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Diocese of Orlando Catholic Charismatic Conference

Woman recalls the beginnings

Patti Gallagher Mansfield: a witness at the start of Catholic charismatic movement.

LAURA DODSON | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 11.02.07

COURTESY PHOTO
Catholic Charismatic Patti Gallagher Mansfield greets Pope Benedict XVI after her address at the end of the meeting of the ecclesial movements and new communities with the Pope on Pentecost Eve, 2006.

ORLANDO | Patti Gallagher Mansfield describes her encounter with the risen Lord as “making all the difference in the world. I’ve had two lives — one before my encounter and one after.”

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Catholic charismatic movement, Mansfield spoke at the diocesan Catholic Charismatic Conference, Oct. 26-28, in Maitland.

Mansfield described herself as a “cradle” Catholic. At 20, she was serious about her faith and a student majoring in French and attending Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. As a member of Chi Rho Scripture Study, it was usual for her to attend a weekend retreat. On the second evening, Feb. 18, 1967, Mansfield went to the adoration chapel to summon fellow attendees to a birthday party for one of the other participants.

She felt called to pray: “Father, I give my life to you. Whatever you ask of me, I accept. And if it means suffering, I accept that too. Just teach me to follow Jesus and to love as he loves.”

She remembers finding herself prostrate and “flooded with an experience of the merciful love of God, a love that is undeserved yet lavishly given. As much as I wanted to bask in his presence, I knew that if I, who am no one special, could experience the love of God in this way that anyone across the face of the earth could do so,” Mansfield told the Florida Catholic.

She ran to the others and shared her experience. Other attendees were baptized in the Holy Spirit that weekend. That weekend is now acknowledged as the beginning of the American Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and for Mansfield, a new life in Christ.

Since that cataclysmic moment, Mansfield has surrendered herself completely to evangelization, “to sharing what the Lord has done for me.” She and her husband, Al, work for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, directing the Office of Catholic Charismatic Renewal.

On the eve of Pentecost June 3, 2006, Mansfield was honored with the privilege of addressing Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Square in Rome before a crowd of at least 350,000 people. There she declared, “Our vocation is love.”

Mansfield offered this insight to the ministry: “Our identity is we’re Christians and Catholics and if we are living the fullness of our baptismal identity — then all of us are charismatic.”

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Woman recalls the beginnings

Patti Gallagher Mansfield: a witness at the start of Catholic charismatic movement.

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