Summer is upon us and the conference season approaches. This is a great time to receive spiritual input, fellowship and relaxation and a wonderful way to evangelise so make an effort to include others in your plans so they can be exposed to the wonderful life changing work of the Holy Spirit that is so evident at these conferences. See coming events on the back page for details of those coming up. Of particular note is the New Dawn conference, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary. Amazing to think it all started with a word of knowledge and ?20 in a jam jar and the faith of one man, Myles Dempsey and his community. Mothers Prayers, the prayer movement started by Sandra and Veronica Williams, which has spread all over the world, also celebrates its 10th anniversary. Veronica explains the key to its spirituality, which is the joy of surrender and responding to the promptings of the Lord, rather than initiating things.

Another big anniversary celebrated this year is the beginning of the Pentecostal movement, which started at the Asuza Street Revival in 1906 in Los Angeles. Charles Whitehead, who was part of the committee which organised the Centennial celebration events, which took place at the end of April this year, tells us about the different things that happened over the week and reflects on the role of Charles J. Seymour, the pastor at the original Asuza Street church. We in the Charismatic Renewal owe a lot to the Pentecostals. It has been their influence that has helped us to grow in our understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit and to be more open to his work.

The 20th century saw the rise of many new lay movements and ecclesial comities, all inspired by the Holy Spirit to meet the challenges of our world today. In recognition of the work they have done and are doing for the Church, Pope Benedict XVI issued a special invitation to them to come to Rome this year to celebrate Pentecost with him in St Peter’s Square. Four hundred thousand people responded and you can find out what happened and what the Pope said in our special report.

The current Holy Father has always been a great supporter of the lay movements and communities and in the light of the Pentecost meeting we are starting a new series on some of these, which people in this country might not be so familiar with. In this first article, Daphne Kilner, writes about Marthe Robbin, a French mystic who founded the Foyers de Charite and had a key influence in the founding and development of many French charismatic communities.
We continue our series on the single life and Monika Metel interviews Fr Mike Gwinnell, a retired priest and Christian counsellor, for some of his practical wisdom on this. We also feature the fascinating experience of Scottish teacher Tommy Hughes, who has been successfully teaching the Theology of the Body to his sixth form pupils and how this has helped them understand in a new way the teaching of the Church on sexuality.

Healing has always been one of the important charisms of the Charismatic Renewal, but sometimes the emphasis can be too much on the person with the charism rather than the presence of Christ through it. Fr David Bird OSB, a missionary priest in Peru, shares his experiences of being suddenly called in to replace a priest with a renowned healing ministry at a huge stadium event, and what happened. James Hastings also tells the remarkable story of David Harp, an Australian who was healed of AIDS. David will be visiting the UK with Flame International in July so people here will have a chance to hear him live. While God does perform amazing healings, not everyone who is sick is healed. Jonathan Peske, shares movingly his reflections on living with cancer and what he has learnt through his illness.

Conflict destroys individuals, families, communities and nations. Michael McGoldrick from Northern Ireland, who died recently, explains how God gave him the power to forgive the terrorists who killed his son and how this transformed his life and his faith. Fr Chris Thomas explains how the source of much conflict lies in our own lack of self awareness and the importance of inner transformation if we are to live in peace with others.

Kristina Cooper