HISTORY OF CHARISMATIC RENEWAL

What is CHARIS Canada? It’s our answer to the call of the Holy Father to spread baptism in the Holy Spirit, proclaim the saving work of Jesus Christ, draw Christians together, reach out to the poor, and let the current of the grace of Pentecost flow throughout the whole Church.

 

    When he met with leaders of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal 10 years ago in Rome, Pope Francis told them he wanted an enhanced and refocused approach to the renewal. He followed up with a period of reflection, and in 2019 he created CHARIS (Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service) to replace two existing bodies, expand the scope of the renewal, and move it into the very heart of the Church. CHARIS Canada (officially, CHARIS National Service of Communion for Canada), formed in 2022, is the Canadian structure for this initiative.

 

    With the formation of CHARIS, the role of the renewal has been expanded dramatically. It is no longer to be just one Catholic movement among within the Church; it is now an arm of the Church. The whole Church is to become charismatic—that is, filled anew with the power and grace of the Holy Spirit. 

 

    With that in mind, the Pope not only combined the two older bodies—one of them representing charismatic prayer groups, the other charismatic covenant communities—but called for inclusion of the many “expressions and realities” of the renewal beyond those two categories: youth ministries, schools of evangelization, Bible colleges, publishing houses, religious communities, ethnic organizations, and any other ministries that have their roots in baptism in the Holy Spirit and wish to take part in CHARIS. It will be “all hands on deck working together preparing the Church to embrace her call,” in the words of our national co-ordinator, Brian Sullivan.

 

    CHARIS is organized at four levels: international, continental, national, and regional. At each level, a “service of communion” is being established to provide leadership, communication, service and fellowship. These are not governing bodies; all authority within the renewal continues to be held by the Pope and our bishops and pastors, and participation of “expressions and realities” in CHARIS is voluntary.

 

    The international and continental levels have already been formed; we belong to “America,” the name used for a service of communion taking in the entire Western hemisphere. The Canadian service of communion was organized by the existing French and English national service committees, and is made up of members of those two groups plus representatives of religious communities, schools of evangelization and youth ministries [I’m sure I’ve forgotten somebody!], totalling 16 people [my count based on an email list]. Work has begun on establishing four regional services of communion, for Atlantic Canada; Quebec; Ontario; and Western Canada, which includes the territories.

 

    The regional services of communion will work with the regional assemblies of bishops, especially in evangelization, ecumenism, and outreach to the poor. Within each region, they will share resources, organize events, reach out to new ministries, and join together to offer praise and worship to the Lord and listen to His word for direction and guidance.