Jubilee - The 50 Years of Catholic Charismatic Renewal

Author : Manoj Sunny

The streets of Rome were filled with bright red and yellow colours; people flocked in from all continents, from 128 countries, singing songs of praise in their own languages. They came at the invitation of the Holy Father - to celebrate the golden Jubilee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal - their faces glowing with joy, rejoicing in the way the Lord had led them down the years, thanking God for this family gathering. We could hear different groups praying together in tongues – a language of prayer that transcended the barriers of culture and tradition.

It was the Holy Father who hosted this Jubilee celebration and invited the pilgrims to Rome! Though he gave the mandate of organising this event to Catholic Fraternity and ICCRS, Pope Francis was deeply involved in the proceedings, keeping track of every step of the progress and looking into the finest details pertaining to the Jubilee - from deciding the registration fee to making suggestions for the design of the back drop of the Vigil stage. We have a true shepherd who is concerned about even the smallest needs of his flock!

The Jubilee celebrations started with the general audience on 31st May. On the 1st and 2nd, we had the Jubilee celebrations of different communities and initiatives, ecumenical gatherings, theological symposiums and workshops on different themes, including the Jubilee of Catholic Fraternity, Schools of Evangelisation and the Jubilee of the Youth in CCR. Master Plan, the Jesus Youth band from UAE composed the theme song for the Jubilee, sharing the first prize with a Brazilian band. Master Plan animated the music ministry for the Youth Jubilee and the Catholic Fraternity Jubilee gathering in St John Lateran Basilica and led worship sessions during the vigil on Friday and Saturday on the main stage in Circo Massimo. These were proud moments for the entire Jesus Youth movement and it was heartening to see that there are younger bands to follow the footsteps of the RexBand! Everyone appreciated their musical quality, professionalism, prayerfulness and spiritual depth when they ministered. Praise God!

The large gatherings with more than 50,000 people started on the evening of 2nd May at Circo Massimo, Rome, with the ‘Worldwide Jubilee Charismatic Gathering’. The testimonies of Patty Mansfield and David Mangan, the first witnesses of the Charismatic Renewal at the Duquesne weekend in Feb 1967, the invocation to the Holy Spirit by Ralph Martin and Vinson Synan (Evangelical leader), the healing prayer by Sr Briege McKenna, the prayer of repentance for the divisions in the CCR, the Holy Mass celebrated by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, etc., helped people in experiencing a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the graces of the Jubilee in a deeper way. On the morning of Saturday, 3rd May, the Holy Father had a special meeting with evangelical leaders. One of the most beautiful moments of the Jubilee was the Vigil with the Holy Father on the same evening. The backdrop of the stage with the words ‘Veni Creator Spiritus’ (Come Creator Spirit) was changed to 'Jesus is Lord’ in different languages.  There were around 60 similar chairs on the stage and the Holy Father sat on one of them between Patty Mansfield and Michelle Moran (President of ICCRS) and the rest of the chairs were occupied by the leaders of Evangelical Churches (except for a few cardinals and members of the organising team) who came from different parts of the world at the invitation of the Holy Father. There was no prayer session led by the Holy Father, no Papal Blessing - just a short message. He was one among the leaders on stage, praying with open hands like any other Charismatic leader, singing along with the choir. The Pope was introduced by the leader of a Pentecostal Church in Italy - Pastor Giovanni Traettino, a friend of his since they met at an ecumenical charismatic gathering in Buenos Aires in 2006. Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the Papal household for the last 37 years and Pastor Giovanni talked on 'the work of the communion of the Holy Spirit’ and led the prayer to Father God, "seeking forgiveness for sins of divisions among Christians". Pastor Giovanni prayed for the growth of the renewal in the Catholic Church. Finally, Fr Cantalamessa led a powerful prayer of proclamation quoting Rom 10:9: "If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved," which was repeated several times in Italian and English by everyone who was present there - without any differences of denomination, nationality, language or culture. The prayer ended with a powerful prophecy from Patty Mansfield in the presence of the Holy Father “Lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. And if you would obey me, and if you would obey the prompting of my Spirit, you will yet see infinitely more than you can ask or imagine, but I need your obedience, I need your docility, I need your faith and you will yet see marvels that will astound you, infinitely more than you could ask or imagine for the glory of my name”  We have a truly Charismatic Pope!

This was one of the most beautiful, prophetic moments during the Jubilee celebrations. Personally, I believe the Holy Father clearly brought out the true meaning of ecumenism, which involves not only the Episcopal Churches but includes the Pentecostals too. The Jubilee celebrations concluded with the Holy Mass on Pentecost day celebrated by Pope Francis at St Peter’s Square, where he prayed for ‘New people, new hearts’.

CCR Jubilee and Jesus Youth

Looking back, what are some of the things I take home, especially in the context of Jesus Youth movement after this Jubilee? Let me share 5 areas.

The Charismatic Renewal is Ecumenical:

The Charismatic Renewal is "a current of grace," said Pope Francis to the crowd at the Circus Maximus. "It is a work that was born -- Catholic? No. It was born ecumenical," with similar results in many denominations and with Pentecostals providing support and education to new Catholic charismatics. "It was born ecumenical because it is the Holy Spirit who creates unity," the Pope said. The Holy Spirit drew Catholics and Pentecostals together to profess that "Jesus is Lord" and "to proclaim together the Father's love for all his children… Walk together. Work together. Love each other," he told them.

"The movement of the Holy Spirit, also known as the Pentecostal movement, has in its DNA - its life in the Holy Spirit - the vocation to build Christian unity," remarked Pastor Giovanni Traettino. "Pentecostals and Catholic charismatics have not always gotten along”, Traettino said, but "the election of Pope Francis clearly opened a new season, especially in relations with us.”

“Let us walk together,” the Pope said to the Evangelical leaders, “let us help the poor together, let us perform acts of charity together, let us work for education together.” At the same time, he said, theologians can do their part and help in the effort for Christian unity. “But we are always on the journey, never stopping, never stopping… and together.”

Unity in Diversity or Reconciled Diversity:

During the Vigil on Saturday, Pope Francis underlined the importance of ‘Reconciled Diversity’. He made the crowd repeat these two words after him. He exhorted them “To proclaim that Jesus is the Lord - "Jesús es el Señor" - to announce together the love of the Father for all His children! To announce the Good News to all peoples! To demonstrate that peace is possible. It is not so easy to demonstrate to this, today’s world, that peace is possible, but in the name of Jesus we can show with our witness that peace is possible! But it is possible only if we are at peace among ourselves. If we accentuate our differences, we are at war with each other and we cannot proclaim peace. Peace is possible starting from our confession that Jesus is the Lord and from our evangelization on this road. While showing that we have differences – but this is obvious, we have differences – but that we wish to be a reconciled diversity. Here, we must not forget this phrase, but say it to everyone: reconciled diversity. And this phrase is not mine, it is not mine. It is from a Lutheran brother. Reconciled diversity."

In his homily at the Mass on Pentecost Sunday, the Pope said that Christians can block the unity in diversity desired by the Holy Spirit by focusing on their differences rather than on what they share. "This happens when we want to separate, when we take sides and form parties, when we adopt rigid and airtight positions, when we become locked into our own ideas and ways of doing things, perhaps even thinking that we are better than others," he said. "When this happens," the Pope continued, "we choose the part over the whole, belonging to this or that group before belonging to the church and taking pride in being Christians of the 'right' or the 'left' before being on the side of Jesus.” 

“[The Holy Spirit] rests on each [of the disciples] and then brings all of them together in fellowship,” giving each a gift for the good of the new community He has created. “The same Spirit creates diversity and unity, and in this way forms a new, diverse and unified people: the Universal Church.”

“The first temptation is to seek diversity without unity,” he said. “The opposite temptation is that of seeking unity without tolerating diversity. Here unity becomes uniformity, where everyone has to do everything together and in the same way, always thinking alike.” The Pope went on to say, “The prayer we make to the Holy Spirit is for the grace to receive His unity, a glance that, leaving personal preferences aside, embraces and loves His Church, our Church. It is to accept responsibility for unity among all, to wipe out the gossip that sows the darnel of discord and the poison of envy, since to be men and women of the Church means being men and women of communion. It is also to ask for a heart that feels that the Church is our Mother and our home, an open and welcoming home where the manifold joy of the Holy Spirit is shared.”

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is for everyone in the Church

“This current of grace is for the whole Church, not just for some, and none of us is the "master" and all the others servants. No. We are all serving this current of grace,” the Pope said.

I was reminded of the mandate Pope Francis gave during the Third Worldwide Priest’s Retreat in 2015 at San Giovani Lateran Basilica.  “I ask all of you, each of you, that as part of the stream of grace of the Charismatic Renewal, you plan Life in the Spirit seminars - in your parishes, in your seminaries and schools … share the Baptism of the Spirit and your catechesis, because it is produced by the work of the Holy Spirit through a personal encounter with Jesus, which changes lives.” 

During the Saturday vigil, Pope Francis talked about the Charismatic renewal as the “sovereign work of the Holy Spirit in the Church, which began 50 years ago”. He went on to say, “Fifty Years of Charismatic Catholic Renewal. A current of grace of the Spirit! And why a current of grace? Because it has neither a founder, nor statutes, nor organs of governance. Clearly in this current multiple expressions have been born that are certainly human works inspired by the Spirit, with various charisms, and all in the service of the Church. But this current cannot be dammed, nor can the Holy Spirit be enclosed in a cage!”. We can be proud that Jesus Youth is one such beautiful expression of the Holy Spirit which evolved from this stream of grace for the service of the Church!

The Pope wanted the renewal to pause and then move forward with more vigour and passion. “Fifty years is a time of life suitable to stop and make a reflection. It is time for reflection: half of life. And I would say to you: It is time to move forward with more force, leaving behind us the dust of time we have left accumulating, thankful for what we have received and facing the new with confidence in the action of the Holy Spirit!”

The four Fundamentals:

Pope Francis tried to define the four fundamentals based on Cardinal Suenens’s Malines documents. He said "Share with all in the Church Baptism in the Holy Spirit, praise the Lord without ceasing, walk together with Christians of different Churches and Christian communities in prayer and in action for the neediest. Serve the poorest and the sick: this is what the Church and the Pope expect from you, Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and all of you: all, all of you who entered in this current of grace"! To mark the latter priority, at Saturday’s Vigil, special places have been reserved for some of Rome’s homeless. “Being baptized in the Spirit and knowing how to praise God”, he said, "are not enough" if Christians don't also “help those in need”. He continued, “Baptism in the Holy Spirit, praise, service to man. The three things are indissolubly united. I can praise deeply, but if I do not help the most needy, that's not enough. “There was not a needy person among them” (Acts 4:34), says the Book of Acts”.

Pope Francis affirmed the way we pray – the power of praise. He said, “Along with this experience, you constantly remind the Church of the power of prayer of praise.  Praise that is the prayer of gratitude and thanksgiving for God’s gracious love.  Perhaps some people do not like this way of praying, but surely it is fully a part of the biblical tradition.  Take the Psalms: David dances before the Ark of the Covenant, filled with exultation…  And please, let us not fall into the attitude of Christians who have the “Michol complex”, ashamed of the way David chose to praise God.”

Jubilee is a time of Grace – to reflect with gratitude on the marvellous things God has done in our lives through this current of Grace; to receive the Power to go ahead with greater commitment in the years ahead carrying His mission! Let me conclude with the prayer Pope Francis prayed.

“The Holy Spirit is the fire of love burning in the Church and in our hearts, even though we often cover him with the ash of our sins. Let us ask him: “Spirit of God, Lord, who dwells in my heart and in the heart of the Church, guiding and shaping her in diversity, come! Like water, we need you to live. Come down upon us anew, teach us unity, renew our hearts and teach us to love as you love us, to forgive as you forgive us. Amen”.

Manoj Sunny Member and treasurer of the Int'l executive of Catholic Fraternity of communities; He was also a part of the Central Organising Committee of the Golden Jubilee of CCR.