in Australia and South Africa, where they produce the videos under licence. CaFE: Renewing Parishes Following advice from Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, the CES team have worked together over the last couple of years to create CaFE, a process designed for parishes to help general renewal and outreach. Interestingly even those who may have been negative towards charismatic renewal prayer groups have been open to this much needed material and the Catholic Evangelisation Services team were now in dialogue with many diocesan adult education departments who were taking on board the material. This idea of “being” charismatic rather than “talking” charismatic and promoting the charismatic work of the Holy Spirit without necessarily seeking to get people to join the charismatic renewal movement, seemed to resonate with those present. Many of the participants left the meeting challenged as to how they might put this into practice in a creative way back home in their own situations. Although it had been planned a long time ago, the Brentwood meeting was very much a confirmation of the message of the European meeting of National Service Committees organised by ICCRS in Budapest, in March earlier this year. At this meeting there had been a call to build bridges between the countries in Europe, particularly between those countries that were geographically close to each other and had historic differences. Put Aside Differences The sense of unity and desire to work together to put aside these historic prejudices was very much a fruit of the Brentwood meeting. This became apparent in the very moving prayer time when the NSCs prayed over each other and great love and reconciliation was expressed. Throughout the meeting it was interesting to notice the way the more pragmatic gifts of the English team, in administration and organisation, were very much complemented by the prophetic and spiritual gifts by the Celtic NSCs. This came out in the prayer sessions, and gave a taste of what could be achieved together. This would be a fulfilment of the desire of Cardinal Newman, who in the 19th century believed that, what he called the Northern isles of Europe would have a great destiny, if they could set aside their historic divisions and come together. An interim meeting of the NSC chairpersons is being arranged in the near future to follow up on this and in the short term, a member from each of the NSC’s will be invited to join the Goodnews editorial team, to help with the ongoing development of Goodnews, as a magazine serving the Church.
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