Convening to Call Holy Spirit

Drawing new believers to the church is the central issue at the Catholic Renewal Convention, a charismatic rally expected to draw more than 13,000 people this weekend to the Anaheim Convention Center.

The three-day event, which opened Friday, is evidence of the growing foothold of the charismatic movement in the Roman Catholic Church, which has suffered in recent years from a priest shortage as well as a dwindling number of congregants.

Convention organizers say they hope the Catholic Renewal Convention will attract new members to the faith, re-energize those who have left the fold and bring new enthusiasm and younger parishioners into pews of parishes across the nation.

“Charismatic renewal helps us focus on what’s essential,” said Father William Delaney, pastoral coordinator for the Southern California Renewal Communities. He said he decided to become a priest after attending a charismatic service in 1971. “It needs to be considered as a [normal] experience of faith.”

Charismatic Catholics keep the tenets of the church but combine them with Pentecostal practices and beliefs, including believing in personal infusion by the power of the Holy Spirit. The conference, with the theme, “Celebrate Jubilee,” features a healing Mass, workshops by experts in the charismatic field and a closing Mass with Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles.

Mahony sent a groundbreaking pastoral letter in 1997 that called for changes in the Mass to renew the faith of his archdiocese’s 3.5 million worshipers. The proposals included references to charismatic customs, such as encouraging believers to lift their arms with hands upturned during the Lord’s Prayer.

The charismatic movement has brought energy and excitement to Catholicism for the past 25 years, said Sister Nancy Kellar with Sisters of Charity in New York, who led a seminar on Friday, “The Challenges Facing the Charismatic Renewal in the New Millennium.”

“The Holy Spirit isn’t given to make us comfortable,” Kellar said. “It’s given to make us missionaries.”

Her concerns for the millennium include making sure that charismatic Catholics don’t alienate themselves from the larger church community; don’t impose too much structure on their worship, thus shutting out the Holy Spirit; and that charismatic Catholics embrace ecumenical outreach.

“We need to be charismatic but at the same time be integrated into the church,” Kellar said. “If we’re not, we can lose the fire of the Holy Spirit. And we can’t be afraid of ecumenism. We need to know there’s a unity among us in the power of the Holy Spirit among all churches.”

Other workshops include “Prayer That Pierces the Heavens,” “Jesus for a New Millennium,” “How to Read the Bible,” “Even the Devil Does God’s Will” and “Raising Children Who Love the Lord.”

The convention is drawing participants from across the nation, organizers said. For some, workshops are the big draw. Others are here for the opportunity to pray and worship in the presence of other charismatic Catholics.

“When you pray in tongues, sometimes the Lord will give you a message about what to do,” said Karen Grajek, 49, of Santa Ana, who attends the Isaiah II Ministry Center in Santa Ana. “It’s a wonderful gift.”