27 – 30 September 2007
Event Report
The European National Service Committees, head-contacts and correspondents met together to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal on 27-30th September 2007. About 150 participants from 27 countries had a possibility to pray, share and meet together in joy. One fifth of the participants were young people–each National Service Committee was asked to bring persons involved in youth ministry in their countries. This was a great sign the CCR growing also in younger generations. The conference was unusual because the idea was to make all participants listen to the Lord about the future. Based on our discernment from the Fiuggi Leaders Colloquium of 2006, the ICCRS European Sub-Committee choose four topics which appeared to be the most important ones for the Charismatic Renewal in Europe. There were short sharings on the importance of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, raising up new leaders, various aspects of evangelisation and the question of unity. Afterwards, we had various kinds of responses to the problems touched by speakers: testimonies, common prayer, silent adoration, sharing groups, confession and individual intercession ministry. Eucharist was celebrated every day; Bp. Bronislaw Dembowski, ex-Councillor of ICCRS for East Central Europe and Abp. Kazimierz Nycz, the new Archbishop of Warsaw were among the celebrants. ICCRS President Michelle Moran emphasized the main challenges standing in front of us in her concluding speech. She spoke to the participants, comparing our situation with the 40 years of the Israel’s journey through the desert after their liberation from Egypt. Do we want to cross the river and take the land? The future is great and the victory is sure in spite of many obstacles if we humbly listen to the Lord and do what He wants us to do.
Archive
Dear Friends, As you are already aware ICCRS are holding a European conference to celebrate the 40th anniversary of CCR. For this special celebration we are inviting you to bring up to 8-10 people from your NSC with you, including at least one young person, who should be a leader involved in some area of youth ministry. For countries that have correspondents or head contacts you are invited to bring 3-4 people and a young person. The celebration will build on the leaders Colloquium held last June in Fiuggi. We will be looking again at the central themes of the CCR such as: The centrality of Baptism in the Spirit, Growing in the Charisms, Maturing in Leadership and the raising up new leaders. We will also look at the importance of Unity, Evangelisation and Service. The Conference will take the form of short talks followed by discussion time in language groups. There will be translation into six languages see the registration form for details. There will be times of prayer, ministry, adoration and testimonies. We will also build in time for fellowship and informal sharing. All the arrangements are now in place, so we ask you to book into the conference as soon as possible, using the attached registration form. The form can also be found on the ESCI website. In order to help with our administration and to keep the costs down, we ask you to send one payment to cover all the people from your country/reality. If you book in before 10th April the accommodation will be slightly cheaper. The conference fee will be 150 euro for Western Europeans and 60 euro for Eastern Europeans. There are several types of accommodation available and these will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Registration and booking can only be done on line at europeanconference@odnowa.org . The deadline for all registrations is 15th May. For your information and travel arrangements, we will begin with the opening Mass at 17.30 on Thurs 27th and conclude with lunch at 12.45pm on Sunday 30th. For those people who will travel by train or car, see attached travel details as to how to reach the centre by road or rail. Let’s continue to keep our continent and this important celebration in our prayers. With all good wishes, Michelle Moran, Vice-President of ICCRS
