Florida Catholic | Charismatic Conference

Diocesan Charismatic Conference scheduled for Oct. 26-28 in Maitland

LAURA DODSON | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 10.12.07

ORLANDO | The term Charismatic Renewal can elicit an understanding smile or knit brows with lots of questions. Charismatic Catholics welcome questions with open arms.

And the answers will be evident at the annual Diocese of Orlando Catholic Charismatic Conference, "Bear Witness to the Good News of God's Grace," Oct. 26-28 at the Sheraton Hotel in Maitland. As the conference's theme states, "Everyone is welcome."

IF YOU GO

WHAT
Catholic Charismatic Conference

WHEN
Oct. 26-28

WHERE
Sheraton Hotel, Maitland

HIGHLIGHTS
Bishop Thomas Wenski will lead the conference that will include Patti Mansfield, who participated at the first 1967 “Duquesne Weekend”; Ralph Martin, founder of Renewal Ministries, a worldwide evangelistic outreach; and others.

INFORMATION
www.orlandocharismatic.net.

The charismatic movement is characterized by Catholic prayer similar to Pentecostal prayer. Worship services include a high-energy Mass and prayer meetings.

Charismatic Renewal refers to a transforming experience by a group of students at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in 1967, who prayed for and were granted the experience of the grace of baptism and confirmation. It quickly spread to college campuses and parishes across the United States and received the endorsement of Pope Paul VI.

Joan Carroll is the facilitator of the charismatic prayer group at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Bartow and shared her experience.

"Thirty years ago, two of my daughters were involved at the University of Florida in Gainesville and kept encouraging me to be baptized in the Holy Spirit," she said. "I argued that I had already been baptized and had the Holy Spirit, but I started to thirst. I thirsted for the word and it became a part of me. I live my life standing on the word and my life has changed because of it. I'm 77 years old and it has become a light that others thirst for."

Carroll's best friend, Pauline Earl, is a parishioner at St. Joseph Parish in Lakeland. She was part of a married-couples group in 1971 and she and her husband were aware something was happening.

"A Passionist priest from south Florida visited and spoke to our group and told us all about it," Earl explained. "Eventually, he visited again and asked me if I was ready. I knelt down, he laid hands on me and said, 'Pauline, give the Holy Spirit a voice — just keep saying "Jesus." I felt uncomfortable saying Jesus' name. I said it as reverently as possible. I had my eyes closed and all of a sudden I sensed the risen Jesus beside me and I started to speak in tongues.

"My first thought was who can I tell? And then I realized I couldn't tell anyone because they'd think I was a nut. I went to my husband and he shared that he had had an experience by himself, just lying on the bed. He said, 'I know that I am loved. I know that I know that I know,'" she said.

Deacon Michael Pettit has facilitated a group at Our Lady of Hope Parish in Port Orange for the last 18 years. "It's like yeast in the church," he said. "Everyone doesn't have to belong, but it infects the whole parish."

"It's a joy-filled group, serving God joyfully. The joy of the Holy Spirit motivates everything we do and members of the group are in several ministries," Deacon Petit continued. "They're like a flame and they set fire to other ministries and it just spreads."

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Diocesan Charismatic Conference scheduled for Oct. 26-28 in Maitland

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