Proclaiming the Power of the Holy Spirit and a Personal Relationship with Jesus
The CCR Diocesan Service Team for Parramatta Diocese meets at three monthly intervals and consists of two representatives from each affiliated CCR Prayer Group in the Diocese and operates under Statutes approved on 23 December 2014 by Bishop Anthony Fisher, Bishop of Parramatta. The purpose of the Diocesan Service Team is to support the Catholic Charismatic Renewal by meeting the needs of prayer groups and to promote unity of purpose among prayer groups Affiliated Prayer Groups are subject to the Bishop of Parramatta primarily by incorporation within the Parish structure or occasionally through a direct mandate from the Bishop.
| Chairperson: | Gerry |
| Vice-Chairperson: | Amila |
| Secretary: | Andrew |
| Treasurer: | John |
| Executive Planning Coordinator: | Dilani |
CHARIS is called to serve all who express this "stream of grace". Its statutes will enter into force on 9 June 2019 on the Solemnity of Pentecost. That same day, the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowships (known as Catholic Fraternity) and ICCRS (International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services) will terminate their activities. It is important to note that CHARIS is not a merger between these two organisations, but rather a new service that initiates a new phase for the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal. I believe that after Pentecost this innovation will gradually become more evident. It should also be noted that CHARIS is not a governing body but a Service of Communion in accordance with the explicit desire of the Holy Father.
CHARIS is under the responsibility of a moderator who is assisted by a council called the International Service of Communion, which is composed of 18 people from all over the world. Some represent the continents and others represent the different kinds of entities in the Charismatic Renewal. For this first mandate all have been appointed by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.
The Pope wanted CHARIS to be established by the Holy See so that those in the Charismatic Renewal and the whole Church would know that the Charismatic Renewal belongs fully to the universal Church. One of the essential points emphasised by the Holy Father is the importance of communion, that is, of unity in diversity. CHARIS serves all the charismatic communities in the world, and none of them has priority over the others. In no country can a community, group, organisation or movement claim leadership of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
The CHARIS Statutes emphasise three dimensions: the spread of Baptism in the Holy Spirit, the unity of Christians and service to the poor. These dimensions are at the service of evangelisation, to which the Renewal is called by the Holy Father and to which it is committed.
The three dimensions that I have just emphasised are naturally included in the call to evangelisation that is addressed to the whole Charismatic Renewal. Baptism in the Spirit is the experience of Pentecost that set the apostles on a mission. Compassion and charity give new strength to evangelisation because "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (Jn 13:35). Christian unity is also part of the challenge of mission because Jesus calls us to it: "that all of them may be one ... so that the world may believe" (Jn 17:21).
The Pontifical Council for the Laity approved statutes recognising the Catholic Charismatic Renewal as a world wide institution of Catholic Faithful on 14 September 1993. Each CCR Prayer Group is associated with other CCR Prayer Groups through a series of Service Teams or Committees at Diocesan, State, National and International levels.
International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service Committee (ICCRS)
This committee comprises one representative from the various countries of the world with Headquarters at the
Vatican, Rome. Australia and Oceania are usually represented by the current Chairperson of ICCRS.
CCR National Service Committee (NSC)
This committee meets annually and is comprised of one representative from each State and Territory in Australia.
NSW CCR State Service Team (SST)
The NSW SST membership is nominated by NSW Prayer Groups and CCR members. After discernment, the appointees
are approved by the NSW Conference of Bishops for a period of three years. Voice of the Spirit" is the
Newsletter of the NSW Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
In August of the year 1966, some lay Professors of the Duquesne University (pronounced as 'Do Cain') attended the Congress of the Cursillo Movement. They were looking forward for a new experience and hoped to achieve the full power of Faith and wished to find it in this spiritual formation movement, which had just started after the Vatican Council II in Spain. They had come to this movement after having been frustrated in their search in liturgical, ecumenical, apostolic and peace movements. At the Cursillo Congress, they got acquainted with Steve Clarke and Ralph Martin, co-ordinators of student activities at St. John's Parish, East Lansing, Michigan. It all began for them with the reading of two books: "The Cross and the Switchblade" by David Wilkerson, an autobiographical story of a Protestant Pastor who was led by strong inner impulses to abandon the life of a salaried Parish Minister and embark on a dangerous mission to the delinquents and drug addicts of Brooklyn in neighbourhoods, into which the average American would not venture at night, or even by day for that matter. The 2lst chapter of the book was, "The Baptism in the Holy Spirit" which formed and penetrated the hearts of the readers. The Duquesne Professors found what they had been missing in other movements. At this time one of the organizers of the meeting was Ralph Keifer who came across a book on Pentecostalism by John Sherrils which was titled, "They speak in other tongues" which became the source book, for those who had gathered for the meeting.
In the fall of the same year, this group met again for a period of deeper prayer and in it, "Come Holy Spirit" was recited and an important place was given to the Holy Spirit. Since these Catholic laymen wanted more clarification on the topic, some approached the Pentecostals, despite the somewhat repute of their doctrinal beliefs. W. Lewis an Episcopalian Priest, put this group in touch with a woman involved in Charismatic Movement. In January 1967, an invitation was given to them to attend a prayer meeting on January 13th, which was the day of the Baptism of Our Lord. At that meeting more anxious doubts arose at the way things were done. Ralph was confused by the prayer meeting. No doubt, he was positive about the high level sharing and lively theology, but his intellectual mind was scandalized at the literal interpretation of the Scriptures and the idea of direct communication with God. Out of these four who attended the meeting, only Ralph returned the following week, but had brought with him another Professor of Theology, Patrick Bourgeois and at the end of the meeting, the two men asked to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. One group prayed on Ralph, imposing their hands and the other group on Patrick. Ralph was asked to make an act of faith for the power of the Spirit to work. He prayed in tongues rather quickly. Ralph and the group began to have some deep and wonderful experiences of prayer. The result of all this was to seek an interdenominational and quite informal prayer group, who had undergone the experience called "The Baptism in the Holy Spirit" (the Acts of the Apostles and I Cor Chpts 12-14 were read literally by this group). The follow-up was on 18th and 19th February 1967 where about twenty-five students and University theology professors from Duquesne University got together for a retreat weekend at the Ark and the Dove retreat house outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to study the Acts of the Apostles and consider the claims of the Pentecostals as described in the two books, "The Cross and the Switchblade" and "They speak with other tongues." They were praying for a new Pentecost throughout the weekend.
The Saturday night of the weekend had been set aside for relaxation. It was planned to celebrate a birthday party of one of the priests, but the party was rather slow in getting started, so Patti (Gallagher) went to gather people to come. On her way, she stopped in the second floor chapel. She remembers, "I wasn't going in to pray, just to tell any students there, to come down to the party. But as I entered into the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and knelt there, I was filled with a sense of awe. I had always believed by the gift of faith, that Jesus is really present in the Blessed Sacrament, but I had never experienced His glory. As I knelt there, my body literally trembled before His majesty. I felt really scared and said to myself, 'Get out of here quick because something is going to happen if you stay in the presence of God.' As I knelt there before the Lord, for the first time in my life, I prayed what I would call a prayer of total surrender. I said, 'Father I give my life to you and whatever you want of me, that's what I choose. If it means suffering, then I accept that. Just teach me to follow your Son Jesus and to learn to love the way He loves.'" In the next few moments Patti found herself prostrate, flat on her face before the tabernacle. No one had touched her but her shoes had come off. This was Holy ground. She was filled with an awareness of God's personal love, a love so completely undeserved, so utterly foolish, so lavishly given, that the only word that came now was 'stay.'
Though she wanted to remain in the chapel, she knew that if she could experience God's love in such a profound way, others could too. She told the other two students in the chapel, 'I pray that this will happen to you', then hurried to tell the priest-chaplain what had happened. As she left him, a few students asked 'What has happened to you? Your face looks different!' Patti told her story, then took them by the hand to the chapel. There she prayed, 'Lord, whatever you just did for me, do it for them!' Within half an hour, 12 of the 24 students were in the chapel. They stayed singing and praying from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. the following morning and during that night God touched each one in a unique way. Some felt God's love so deeply, that they couldn't do anything but weep. Others laughed and laughed. Some including Patti, felt a tremendous burning in their hands or going through their arms like fire. Others experienced a clicking in their throats or a tingling in their tongues. "You have to remember, we didn't know about the gifts of the Holy Spirit", said Patti.
In the weeks that followed, the students gradually learned about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They told their friends and colleagues about it and within a few months the Catholic Pentecostal Movement, as it was known then, had spread to half a dozen other campuses and within a few years, there were prayer groups and meetings all over America.