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News News from the British Isles and around the world
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CONFERENCE REPORT Summer time is when most of the charismatic
conferences and retreats take place. Here is a round up.
SPIRIT OF TRUTH FAMILY CAMP (end of July) This takes places every year at the end of July on a small holding in the Staffordshire countryside. This is a small camp of under 100 people, which began as a parish event that grew. Everyone stays in tents and caravans but a permanent shower and toilet block have been built and cooking is done communally which enhances the family feel. As well as talks and activities there is plenty of time for just sitting around chatting and sharing faith. One of the highlights is the water sports afternoon, in which everyone, including chaplain Fr David Keniry gets soaked. This year Archbishop Vincent Nichols came as celebrant for the Sunday Mass. “He gave a brilliant homily”, says Nicola “that had a great impact on the children as well as the adults.” She adds “This year we also did family workshops, which was a new idea. It went down very well. Each family worked as a family and produced a family prayer to take home during one workshop and a huge family rosary to take home at another.” For further details contact Hilton House, Cranebrook Lane, Hilton, nr Litchfield, Staffs WS14 OHA
This is another small family style camp which also takes place at the end of July for a week in the north east of England, based at St Mary’s Wycliffe in Co Durham near Barnard Castle. The parish where the camp is based, is one of the few in the Catholic Church which is run collaboratively by a lay couple and the parish priest from Richmond, who celebrates Mass twice a week for the campers. The young people at the camp traditionally prepare the lunch time sandwiches while a small group of volunteers cook the evening meal for everyone. The atmosphere is always very relaxed. Highlights being “soaking prayer” in the church, when people come with their pillows, and lie down while soothing worship music is played. In the afternoons likewise people chill out at the Springs Caf?, where tea and coffee and home made goodies are served. There are plenty of activities for the children, including crafts and water play, as well as more spiritual input. There are also the usual combination of talks, and worship and reconciliation and healing services. Music is provided by Inner Sanctum, a music group of teenagers, who led the music at the Walkin’ Hope Conference earlier in the year. Another tradition is the very popular concert night when the campers create their own entertainment. As well as running the annual camp, the Springs Community also organise a variety of activities through the year and have regular meetings at Wycliffe, as well as Stockton, Gateshead, Durham, Hartlepool and Newcastle. Paul McCraith, one of the organisers comments, “Everyone is welcome. We are a Catholic community in the main but we welcome all denominations ecumenically.” Further info from paul.mccraith@ntlworld.com
The largest Catholic Charismatic event in England is the New Dawn conference. This takes place in the first week of August at Walsingham, the national English shrine to our Lady, and attracts between 2000-3000 people. First organised in 1987 by the Prince of Peace community, this year was its 20th anniversary. The weather is usually wonderful, but this year the rain lashed down for much of the week. Miraculously the rain held off long enough for the annual open air mass to take place in the priory grounds. The bad weather, however, didn’t seem to destroy people’s good spirits and the smiles continued all week. The most striking thing this year was the sense of New Dawn developing both as a multi-cultural event and an international conference. The gospel was read out not just in English at each Mass but Portuguese, Slovak, and Polish and there was translation into these languages for those who needed it for the rest of the conference. There were participants from all over Europe and a big group of Africans, particularly from Uganda, who had come to support the two Ugandan priests, Fr John Bashibora and Fr Anthony Musaala, who were among the speakers. There have already been three New Dawns in Uganda attracting thousands of people. There was also a group of Angolans currently living in London and one of the leaders of a large charismatic French speaking African group in London, who promised to bring more members of his group next year. Their presence brought a special dimension to the conference. Other speakers included Charles Whitehead, Michelle Moran, Fr Jimmy Collins, Fr Chris O’Donnell O’Carm from Ireland, Marcellino D’Ambrosio from USA, Fr Stan Fortuna CFR also from the USA and Marino Restrepo from Colombia. Every year there is also always a special youth section for young people. Several young people from St Teresa’s parish in Ashford in Kent had such a good time that they gave their testimonies back at their parish Mass the following Sunday. Some even wrote to Goodnews with their impressions. One of them, Rebecca commented, “When we arrived it came across to me like “O dear this looks boring” but then I saw and learnt throughout the week that this small place (Walsingham) would totally change how I felt about my faith.” Another girl Ciara said, “The healing service made a deep impression on all of us and afterwards we approached Bro Emmanuel, who encouraged us to start a prayer group or praise and worship band to strengthen our faith and to reach out to others.” This they did when they returned back to St Teresa’s and now they lead the music not just at Mass on Sundays but at other events too including the South East New Dawn day held at Aylesford Priory in September.
Due to ongoing renovations at Newman College, its regular venue, the Birmingham Conference, which usually takes place the week after New Dawn, had to move location this year to the Parragon Hotel in the centre of Birmingham. It also changed its time slot from Monday to Friday, to Thursday to Monday. The upsides of the change were lifts and en-suite bathrooms, which were much appreciated by the participants. Attracting about 400 or so people, the Birmingham conference is particularly good for those who come on their own or are looking for a bit of physical comfort. The music ministry is particularly appreciated and this year included a couple of young teenagers in the line up. Another highlight is the do-it-yourself concert night. The standard of this is always very high as many of the music ministry have a background on the folk scene. The main speaker this year was Patti Gallagher Mansfield from New Orleans, who had been at the original Duquesne weekend, seen as one of the key events in bringing charismatic renewal into the Catholic Church. Patti’s key message was that of holiness and finding God in every day life. This seemed to be one of the themes emerging from other events in the summer. Other speakers were Charles Whitehead, David Matthews, Ros Powell and Kaye Rollings from Australia.
About 25 people, mainly associated with the Ampleforth Day of Renewal, met for their annual retreat at the Briary retreat centre in Ilkley over the Bank Holiday weekend. Many of the participants have been in the CCR since it began in the 70s and are involved in ministry in their local parishes. The speaker was Kristina Cooper, who spoke about the Call to Holiness, a theme picked up at other events during the summer.
The recently formed Westminster Diocesan Service Team for CCR headed up by Frances Castledine and Vincent Turner organised their first retreat weekend at All Saints Pastoral Centre 23rd-24th September. Over 80 people attended, more than expected attended. The speaker was Fr Chris Thomas who spoke on the theme “Freedom in Christ”. The organisers were delighted with the response and plan to do another one next year as a way of building up relationships and fellowship in the diocese.
WELSH NATIONAL CONFERENCE There was a sense at this year’s national Welsh conference at Carmarthen (8th-11th August), that it was the end of one era and the beginning of another one. The organising committee have taken the decision that from now onwards the conference will move round Wales and take place in different venues. Next year it will be held in North Wales. Spiro Sueref, one of the organisers commented, “We’ve been at the same venue for 26 years so there is a sense that we are moving out of this safe harbour into the open sea. About 60 people attended this year’s conference.
The main speakers were Charles Whitehead and Canon Matthew Jones. Sue
Whitehead, who is Welsh, accompanied Charles and gave a prophetic word
which resonated with many. This was of a dove with a broken wing, dragging
it along the floor. This she interpreted as a sense of brokenness in
spirit in Wales, which was stopping the dove from flying. She then saw
the Lord’s hand over the dove restoring it to full health. On the
campus at the time, as well as the conference, was a party of Italian
teenagers. They were very touched by what they saw happening and of
their own accord started coming to some of the events to the great surprise
of their teachers. One of these told Spiro that the young people, who
were not regular church goers, had told her that they felt there was
something alive about the people and the services they attended from
the conference and that the Masses weren’t boring like at home.
LIMERICK CONFERENCE This year’s annual Limerick Conference took place at Crescent College Comprehensive in Dooradoyle from 29th September to 1st October. The main speaker was Fr Ciaran Mc Donnell. The theme of the conference was “Come on a Journey to Wholeness”. The final Mass was celebrated by Bishop Donal Murray, who spoke on prophecy and what being a prophet meant today. Fr Damian Ryan, one of the organisers said, that numbers
at the conference were up by about 30% this year to over 350 people
and there was a powerful sense of joy and praise with many people dancing
for joy during the worship session. Friends of his who had been involved
in the Renewal for over 30 years, said it was the best conference they
had been to, and the joy manifest there reminded them of the early 70s,
when Charismatic Renewal first burst into the Church. Fr Damian said
this sense of joy and praise had been building up since the national
conference. He commented that he felt there was a renewal of the renewal
going on, and in his own prayer group in the city, numbers were increasing
and new people coming. One woman, who knew nothing of CCR, he said,
had been spontaneously slain in the spirit while they were praising
God at the prayer meeting.
WATERFORD CONFERENCE The Waterford Conference (7th-8th Oct) organised by Tom
O’Dwyer and team, moved venue this year to the Woodlands Hotel
on the outskirts of Waterford. Numbers were up and about 400 people
attended from all over Ireland. The hotel was fully booked as well as
many local B&B. The speakers included the Bishop Thomas Lee of Waterford
& Lismore, Sr Maria Natella OP and Eddie Stones who led the saturday
night healing and reconciliation service. Fr Damian Ryan, another of
the speakers, commented: “The praise was magnificent and really
powerful, just like at Limerick the week before. There is a real sense
that God is doing something marvellous.”
EDINBURGH WEEKEND About 100 people, almost double the usual attendance, came to participate at the charismatic weekend at the Gillis Centre in Edinburgh. The event was organised by Tom Mullen and the DST from Edinburgh and the speaker was Marie Beirne, the chairperson of the National Service Committee for CCR in Ireland. As usual, the weekend began with a Friday evening session and an all day Saturday one, leaving participants free for their parish service on the Sunday. Tom commented, “There were lots of new people at the day and a great sense of praise.”
PENTECOST 2007 AT WEST HAM STADIUM A group of church leaders led by Pastor Jonathan Oloyede, a Nigerian Pentecostal leader from Glory House in Newham, in faith have booked West Ham Stadium to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost on 27th May 2007. They are hoping that as many Christians as possible from all over the capital will join them. Mgr John Armitage, the vicar general for the Brentwood diocese has joined the steering committee, to plan the event. Pastor Jonathan comments, “We want this prayer initiative to be all embracing; reflecting the diversity of culture, liturgy and Christian Tradition as reflected in our capital city.” The vision is to reclaim Pentecost and celebrate the birth of the Church in the Spirit of togetherness and to act as a catalyst across the denominations, cultures, structures and streams towards a common goal of prayer and transformation. The event will tie into the Global Day of Prayer, which was the initiative of a South African Businessman and has been sweeping the world over the past few years. Last spring a 1000 people from many different churches and cultures met at Westminster Chapel on the eve of Pentecost to celebrate this together. The atmosphere was so good that it was decided to go for a larger event the following year. The leaders believe that those in other cities might follow their lead and do the same, gathering together at Pentecost for a single event. In January 2007 they will launch a whole year of prayer and fasting for London which will involve all the denominations and networks in the capital. For details contact: Global Day of Prayer, Transform Newham, Latimer Hall, Cleves Road, East Ham, London E6 1QF Tel 020 8472 6363 www.londonprayer.net
At the September meeting of leaders and core groups that took place in Broxburn, hosted by the Edinburgh Diocesan Service Team, those who had attended Pentecost with the Pope, and the 40th anniversary celebrations of the CCR in Rome and Fuiggi earlier in the summer, reported back on their experiences. They identified the main message of all the gatherings as the same as that which had emerged at the Newman Consultation, the National Scottish Conference and what had been said at the last such gathering. This was the repeated call to recognise the centrality of Baptism of the Holy Spirit to Catholic Charismatic Renewal, the call to reconciliation and the repeated call to unity. They were also struck by Pope Benedict’s message of returning to the Cenacle with Mary - the Cenacle experience being the place from where these goals will be achieved. These reflections challenged everyone to “think big, think national and think diocese” and people brainstormed in their diocesan groups about ideas to celebrate the 40th anniversary of CCR in 2007. Plans for 2007 As well as having a national conference a sizeable contingent of Scots are hoping to come south for the big Charismatic Celebration in Westminster Cathedral in London on 5th May 2007 in fulfilment of the call to unity and reconciliation. There will also be the first Harvesters’ Catholic Men’s weekend in Scotland in 2007. Other ideas put forward were events for young people, priests, a large healing service and a national ecumenical event. The National Service Team are encouraging people from the Diocesan Teams to come up with their ideas too.
POTTA PRIESTS IN THE UK September saw the visit of various priests to the UK from the Divine Retreat Centre in Potta, in Kerala, Southern India. Fr Matthew Naickomparambil, the main founder, accompanied by Fr Augustine Vallooran, who's a member of the Indian NSC and Fr George Panackal, and their team led a three day retreat at St George's cathedral in Southwark. About 800 people attended each day, mainly from the Indian community, where Potta is very well known. Archbishop Kevin McDonald, the archbishop of Southwark, came to give a special welcome to the priests and participants at the retreat urging them to take what they received and go out and evangelise. The ministry of the Potta preists is slightly different from others involved in CCR who have a healing ministry. They don't lay hands on people during their services. Instead they preach the Word of God, quoting extensively from the bible, and healings happen as they do this. Sometimes the preacher himself will end with a word of knowledge about a healing or conversion. At other times one of the intercessors, who are an integral part of the team, will pass a note to the speaker with a list of the healings they believe have taken place. Intercession is a big factor in this ministry, and every time the preachers get up to speak, they are backed by the prayers of scores intercessors back in Potta and all over the world, as well as the local team. This helps create a canopy of prayer, the power of which is tangible, and which helps overcome some of the cultural differences and language problems of a ministry coming from another country. Meanwhile in the Midlands, two other priests associated with the Potta ministry, Fr Mathew Elvumkal VC from Bombay and Fr Martin Kalamparambil VC from Delhi, and a lay woman, Mrs Hazel D Souza from Bombay, toured various cities including Leicester, Derby, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool and Norwich between 12th September - 4th October giving retreats in English and Malayalam. The tour was the idea of Seajo Devassy, a young Indian, a sous chef at the Hilton, who has only been in England a short while but who having been touched himself by Potta wanted to bring the blessings to Britain. He was helped by others round the country who are supporters of Potta. Seajo hopes as a result of the retreat in Leicester that a new charismatic prayer group will be bom. Next year the plan is to bring another team from Potta including Fr Matthew Naickomparambil for a five week tour of the country in July 2007.
AFRICAN SUMMER Another sign of the growing input of missionaries from overseas can be seen in that over the summer months, the speakers at the monthly day of renewal held at the Friends Meeting House in London were all from Uganda. These days attracted bigger numbers than usual, swollen by those who were not regulars but had heard of the priests' ministry . In July the speaker was Fr Emmanuel, a diocesan priest, who has an amazing testimony. As a seminarian he was very ill, and died. But by divine intervention he told how he was raised from the dead and sat up in his coffin at the wake, causing great fear and consternation among the mourners who thought he must be a ghost. Completely healed he went on to have a powerful teaching and preaching ministry in his country. He was followed in August by Fr Anthony Musaala, who was trained for the priesthood in the Westminster diocese but lives and works in Uganda. Here he has a preaching, healing and music ministry, and travels round the country giving missions. His local fame has been even more enhanced as he recently won the prestigious Pearl of Africa award for his latest gospel album. "They are now inviting me to Pentecostal churches, which would never have happened before," he says, "as they think Catholic priests don't know the bible and can't sing." Finally Fr John Bashibora, known for his healing ministry and also from Uganda, flew in especially to speak at the September Day of Renewal.
At the beginning of November there was another meeting
for leaders of the new movements and communities, held at the Focolare
centre in Welwyn Garden City. This was hosted by Tim King and Cathy
Grue from Focolare and Charles Whitehead from the Catholic Charismatic
Renewal. Mass was celebrated by Bishop Malcolm McMahon of the Nottingham
diocese. These gatherings are a response by Chiara Lubich, the founder
of Focolare, to Pope John Paul II's call in 1998 to the movements to
work together more for the good of the whole Church. The theme of this
meeting was ministry and outreach to young people.
THANK YOU! Scotland
Fr Laurence Brassill OSA who celebrated his 40 years in the priesthood and 50 years as an Augustinian in 2006 was presented with a stole decorated with the Cross of Renewal. While in Rome the members of the Scottish NST met Rene Brimo from Canada who designed and produces the Cross of the Renewal and when they were looking for something original to decorate the stole it was agreed there could be nothing more better than this Cross.
WALES Thank you brother Bernard!
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Nan
Downie from the Rhema prayer group in Glasgow, was given a presentation
as she stepped down from 20 years of service on the NST. Tom Mullen
thanked her for her hard work, perseverance and great gift of discernment.
Eddie McDonald, the former chairman of the Glasgow DST, who served as
Vice-chairman of the NST was also given a certificate of thanks and
a book. He is now training was the diaconate and was not able to be
present for the day.