The Charismatic Renewal Makes a Difference Globally
"Come Holy Spirit, renew the face of the earth." The Lord answers this prayer in different ways in different places. We present some examples of what the Lord is doing through the Charismatic Renewal.
“In the heart of a world desiccated by rationalistic skepticism a new experience of the Holy Spirit has come about, amounting to a worldwide renewal movement. What the New Testament describes, with reference to the charisms, as visible signs of the coming of the Holy Spirit is no longer merely ancient, past history: this history is becoming a reality today..." - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (future Pope Benedict XVI), 1985, in "The Ratzinger Report" page 151
"What is hopeful at the level of the universal Church - and that is happening right in the heart of the crisis of the Church in the Western world - is the rise of new movements which nobody had planned and which nobody has called into being, but which have sprung spontaneously from the inner vitality of the faith itself. What is manifested in them - albeit subdued - is something like a pentecostal season in the Church. I am thinking, say, of the charismatic movement, of the Cursillos, of the movement of the Focolare, of the neo-catechumenal communities, of Communion and Liberation, etc. ... I am now, to an increasing degree, meeting groups of young people in whom there is a wholehearted adhesion to the whole faith of the Church, young people who want to live this faith fully and who bear in themselves a great missionary elan. The intense life of prayer present in these movements does not imply a flight into interiority or a withdrawal into the private sphere, but simply a full and undivided catholicity. The joy of the faith that one senses here has something contagious about it. Here new vocations to the priesthood and to the religious orders are now growing spontaneously." - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (future Pope Benedict XVI), 1985, in "The Ratzinger Report" pages 43-44
Visit the Catholic Charismatic Renewal events in nearby areas
Washington Archdiocese Catholic Charismatic Renewal - Serving Washington, DC and counties in Maryland near DC
Richmond Diocese Catholic Charismatic Renewal
Rome
In 1980, the Pope, St. John Paul II personally selected a charismatic, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap, to be the preacher to the papal household. He served so well that Pope Benedict XVI asked him to continue to the present day. In 2007, Fr. Cantalamessa was asked in an interview, "Has the charismatic encounter with the Holy Spirit affected your own ministry?" And he replied, "I experienced this in my priestly life, and so I am fully convinced. It makes everything new — prayer, preaching, liturgy — everything is enkindled by the Holy Spirit."
CHARIS
CHARIS, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service, brings together and strengthens the many groups and communities experiencing the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the goal of promoting the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the exercise of charisms throughout the Church. CHARIS gathers leaders from the charismatic renewal to discern what the Holy Spirit is saying, and to build relationships within the Catholic Charismatic Renewal with national, continental, and international collaboration. It offers guidance, formation and training opportunities. CHARIS promotes service to the poor through the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and promotes Christian unity. CHARIS was formed on Pentecost 2019 (June 9, 2019), and took on the work previously done by International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services (ICCRS ) and the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowships (CFCCC), which also provided a formal link between charismatic groups and Rome.
India
The largest Catholic retreat center in the world is animated by the charismatic renewal. Located in India but receiving pilgrims from all over the world, Divine Retreat Centre has welcomed over 10 million people. They continuously offer retreats in seven languages. The Vincentian priests continue the work of St. Vincent de Paul who was particularly inspired by Christ's words, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor" (Luke 4:18).
Haiti
Among Haitians, the Charismatic Renewal helps people encounter God who they know is present and active in their lives. The Lord is their hope, and they turn to Him in prayer. This story in the New York Times explores their experience.
Malta
The Marana Tha Community hosts Masses for healing, mission outreaches in Europe, Eucharistic Adoration, and regular gatherings for praise, worship, use of the charismatic gifts, and fellowship with others forming life-long friendships. Through this ministry, young men and women have heard and answered God's call to become priests and nuns.
Uganda
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Uganda runs a school of evangelization in Katikamu which has ministered to multitudes of Catholics from several African countries through youth conferences, family life ministries, retreats, healing and deliverance seminars, Life in the Spirit Seminars, and courses on the Bible, evangelization, leadership, and gifts. They have also helped establish several communities locally as well as in Tanzania, Ghana, and Kenya.
Higher Education
A struggling Catholic college was revived and strengthened in its Catholic identity when a new college president started in the 1970s and welcomed the Charismatic Renewal to campus, and lead the university into great devotion and orthodoxy.
“In the heart of a world desiccated by rationalistic skepticism a new experience of the Holy Spirit has come about, amounting to a worldwide renewal movement. What the New Testament describes, with reference to the charisms, as visible signs of the coming of the Holy Spirit is no longer merely ancient, past history: this history is becoming a reality today..." - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (future Pope Benedict XVI), 1985, in "The Ratzinger Report" page 151
"What is hopeful at the level of the universal Church - and that is happening right in the heart of the crisis of the Church in the Western world - is the rise of new movements which nobody had planned and which nobody has called into being, but which have sprung spontaneously from the inner vitality of the faith itself. What is manifested in them - albeit subdued - is something like a pentecostal season in the Church. I am thinking, say, of the charismatic movement, of the Cursillos, of the movement of the Focolare, of the neo-catechumenal communities, of Communion and Liberation, etc. ... I am now, to an increasing degree, meeting groups of young people in whom there is a wholehearted adhesion to the whole faith of the Church, young people who want to live this faith fully and who bear in themselves a great missionary elan. The intense life of prayer present in these movements does not imply a flight into interiority or a withdrawal into the private sphere, but simply a full and undivided catholicity. The joy of the faith that one senses here has something contagious about it. Here new vocations to the priesthood and to the religious orders are now growing spontaneously." - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (future Pope Benedict XVI), 1985, in "The Ratzinger Report" pages 43-44
Visit the Catholic Charismatic Renewal events in nearby areas
Washington Archdiocese Catholic Charismatic Renewal - Serving Washington, DC and counties in Maryland near DC
Richmond Diocese Catholic Charismatic Renewal
Rome
In 1980, the Pope, St. John Paul II personally selected a charismatic, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap, to be the preacher to the papal household. He served so well that Pope Benedict XVI asked him to continue to the present day. In 2007, Fr. Cantalamessa was asked in an interview, "Has the charismatic encounter with the Holy Spirit affected your own ministry?" And he replied, "I experienced this in my priestly life, and so I am fully convinced. It makes everything new — prayer, preaching, liturgy — everything is enkindled by the Holy Spirit."
CHARIS
CHARIS, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service, brings together and strengthens the many groups and communities experiencing the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the goal of promoting the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the exercise of charisms throughout the Church. CHARIS gathers leaders from the charismatic renewal to discern what the Holy Spirit is saying, and to build relationships within the Catholic Charismatic Renewal with national, continental, and international collaboration. It offers guidance, formation and training opportunities. CHARIS promotes service to the poor through the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and promotes Christian unity. CHARIS was formed on Pentecost 2019 (June 9, 2019), and took on the work previously done by International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services (ICCRS ) and the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowships (CFCCC), which also provided a formal link between charismatic groups and Rome.
India
The largest Catholic retreat center in the world is animated by the charismatic renewal. Located in India but receiving pilgrims from all over the world, Divine Retreat Centre has welcomed over 10 million people. They continuously offer retreats in seven languages. The Vincentian priests continue the work of St. Vincent de Paul who was particularly inspired by Christ's words, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor" (Luke 4:18).
Haiti
Among Haitians, the Charismatic Renewal helps people encounter God who they know is present and active in their lives. The Lord is their hope, and they turn to Him in prayer. This story in the New York Times explores their experience.
Malta
The Marana Tha Community hosts Masses for healing, mission outreaches in Europe, Eucharistic Adoration, and regular gatherings for praise, worship, use of the charismatic gifts, and fellowship with others forming life-long friendships. Through this ministry, young men and women have heard and answered God's call to become priests and nuns.
Uganda
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Uganda runs a school of evangelization in Katikamu which has ministered to multitudes of Catholics from several African countries through youth conferences, family life ministries, retreats, healing and deliverance seminars, Life in the Spirit Seminars, and courses on the Bible, evangelization, leadership, and gifts. They have also helped establish several communities locally as well as in Tanzania, Ghana, and Kenya.
Higher Education
A struggling Catholic college was revived and strengthened in its Catholic identity when a new college president started in the 1970s and welcomed the Charismatic Renewal to campus, and lead the university into great devotion and orthodoxy.
New Communities
Communities are listed on the CHARIS website. This provides is a great description of communities in the Charismatic Renewal where people find new lives filled with the Holy Spirit and mission.
"Brothers and sisters, you have been called to a new life. It’s no more possible to work with human measures. You have come here, welcomed into the Pope’s house, to say that you want to be new men and women. Your life is vocation, free call from the Lord. Do not look backwards, but look at the opened horizon. There’s a world that is crying out, there are human situations that have become new challenges. The Holy Spirit says “Mission” to the Church. Do not consider yourselves, much less do not consider only the structures, indeed necessary, but destined to serve the Gospel. Do not waste time and energy, but put everything at the disposal of the Lord and the Church. “Cast the net.” In order not to waste time but to work tirelessly, there’s a point of departure, and also a way to make. We need someone – it’s the grace of the charisms – led by the Spirit, who has experienced the love of Jesus, who says “It is the Lord!" - Msgr. Alberto Taveira Corrêa Archbishop of Belém – PA – Brazil, addressing the CFCCC when the Vatican approved its statutes. The text is available here.
Emmanuel Community is a charismatic Catholic community that began in France and has grown to include 9,000 people around the world. They proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, and lead people to encounter Him through compassion and Eucharistic Adoration. They help people discover the call to holiness and to know that God with us. In this video, the Pope met with their leaders and encouraged them.
Communities are listed on the CHARIS website. This provides is a great description of communities in the Charismatic Renewal where people find new lives filled with the Holy Spirit and mission.
"Brothers and sisters, you have been called to a new life. It’s no more possible to work with human measures. You have come here, welcomed into the Pope’s house, to say that you want to be new men and women. Your life is vocation, free call from the Lord. Do not look backwards, but look at the opened horizon. There’s a world that is crying out, there are human situations that have become new challenges. The Holy Spirit says “Mission” to the Church. Do not consider yourselves, much less do not consider only the structures, indeed necessary, but destined to serve the Gospel. Do not waste time and energy, but put everything at the disposal of the Lord and the Church. “Cast the net.” In order not to waste time but to work tirelessly, there’s a point of departure, and also a way to make. We need someone – it’s the grace of the charisms – led by the Spirit, who has experienced the love of Jesus, who says “It is the Lord!" - Msgr. Alberto Taveira Corrêa Archbishop of Belém – PA – Brazil, addressing the CFCCC when the Vatican approved its statutes. The text is available here.
Emmanuel Community is a charismatic Catholic community that began in France and has grown to include 9,000 people around the world. They proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, and lead people to encounter Him through compassion and Eucharistic Adoration. They help people discover the call to holiness and to know that God with us. In this video, the Pope met with their leaders and encouraged them.
Religious Life
The Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ is a Franciscan charismatic community of sisters that was born out of the charismatic renewal.
The Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ is a Franciscan charismatic community of sisters that was born out of the charismatic renewal.