People who were strangers to a charismatic service didn’t feel alone for very long once they arrived at this past Sunday’s healing Mass at Columbus Holy Spirit Church.

Most of the 200 or so in attendance appeared to know each other, but those who didn’t were quickly and warmly welcomed during the 45 minutes before Mass by people surrounding them in the pews. Name tags given to everyone upon entering the church encouraged such conversation. Meanwhile, the congregation was preparing for the service by singing contemporary praise songs written by artists such as the Gaither family, Josh Groban, and Jim Silveira.

Father Dean Mathewson, who is in residence at Columbus St. Thomas Church and is the liaison between the bishop’s office and the diocesan Catholic Charismatic Renewal, was principal celebrant. The concelebrating priests ranged in experience from 85-year-old Msgr. Robert Noon, who will celebrate his 58th anniversary as a priest later this month, to Father Fritzner Valcin, a priest for nine years, who brought along several members of the Haitian congregation he serves at Columbus St. Matthias Church.

Other concelebrants were Father Joseph Losh, who like Msgr. Noon lives at the Villas of St. Therese in Columbus, and Father James Coleman, pastor at Columbus Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.
Following the homily, all five administered the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick to anyone in attendance who felt the need to receive it. About one-third of those in the congregation were anointed. The charismatic renewal movement sponsors a Mass monthly at various locations, and this was one of two of its Masses a year at which anointing is offered.
Following the homily, all five administered the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick to anyone in attendance who felt the need to receive it. About one-third of those in the congregation were anointed. The charismatic renewal movement sponsors a Mass monthly at various locations, and this was one of two of its Masses a year at which anointing is offered.

In his homily, Father Mathewson reminded his listeners that Pope John Paul II in 1979 said the charismatic renewal “is integral to renewal of the entire Catholic Church.” Toward the end of his papacy, John Paul said the renewal “can be an effective means of renewal.”

Father Mathewson, noting that there’s a big difference between “is integral” and “can be effective,” said it sounded as though John Paul had lost some confidence in the renewal. He urged his listeners to “increase the power of your presence” in the church and the renewal movement. He also said the local branch of the movement had reorganized its committee structure the day before because “everything has fallen on a few people. … A couple of people can do something, but a lot can do a lot,” Father Mathewson said.

John Paul’s successor, Pope Benedict XVI, also has spoken favorably of the renewal movement. As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he urged pastors “to welcome it fully” while reminding renewal participants “to cherish and maintain their link with the whole church.”

The movement as it exists today began in 1967 at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, spread the following year to Notre Dame and Michigan State universities, and continued from there.

Students and teachers said they felt they had received a “baptism of the Holy Spirit.” Jackie Lee, interim director of the local movement, describes this as something that is separate from the sacrament of Baptism and is “an overwhelming experience of just receiving God, realizing that he really does love us and desires us to grow in our knowledge of and service to him. It’s a release of the Spirit’s power already received in the Sacraments, but in a deeper way.

“For most people, this is a quiet, personal experience, but something which marks a dramatic change in their lives,” she said. Lee said it occurred to her during a healing Mass at Columbus St. Francis DeSales High School, which her mother had encouraged her to attend. She said she had been brought up a Catholic, but had left the Church for about 20 years.

“I didn’t know what was going on, but I decided at that Mass I’d put my trust in God, just surrender to him, and the Lord healed me,” she said. Soon after this experience about five years ago, she left a 20-year career as office manager at a surgical practice and went to work in the Charismatic Renewal office on Columbus’ east side, near Holy Spirit Church.

She became interim director six months ago when Maxine Powers, who had held the position for 16 years, took a leave of absence.

Dr. Ken Weise, a surgeon in Columbus, said he never expected to become involved in the renewal when he attended one of its events while in military service in Korea in 1973.

“I dismissed these people as emotional ‘holy roller’ types, but then I heard a speaker talk about the renewal and he talked to my brain. To my amazement, he made sense,” he said. “I thought, ‘I don’t know what these people have, but whatever it is, I want it.’ In seconds, I felt the weight of the world disappear and I understood my relationship with Jesus – that he died for all of us, but would have died just for me.”

Following his homily, Father Mathewson invited Ruth Shaner of Columbus St. Elizabeth, a member of the renewal’s local pastoral board, to speak. She told a similar story, saying she had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1979 at St. Anthony Church. She said she had been divorced four years at the time, was full of misery and felt she “was on God’s blacklist.”

“I didn’t realize that each person has a God-shaped hole in their lives that needs to be filled,” she said. Shaner said she committed her life to Christ while she was in a prayer group at St. Anthony’s and “in an instant, this poor woman had been made wealthy” – a paraphrase of Sirach 11:21, “For it is easy with the Lord suddenly, in an instant, to make a poor man rich.”

Father Mathewson’s involvement with the renewal dates back to its introduction at Worthington St. Michael Church in the 1970s, soon after he was ordained. “I was moved by the enthusiasm and the powerful prayer of the people there,” he said.

“I’ve always encouraged the kind of active worship that occurs with the renewal and similar groups because, though Christians are called to live a life of sacrifice, I’ve felt the focus should also be on joy and the ability to love in the midst of struggles.”
Msgr. Noon, founding pastor at St. Elizabeth, said his interest in the charismatic movement also began in the 1970s. At the time, he was founding pastor at St. Elizabeth and director of the diocesan Cursillo movement. A neighbor of the church asked him to attend a healing service, and “I was very impressed with everyone’s sincerity and enthusiasm,” he said.

“One thing led to another, and I went to a charismatic conference at Notre Dame in 1974 and an international conference in 1975 and became liaison with the bishop. It’s always given me great satisfaction to see the Holy Spirit at work in this way.”

Members of the movement say the Spirit manifests himself during charismatic services through the enthusiasm of members of the congregation, many of whom raise their hands in prayer and during songs, and some of whom may speak in tongues or deliver words of prophecy.

However, Lee said such departures from what is the standard at most Masses don’t occur at every service. They didn’t this past Sunday, but Lee said that doesn’t mean the Spirit is absent. “You never can tell,” she said. “There are times when he chooses to be quiet and others when he is very active. I believe it all depends on whatever the congregation needs at a particular time.”

Following Mass, while most of those in attendance gathered for refreshments, Lee and a married couple, Vicki and Bob Vennemeyer, remained in the sanctuary to lay hands on people and pray for particular needs. They have undergone training sponsored by the movement in this form of intense healing prayer, which is not intended to be considered a replacement for the Sacrament of Anointing.

About 40 people came up for prayer. In some cases, as the prayer concluded, they began falling toward the floor – an action described as resting in the Spirit. Those who were falling were caught by people who stood behind them to prevent a hard fall, and all got up after a few moments.

“This has happened to me after I’ve been prayed over,” Msgr. Noon said. “You experience this feeling of being perfectly at peace and you get so relaxed you start falling backward. It’s one of the charisms of the Holy Spirit – an action that shows his presence and is where the word charismatic comes from.

“I’ve prayed over people in this way and the same thing has happened. But because it’s not a sacrament, this type of prayer isn’t something that requires a priest, and it’s not included as part of the Mass.

“You can have it performed by a lay person, and I believe that if lay people can do it, let them do it. It’s one way of showing that the Spirit can be at work in all of us in some ways, while other things, such as Anointing of the Sick, are reserved for priests, as you saw at the healing Mass.”

Lee said people sometimes say they are cured of ailments through such prayer, but she urges them to be very cautious. “If they are healed, we aren’t the ones doing it,” she said. “It’s the Holy Spirit, who allows us to say words of knowledge and of healing.

“It’s not for us to say a healing has occurred. We always advise anyone who thinks that may have happened to continue whatever treatment they’re undergoing and to keep seeing their doctor. He’s the one who can tell if someone has been healed.”

Anyone interested in being more active with the charismatic renewal has several ways of increasing his or her involvement. Lee said 17 charismatic prayer groups meet weekly throughout the diocese, mostly at churches.

The movement also sponsors intercessory prayer on most Thursdays at its office and a women’s day of renewal on one Thursday a month at Holy Spirit and conducts seven-week Life in the Spirit seminars throughout the year at various locations, with the next one starting Monday, May 4, at Grove City Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church. It sponsors three retreats a year at St. Therese’s Retreat Center, as well as growth seminars, leadership schools, rallies, and classes to teach people about the type of prayer which occurred following Sunday’s Mass.

The feast of Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, is always an important event for the charismatic renewal. It plans a special Pentecost celebration on Saturday, May 30, at St. Joseph Cathedral, with Fathers G. Michael Gribble and David Sizemore as celebrants. In addition, it plans to open a branch office which will be open three days a week at Plain City St. Joseph Church.

Msgr. Noon says it’s understandable that some Catholics may feel a little apprehensive about the renewal, but adds that his more than 30 years of working with it have made him an enthusiastic advocate of the movement.

“Just give it a try and let the Holy Spirit do his work, and chances are it will make a tremendous difference in your life,” he said.

For more information, contact the renewal movement’s office at (614) 237-7080 or visit www.columbusccr.org.

Reprinted from the Catholic Times, Diocese of Columbus, May 2009