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International News
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It was by common consent the best international ICCRS conference for many years and everyone commented on the outstanding music, the talks and the general atmosphere of prayer. This was shown by the uptake of the tapes of the talks. Voce Piu who run the tape ministry said that this was more than double what they would normally do and that 23% of the participants ordered the complete set of talks (*see below for address where to get tapes from). Oreste Pesare, director of ICCRS, attributed this to the novena of prayer and intercession worldwide that had surrounded the conference time. The speakers included many of those who had been there at the beginning of the Renewal 40 years ago. There were talks from Dorothy and Kevin Ranaghan and Patti Mansfield, who had been there at the Duquesne weekend, one of the key events when CCR broke into the Catholic Church. There were also presentations by Bishop Joe Grech from Australia, Fr Tom Forrest CSSR, Matteo Calisi, Alan Panozza and Sr Nancy Kellar. Charles Whitehead also spoke and led an ecumenical session with reflections by Ulf Ekman, the well known Swedish charismatic leader who attended the whole conference including the Pentecost Meeting with the Pope , Nicky Gumbel whose inspiration Alpha has been, and Karina Cherniak, an orthodox Christian from Russia. There was also an inspiring testimony by the founder of the Shalom community in Brazil, who told how as an 18 year old he had been chosen to present a gift to John Paul II when the pope visited Brazil. He debated what to give, and eventually decided to offer his whole life for evangelisation. Today in Brazil it is estimated that 12 million people have been baptised in the Spirit with over 20,000 prayer groups and gatherings up to 350,000 people. Those who would like to get a copy of the talks that were given at the conference can do so from: Voce Piu, 20122 Milano, Corso Italia 46 tel 00 39 02 5830 1229
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