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Seeing the Spirit move over the past 4 decades
Sr Bridget Dunne, a member of the Irish National Service Committee for Catholic Charismatic Renewal, traces the work of the Holy Spirit through the CCR over the past four decades in Ireland and what she feels the Holy Spirit is now saying.
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There was a lot of praise and deep listening to what we felt the Spirit might have to say to us. Up till then, as a Catholic sister, shared prayer had always been formal and structured. That was still there, but there was now an added dimension that led to a very real personal relationship with the Lord and also with others in prayer. Here I found it was not I who was doing the work, but the Spirit of the Lord, working on all of us, me included. Ecumenical dimension to early prayer groups This had a profound effect on my life and I began to see things in quite a different way. The Lord was doing a new thing and I felt called to be part of it and serve it, as more and more prayer groups began to spring up. One of the graces of those days was the way we were drawn together across the denominations. We learnt to appreciate our differences and to learn from each other. And we saw the Spirit being poured out on all who opened themselves to this grace. This came to be called Baptism in the Spirit. And with this new, deeper, personal relationship with the Lord came gifts of prayer, of service, charisms to renew people’s lives and his church.
In 1973 I was sent to Cork and within a few days I had found a similar kind of prayer meeting to attend. As seemed to have happened in many places prayer groups were forming, seemingly independent of each other, but very much dependant on the Spirit. When we heard about each other, we would reach out for support and encouragement, sharing the joys and the difficulties of this new and exciting move of the Holy Spirit. The group in Cork that I joined had started through the visit of the brother of one of the members, who was living in the United States and who had come home and shared his experiences. Another prayer meeting had developed from a Bible study group and another from a priest who had brought the news back from England. We were mixed in denominational background but we were one in our sharing prayer and our search for more of the Spirit. This led to a deepening in our love of the Lord and in our growing fellowship with each other. Groups springing up all over Ireland At the time groups were springing up all over Ireland. We started to gather for Days of Renewal, weekends and retreats. All these various meetings needed people to serve, to facilitate, to lead, and I was soon drawn into service of them. We heard about a course called the Life in the Spirit seminars which came from America and which we started to make available to people. This was a great blessing and through running these, which I continue to do today, I have seen countless people come to Baptism in the Spirit and find new meaning and joy in their lives, not only growing in faith, but also reaching out to others. As the years passed, the number of prayer meetings grew. We eventually formed a National Service Committee and began to hold a National conference every year. Thousands of people would come to these and we heard from speakers from Ireland and abroad, about what the Lord was doing worldwide. These conferences were, and continue to be today, a time of great encouragement. Being in such an atmosphere of praise and seeing the evidence of the outpouring of the gifts of the Spirit such as prophecy, tongues, healing help to fill us with renewed enthusiasm for our Christian faith and enable us to go home to spread the Word of God and his love. In 1978 we had the privilege of hosting an international conference in Dublin. For those of us who were there it was an experience never to be forgotten. People came from all over the world to fill the whole complex of the RDS (Royal Dublin Society) with praise and the joy of the Lord. The prayer centre in Cork Some groups were drawn to a deeper commitment to each other and a number of covenant communities were formed around the country, such as the Nazareth Community in Dun Laoghaire. In Cork we saw there was a great need for prayer ministry, counselling and a hunger for fellowship that we were not able to meet at a weekly prayer meeting. So we started what we called, quite simply, a Prayer Centre.
We were offered the use of an old church in the city centre that had not been used for some while. It was in a bad state of repair and in 1980 we started to work on it and opened the doors to all who would come. There we held seminars to lead people to Baptism in the Spirit and other meetings. Most of the time there was someone there with a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on or someone to pray with. We enjoyed great times of fellowship there – and the kettle was rarely cold! Ecumenical dimension But for various reasons we had to leave that premises and we found a new home in North Main Street, opening the doors there in 1991. We are there still. The pattern of activities has changed many times over the years, but the basic vision is still there – to provide a place for meetings and for individuals to drop in to find someone to listen, to pray with them and to give them the information they seek. Life in the Spirit seminars are run frequently there as well as Growth Seminars, Bible study, prayer meetings and the Alpha course. We have always had an ecumenical dimension and the call of the Lord to pray and work together is now stronger than ever. We are cooperating together to open a new project in much larger premises, with better facilities for reaching out to people and sharing with them all that the Lord has blessed us with so richly. Changes in the Church and in the Charismatic Renewal Over the years Charismatic Renewal has seen many changes, as our world, society and the Church, have changed. And we have changed too. For us religious sisters the living out of our commitment has changed radically and I have certainly changed. But I fear we have not always been faithful to the leading of the Spirit. Though the Lord has been doing something truly great through Charismatic Renewal sometimes we have not responded as we should and have gone our own way. Called back to reconciliation and unity by the Lord The initial grace of Charismatic Renewal, the way I experienced it, was one of reconciliation and unity, of praying and working together, but I can see that sometimes over the years we have gone our separate ways. The most important task the Lord gave us, I believe, is to lead people to the Baptism in the Spirit. When we came together, leaders in Charismatic Renewal from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, for the Newman Consultation in 2005, God reminded us of this and called us to repentance and to seek again reconciliation and unity. He emphasised the key role of Baptism in the Spirit and challenged us to renew and redouble our efforts to bring the opportunity of this grace to more and more people. As we give thanks to the Lord for these years of Charismatic Renewal my prayer is that we grow ever more faithful to our calling, that we grow in our life in the Spirit, that we follow his leading and come to that unity for which we know he prayed: “Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.” (Eph 3/20-21)
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I
have been living in Ireland a long time now, since 1973, and I have
had the privilege of serving in Charismatic Renewal for all of that
time. But it was in England, in 1970, that my involvement with an emerging
Renewal started. At the time I was already a religious sister, living
and working in a retreat house in Birmingham. It was my calling to help
people to pray. This I endeavoured to do as best I could. Then something
happened…… I was invited to join a small group of people who
met to pray weekly. This was my first experience of CCR, although it
was so new, it had no labels. Instead of set prayers people just prayed
spontaneously from their hearts. 
