Richard Dunstan, Victoria

Pope Francis wants to see the Catholic charismatic renewal offer Life in the Spirit Seminars, the introduction to baptism in the Holy Spirit, “in all places and for everyone.” He would also like to see the gifts of the Holy Spirit promoted throughout the Church, rather than just in the charismatic renewal. And he hopes that CHARIS, the new structure he has created for the renewal, will help Catholics move beyond “limited horizons” in their view of the work of the Spirit.

The Pope was speaking Nov. 4, on the final day of a three-day gathering of CHARIS that brought 4,000 participants to Rome, from 70 countries. The event was titled Called, Transformed and Sent, and also featured talks and workshops on topics ranging from prayer groups and evangelization to spiritual warfare and work with the poor.

Speakers included such major figures as Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the papal household under the last three popes; Patti Mansfield, a pioneer of the Catholic charismatic renewal; Michelle Moran, former international chair; and Alpha founder Nicky Gumbel.

Brian Sullivan of Ontario, co-ordinator of the CHARIS National Service of Communion for Canada, was among Canadian leaders attending the event.

“It was a wonderful experience of the Universal Church,” he said. “Even amidst the diversity of culture and languages we experienced a real sense of unity in our prayer and in our purpose.”

Pope Francis noted that it has been five years since he decreed the formation of CHARIS, which replaced two previous bodies and is intended to bring all the “expressions and realities” of the renewal into a single group, to serve as a “current of grace” for the entire Church.

“CHARIS is in some sense a ‘window’ on the vast and varied world of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal,” he said. “Those involved in its work have an extraordinary opportunity to look out this window, to peer into the distance, beyond local experiences, and to appreciate the rich gifts that the Holy Spirit is bestowing in cultural, social and ecclesial contexts very different from their own.”

“One goal that you are proposing, and which I myself have encouraged, is to expand the ‘Life in the Spirit Seminars’ in all places and for everyone. These are truly kerygmatic moments, opportunities for the ‘initial proclamation of the Gospel. They make it possible for people to encounter the living Jesus, in His word and His Spirit, and at the same time to experience his Church as a welcoming environment, a place of grace, reconciliation and rebirth. That is why I have encouraged you to make these Seminars more widely available. Today I would ask you: are the Life in the Spirit Seminars being offered in a variety of ecclesial contexts, in small and more remote places, and among the poor and on the peripheries? Each of you can answer this in your hearts. One obstacle to this might be the idea that these Seminars can only be held in large venues and with well-known leaders, whereas in reality even small parish groups and local leaders can organize them and present them to people in their area.

“The Life in the Spirit Seminars are often an engaging and transformative experience that becomes a turning point in people’s lives. A turning point: after a Seminar, people change course! Nonetheless, they are only a beginning, like a fire that burns very intensely but risks dying out unless it is continually fed. Precisely for this reason, the Seminars need to be followed up by suitable methods of continuing formation that can fan into flame the graces received and encourage ongoing growth in faith and prayer, the moral and sacramental life, the practice of charity and cooperation in the Church’s mission.”

He also called for encouraging spiritual deepening and growth in holiness of those who have been baptized in the Spirit. “It should not be taken for granted that once someone has received baptism in the Spirit that he or she is already fully Christian. The path to holiness always involves growth in personal conversion and in the generous gift of oneself, a gift to Christ and to others, not merely in a sense of spiritual consolation.”