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News from Ireland
FROM SHOW BAND TO GOD'S BAND Fr Ciaran McDonnell, who will be one of the main speakers at this year's Irish national conference at Maynooth in June, shares his faith journey and how God called him from a career in show business to serve him as a priest and gave him a healing ministry.
I received the gift of healing I got involved with the Charismatic Renewal in the seminary, which as far as I am concerned is one of the greatest graces in the life of the Church because of the way it leads to prayer and depth in relationship with God. It was one of my seminary professors, Fr Denis Talbot, who first took me to a prayer group which was meeting in the Ursuline Convent in Thurles. I took to it immediately and it was here I was prayed with and received the gift of healing when I was baptised in the Holy Spirit. I remember my hands were burning and I asked the Lord
to show me if this was a gift he was giving me for the Church by sending This healing gift was confirmed later by Fr George de Prizo, one of the early pioneers of the Charismatic Renewal from the United States, who gave me several prophetic words, which over the years have all come to pass. Life in the Spirit Seminars After I was ordained I was sent to a parish in Sunderland in the North East of England. I wanted to bring renewal to the parish and prayed for about two months non-stop that God would show me whom to approach to start a prayer group. He pointed out two people, whom I asked and the three of us began. It was incredible, starting with just the three of us, within two months we had 200 people coming, and we didn't even advertise it. One of the keys to its growth was doing the Life in the Spirit seminars which were very new at the time. This really brought people into conversion and the new life in the Spirit. People came from all over, and many of them then went back to their own parishes and started prayer groups. I stayed there for 13 years and saw the Lord healing lots of people. Then I was appointed a hospital chaplain and later I was sent as parish priest to Bishop Auckland. I have always had a bit of missionary calling and I have been to Uganda a number of times to give priests retreats, and to Slovakia and Croatia, and in 2002 I lived in Medjujorje for a year. Call to Medjugorje The call to Medjujorje came in a strange way. I was parish priest in Bishop Auckland at the time and had a dream. In it I saw Padre Pio looking at me. He told me "Get out and lay those healing hands on the people." Later I was told that Fr Slavko had died and I was asked by the Franciscans to come to Medjugorje for a year to help with the English speaking pilgrims. I prayed about it and decided if my Bishop would let me go, and if the Bishop of Mostar, who was not supportive of the visionaries at Medjugorje accepted me, I would take it as God's will to go. The doors all opened up in an amazing way and I even ended up staying in Fr Slavko's old room. I loved it there, particularly the way of the cross and would go up the hill every morning. As a priest too, you hear very good confessions there, and it is certainly a place of great grace and prayer. I've been back in England and normal parish life about year now. It's very busy and I have had a few health problems, so I haven't got fully back to the charismatic renewal scene yet, but I intend to. For me the main work of the priest is to promote devotion and understanding of the Eucharist. I have always been drawn to the Eucharist and as far as I am concerned everything - all the graces - come from it. Dramatic healing of woman in wheelchair Over the years I've seen quite a few healings, some quite
dramatic, some quite ordinary. I suppose one of the most amazing was
back in 1979 at a Catholic Charismatic Renewal conference in Dublin.
There was a lady with our group called Vera Johnson who was paralysed
from the waist down and sitting in a wheelchair. I prayed a couple of
decades of the rosary with her and in the spirit. As I did this I sensed
the presence of Our Lady above us and the anointing of the Holy Spirit
on me and I gave her a prophetic word "As Peter stepped from the
boat I ask you to step from the wheelchair. It is for the glory of my
father that you should be healed and I have sent my mother to assist
you." With that she got up out the chair and walked. I couldn't
believe it myself. God is so much bigger than we can imagine, we just
need to have faith to believe it.
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I
was born in Strabane in Northern Ireland the third of thirteen children.
My parents who are both very devout are still alive in their 80s. I
knew I wanted to be a priest when I was II years old. I didn't immediately
do anything about it, however. We always enjoyed music in the family
and I played the organ and piano and when I was 19 years old I joined
a showband called the Drifters. We did well and one of our songs, "Make
me an Island" got to number two in the Top of the Pops chart in
1969. All the time I was on the road with the band, however, I used
to go to Mass. The more I prayed the more the desire to become a priest
got stronger and stronger. I wondered how the band would take it, but
Fr Jude, a priest that I got to know, just told me to tell them that
I had got a better offer, and I was going to God's band. One time we
were playing at the Fiesta club in Stockton in the north of England,
and I went to the 12 o'clock Mass in the town and got chatting to the
old parish priest there, Pr O'Callaghan. I told him I was thinking of
being a priest. He said there was a shortage of priests in the diocese
and asked me if would I come there. I was only 21 and said yes without
hesitation. Thus although I trained at St Patrick's seminary at Thurles,
I became a priest for the Hexham and Newcastle diocese in England.|
News from Scotland
Youth Evangelisation in Scotland
The WYD Cross traces it origins to the Holy Year of the Redemption in 1983. Then it was placed near the main altar of St Peter's in Rome as a symbol of our faith. At the end of the Holy Year, Pope John Paul II gave it to some young people in Rome, as representatives of the youth of the world. Since then the Cross has been to over 20 countries as
a focus for prayer and it has been present at all the World Youth Days. Whilst travelling through Scotland the Cross stayed for about 2 days in each of the 8 dioceses. Reports filtering back suggest it has been a good way to get people together and a powerful occasion of grace. The co-operation between dioceses and different groups and the newer communities and movements has also been a significant feature. For example, the major event in Dunkeld Diocese for older youth was called "Cross Roads - where roads, people and God meet." Held on an icy wet and very cold Friday evening about 200 young people attended. It was pitched to meet young people where they "are at" and in a non-threatening way present the heart of the Gospel message - God's love for each of them and the difference it can make to their lives. The "Community of Saints Margaret and Columba" (COSMAC for short), Living Water Ministry and the regular Cathedral team helped with inputs and organisation. Bishop Logan opened our celebration. As well as reflection on World Youth Days, it included music, drama, short talks, and young people sharing experience from their own faith journeys as well as time to pray and reflect. These events were accompanied by evangelistic type sessions led by young people in the secondary schools. An event with a similar style for top age Primary School pupils was attended by nearly 300 pupils from Dundee. All these events in Scotland have helped focus thought on to the issue of what we need to do to reach our young people effectively with the Gospel and form them in it and allow them to become evangelists in turn. The need to re-assess our approaches and strategies - and even to find new ones - is in my experience being talked about more and more. The call to the new evangelisation, "new in ardour, methods and expression", such a major part of Pope John Paul II's ministry has perhaps been slow to be taken up in Scotland for various reasons. However, it was re-iterated as the central theme running through the whole of the Pope's ad limina address to the Scottish bishops in 2003 and a whole section was devoted to its application to youth. There have been signs in the last 3 years or so (not least with new groups and ministries such as those mentioned above emerging) that things are beginning to change! Let us continue to hope and pray so!
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The
Pope has helped provide a stimulus to youth work through his initiation
of World Youth Days (WYD) and the gift of the World Youth Day Cross
and Icon of Our lady has added to this through their recent visit to
Scotland.|
News from England
CELEBRATE CONFERENCE SOLD OUT AGAIN Competition to get to the Celebrate conference, which takes place at the John Fowler Holiday pare during Easter week in Ilfracombe, Devon intensifies each year. If people don't return their application forms as soon as they receive them they stand no chance of getting in. Some super keen people even personally drive the application forms over to the Whitehead's house to make sure they get into the conference. This year was no exception and all site accommodation had gone within days of the publicity going out. The only way to be sure of a place is to win the Celebrate
Table Football Competition which last year was won by Feamley Martin. "I am There" - New Stations of the Cross for Lent First time writer, Norman Haskell has just written a
new set of stations of the cross which have been I published by St Anthony
Messenger Press in the United States. Now retired from IBM, Norman's
faith was brought alive in a new way when he became involved in Charismatic
Renewal many years ago. He comments, "The main thing it did for
me was to get me to start reading the bible and it made me a bit more
adventurous in my life." A parishoner at St Mary's in Gosport and
a regular at the Celebrate conference he comments, "I felt that
for many people the stations had lost a lot of their impact and I wanted
to help people to experience something of what Christ went through and
also to reflect on what his sufferings might mean for their own lives."
Over the years many of his stations of the cross have been used in his
parish, but inspired by Fr Richard Rohr, he decided to send them to
a publisher. To his delight they were accepted and are already selling
well in the United States and are available in this country through
Redemptorist Press. Copies are available price £1.50 plus 50p
p&p from Good News Books, 15 Barking Close, Luton Beds LU4 9HG.
Tel 01582 571011. Fr Eric Darwell SDB, a leader in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in the UK for many years, died on 19th January this year, aged 68, after a long illness. A popular speaker and retreat giver he had a particular heart for young people. He was also a beloved parish priest of St Anne's parish in Chertsey, where he had been for ten years. He had a special gift in ministering the sacrament of reconciliation and a great love of young people. He was also a keen promoter of the Alpha course, which he used to great effect in his parish bringing many unchurched people to the Catholic Church. He fell ill while on holiday in South Africa visiting his sister in November 2002. He was eventually diagnosed with a brain tumour and gradually got worse and worse. He died while the rosary was being said in his room. There were 80 priests at the funeral and so many people attended that it couldn't be celebrated in the parish church, but was held at Christ the Prince of Peace in Weybridge, Surrey. Uganda New Dawn Connection Myles Dempsey, the founder of the Prince of Peace community, was one of the main speakers at the 2nd New Dawn conference in Uganda, at the beginning of January. Over 16,000 people attended the conference which was held at Mbarara and organised by the Ahuiire community led by Fr Emmanuel Tuiisime. The inspiration for the conference came when Fr Emmanuel attended New Dawn in Walsingham some years ago. Participants at the Ugandan conference walked up to 30 km to attend, sleeping in the rain drenched fields. Myles is in talks with a priest in Ghana to hold a New Dawn in Ghana too. Meanwhile links with the Cancao Nova community from Brazil meant that last year's New Dawn at Walsingham was broadcast to up to 80 million people via the Brazilian satellite tv station. This year it is hoped that the founder of Cancao Nova, Fr Jonas Abib, who has an article in this issue of Goodnews, will also attend. STOP PRESS Mel Gibson's Film "The Passion" Out This March
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The
controversial film about the last 12 hours of Jesus' life directed and
produced by Hollywood star Mel Gibson, has found a UK distributor and
will open in 126 Odeon cinemas across the UK on 26th March. The film
which stars Jim Caviezel as Jesus has been shown to the Pope and many
leading Catholics in an effort to drum up support for the film, which
is in Aramaic and Latin with subtitles in English. Although some have
accused the film of being anti-Semitic, it has received a lot of support
from many Christian leaders in Britain and the United States. Steve
Chalk, the founder of Oasis Trust, called it "Disturbingly honest.
Emotionally exhausting, historically accurate, Mel Gibson's film is
a masterpiece. The Passion is a haunting and deeply thought provoking
portrait of the brutal betrayal, arrest, trial and execution of a man
of peace and compassion." The film is bound to be a talking point,
so lets go and see it and be open to use it as a way of sharing about
the Christian faith with friends and colleagues and those who don't
believe.|
International News
Lessons from The Suffering Church Kristina Cooper reflects on her impressions of the recent International Charismatic Consultation held in Malta at the end of January which looked at the plight of the Suffering Church world wide.
The vision of ICC is to be like an Old Testament tent - a temporary gathering and place of prayer where leaders from different church streams and denominations can come together for a time to share and pray together and then return to their own communities energised by the encounter. This certainly happened in Malta. We were an eclectic bunch - pastors and priests, theologians and politicians, human rights activists and housewives from a variety of backgrounds including Roman Catholic, mainline Protestant, Pentecostal and Charismatic as well as members of the Orthodox Church. There were also a couple of high level officials from the Vatican and big leaders from the Pentecostal stream, who normally wouldn't have the occasion to meet. Many of the latter took part in the special theological track that ran concurrently. Being overwhelmed by suffering we see I hadn't planned to go, but at the last minute, feeling a prompting of God, had found myself agreeing to attend. My reluctance stemmed from the fact that deep down, I suppose, I didn't want to be exposed to yet more suffering in the world and end up feeling guilty and burdened with responsibility about doing something about it, when I felt my life was full enough with the responsibilities and commitments I already had. We can often feel overwhelmed by the immensity of the suffering we see around us, whether it's on our city streets or on our TV screens. While it does spur some people to action for many of us, it leads to apathy and a feeling of helplessness, rather than heightened concern. By blocking suffering out in this way, not only do we fail to do the little that we maybe can do, but we also miss out on what those who are suffering, particularly if they are Christians, have to teach us. Far from being miserable and downhearted it was noteworthy that those at the conference who were the most joyful and passionate about their faith, were precisely those, who were most closely linked with the suffering Church. Rather than it being something that sapped and destroyed them, their relationships with the persecuted were something that energised and focussed them. This was exemplified in the challenging talks of Catholic politician David Alton. "The persecuted church needs our voices and we need to learn from them too," he challenged. Vitality of Faith often linked with persecution This sense of the vitality of Faith often being linked with persecution
was underlined by Fr Vasile Mihoc, an Orthodox priest from Romania.
He almost lamented the fact that direct persecution of the Church
had stopped, as the Church was now much weaker. In the old days, he
said, prisons had acted as unofficial bible colleges and universities
for the Christians who were sent there, forming them at a high level
in their faith, creating special people. "They were beaten all
the time, and interrogated, subject to hunger and cold, but in spite
of that they had Christ and shared his glory. They came out of prison
so fortified, so powerful. They were pillars of our nation."
Consumerism he said was a much more difficult enemy to fight. In his
workshop he talked about the three lessons they had learnt as a persecuted
Church during the communist era. These were - "Humility"
(as people had no power over their lives); "Do not be Afraid"
- because God is stronger than anything or anyone and "Radical
dependence of Jesus alone". The complexity of the Moslem world was highlighted by inputs from three other speakers. In some peaceful coexistence is possible. Fr Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Melkite priest, shared the story of the multifaith school, he built in the village where he lives which is 60% Moslem and has Jewish, Christian and Druize pupils. He reminded us that as Christians we do not have the monopoly on God. Persecution creates unlikely martyrs Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, a former Moslem, spoke about the importance of supporting Christians in Moslem countries who were often among the most persecuted and ignored of minorities. He commented, "We love our holidays, and we so often go to countries where our brothers are being legislated and discriminated against and we don't even notice." In Iran, on the other hand, although the state is very repressive to Christians, the people themselves are very open to the Gospel, said Rev Sam Yeghnazar, an Iranian exile in Britain. He urged those present to reach out to the 200,000 Iranian exiles in Britain and share the gospel with them, and then they in their turn would be able to take it back to Moslem world. He shared how persecution of Christians in Iran had created some unlikely martyrs. "I knew the weaknesses of these people but they died as martyrs." He told how one of his friends, Mehdi Dibaj, was imprisoned for nine years for his faith and sentenced to death for apostasy for abandoning the Moslem faith for Christianity. He commented, " I visited him in prison. His face was shining. Although he was in prison, he was free. He was even pleased because it meant he had time to pray." Due to international pressure, Mehdi was eventually freed, but six months later was found murdered on his way back from a family wedding. Far from cowering the family, as the regime had hoped, when his son was called to identify the body, he was so touched by his father's faith that he himself converted to Christ and went on to become a Christian evangelist himself. The personal witnesses of those with experience of the persecuted
church was supplemented by teaching and theological reflection on
the role of persecution generally in the Christian life by various
Pentecostal and catholic theologians. Johannes Fichtenbauer from Austria
commented, " There is no way to escape suffering as a believer.
If a Church is not suffering, something must be wrong. It is a sign
that we have compromised the gospel so much that our witness is not
provoking criticism. There must be sociological, moral and political
consequences of following Jesus as everything that is sinful will
react against it."
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Over
130 people from 30 countries gathered together on the island of Malta
from 20th - 23rd January 2004 for a conference to look at the Suffering
Church world wide. The meeting was organised by ICC (International
Charismatic Consultation) an international ecumenical network headed
up since 2000 by Charles Whitehead, the chairman of the English National
Service Committee. ICC which was formerly known as ICCOWE was founded
in 1984 by Fr Michael Harper, then an Anglican, but now an Orthodox
priest, together with the Lutheran leader, Larry Christianson and
Fr Tom Forrest CSSR to promote evangelisation, unity and renewal in
the Holy Spirit across the denominations.|
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