As we celebrate our thirtieth anniversary as an organized movement (recognizing that there were individual Catholics baptized in the Holy Spirit prior to the Duquesne Weekend, seen as the beginning of the Pentecostal Movement within the Catholic Church), we want to recognize and affirm the various servant leadership groups that have arisen in the Renewal and honor those who have served and those who currently serve on them.
In doing so we want to also recognize and affirm that such servant leadership groups exist to help the local bishops, who are in communion with each other and the Bishop of Rome, and who together provide leadership to the Catholic Church.
In May 1975 the NSC was incorporated as a separate corporation. Until then the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service Committee had served as both a pastoral committee and as the board of directors of the Charismatic Renewal Services, which was then headquartered in both South Bend and Ann Arbor, MI. After the separate incorporation, the two entities began to evolve into separate ministries. This separation was eventually clarified by the NSC's move of its offices, Chariscenter USA, from South Bend to the Washington, D.C., area.
While in its early years the Committee consisted mainly of leaders from the covenant community network that had formed it, by the early 1980s diocesan renewal leaders and others not from the community network began to be elected.
The Committee has seen 46 different men and women serve on it over the years. Two of its past members have gone on to be with the Lord (Rev. Jim Ferry and Rev. Emile Lafranz).
The current members are: Rev. Patsy Iaquinta (WV), Chairman, Deacon Bill Brennan (CA), Dean Condon (NY), Rev. Art Cooney (MI), Lois Doyle (SD), Dr. Michele Greischar (IL), Dave Mangan (one of the participants in the Duquesne weekend) (MI), Sr. Martha Jean McGarry (NM), Deacon Ron Ochner (NJ), and Rudy Pruden (DC)
The mission of the NSC of the CCR is "to stir into flame the grace of Pentecost within and beyond the Church, to broaden and deepen the understanding that baptism in the Holy Spirit is the Christian inheritance of all, and to strengthen the Catholic Charismatic Renewal."
The Committee was chaired for many years by Bishop Joseph McKinney, Auxiliary Bishop of Grand Rapids, Michigan. During his tenure, the Committee prepared the 1984 Pastoral Statement on the Charismatic Renewal, in which the Bishops' stated that "insofar as the renewal makes its own what is central to the enduring reality of the Gospels, it cannot be dismissed as peripheral to the life of the church."
The current chairman is Bishop Sam Jacobs of Alexandria, LA, and under his leadership the Committee will soon issue a new statement on the CCR.
Current members of the Committee are: Archbishop Harry Flynn (St. Paul-Minneapolis, MI), Bishop Francisco Garmendia (Auxiliary, NY), Bishop Edward Hughes (Metuchen, NJ), Bishop Raymond Lucker (New Ulm, MI), Bishop Joseph McKinney, Bishop Donald Montrose (Stockton, CA), Bishop George Pearce (Providence, RI), Bishop Kenneth Povish (Lansing, MI), and Bishop Patrick Ziemann (Santa Rosa, CA).
In 1976 several liaisons met for the first time as a national group and with the Bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on the CCR.
In 1977 the first steering committee was elected to prepare and oversee the business of what was to become the Association of Diocesan Liaisons (ADL) to the CCR. The committee is called the Diocesan Liaison Steering Committee (DLSC).
A constitution and by-laws adopted in 1990 provides structure and organization and calls liaisons together for mutual support in an annual conference. The ADL also sponsors an annual theological symposium.
The current Chairperson of the Diocesan Liaison Steering Committee is Arlene Apone of Detroit. Other current members of the DLSC are Rev. Oris Broussard (LA), Josephine Cachia (NY), Sr. Pauline Cinquini (NY), Rev. Bill Delaney, SJ (CA), and Rev. Richard Loch (CA).
Over the years the ADL and the NSC have sought to work together on a number of common initiatives and until recently have met together annually for a day of prayer and sharing. The Chairperson of the DLSC serves as a Consultant to the NSC.
At the meeting a process was begun for discerning an Hispanic National Committee. The Leaders soon became independent from their two sponsoring groups. In June 1990, at the next Leaders' Encounter, a national structure was decided upon by the more than 140 leaders gathered in Chicago. This structure consists of a five-member Committee called Comité Nacional de Servicio Hispano (CNSH) (Hispanic National Service Committee) and Regional Representatives from eight regions where Hispanics are located, who work in close contact with the CNSH.
Since 1990 there has been a yearly Leaders' Meeting - called an ECCLE (Encuentro Cátolico Carismático Latino Estadounidense). The CNSH has also organized Hispanic tracks or Mini-Conferences at the National Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conferences; produced a quarterly bulletin; and sponsored numerous regional gatherings.
The current Chairperson is Ramonita Torres of Reading, Pennsylvania. The other current members are Danilo Chamorro (MD), Justo Eceiza (FL), Esther Garzon (CA), and Gavino Vazquez (MI). Rev. Joseph Malagreca (NY) serves as Spiritual Director.
The Council has convened to hold a yearly Encounter of Leaders. In addition the Council sponsors a yearly National Haitian Conference. This Council has on occasion sponsored the Haitian Mini-Conference in the National Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conference.
There is also a bimonthly bulletin published by the Council.
In the Encounter of 1993 the structure of the Council was slightly modified to better pastor the Renewal in the geographical areas where Haitians live. At present the Council is made up of eight members. In addition there is an adjunct committee of five members representing other areas where there is a Haitian population.
Rev. Joseph Malagreca of Queens Village, New York, is the Moderator. The other Council Members are Jean-Michel Bolivar (MA), Laurette Felix (NY), Marie-Josee Joseph (NY), Jeanne B. Lambert (NY), Rosel Lebreton (FL), Lise Marc (NY), and Occide Pierre (NY).
The Korean Service Committee has been involved in sponsoring Life in the Spirit Seminars in the Korean Catholic communities cross the U.S., publishing a newsletter, and has participated in organizing recent National Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conferences and Korean Mini-Conferences within them.
The current Chairperson is Rev. Louis Kim (NJ). Since the Committee consists of twenty persons, it is not possible to list them all individually. Key leaders on the Committee include Rev. Augustin Park (NJ) and Deacon Joseph Lee (MI). Marcus Moon Lim (NJ) serves as General Secretary.
In 1994 the Filipino-American CCR NSC was formed by Filipino-American leaders in Houston, Texas, gathered for that purpose. The Committee consisted of eleven members and Angelina Sarmiento (TX), was elected Coordinator. An Advisory Committee of another ten members was also identified. Also elected at the time were Filipino-American representatives to the Advisory Committee to the NSC: Angelina Sarmiento; Deacon Robert and Aurora Leicht (TX); and Joe and Susie Tigtig (IL).
The Filipino-American CCR has participated in planning several National Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conferences and organizing a Filipino-American Mini-Conference within them.
In March 1996 the Alliance of Filipino Catholic Charismatic Prayer Communities in North America was formed from a group of Filipino-American leaders who, since 1987, had convened an annual Filipino-American Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conference. Msgr. Fred Bitanga (CA) was elected Head Shepherd, Fr. Ed Abano (NJ) was elected Assistant Head Shepherd, and Bob Canton (CA) was elected Overall Servant Coordinator.
Also elected were twelve other leaders as officers and regional coordinators. The Alliance is publishing a newsletter, and will convene its 9th annual conference this July.
The two leadership networks are discussing ways to work together for the good of the CCR among Filipino-Americans in the U.S.
From among the hundreds of communities and fellowships (associations of Catholic members of ecumenical communities) that exist in the Renewal today, some thirty now belong to an international Catholic association formed in the late 1980s. This association is called the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowships.
This association of communities (not of the individual lay men and women within them) was recognized by a Decree of the Pontifical Council for the Laity in 1990 as a Private Association of the Christian Faithful of Pontifical Right for a five year ad experimentum (as is the normal case for all new associations) and received final recognition in November 1995. (A fuller description was published in the November 1996 issue of Living Water.)
In its statutes the Fraternity "identifies itself with the graces of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and is a structure for the Renewal" and "is called on to establish bonds of fraternal charity and collaboration with the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services for the good of the charismatic renewal in the Catholic Church."
In his remarks to the Seventh International Meeting of the Fraternity this past November, Pope John Paul IIrecognized those present as "represent(ing) communities of the Charismatic Movement from around the world, which, in their variety, bear witness to the spiritual gifts which the Holy Spirit is bestowing on the Church even in our own day."
Currently there are seven communities and one fellowship that are members of the Catholic Fraternity from the North American Region. Founding members include: City of the Lord Covenant Community, in Tempe, Arizona; Community of God's Delight in Dallas, TX; and Glory to God Covenant Community in Topeka, KS. New members added since 1990 include: Alleluia Catholic Fellowship (of the Alleluia Community), in Augusta, GA; Comunidad Neuva Alianza in San Luis Potosi, Mexico; Comunidad A.M.A. in Brownsville TX; Mt Zion Catholic Community in Montrose, MI; and People of God Community, Dallas, PA.
A second meeting was held in March 1996 that also involved some sixty leaders. The Statement of Unity was signed by the thirty leaders not present in 1995.
After that meeting, at the invitation of the NSC, the Ad Hoc Committee of Four, as well as the representatives from the ethnic reality and Franciscan University of Steubenville have joined together to plan this year's National Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conference.
Most recently the Ad Hoc Committee of Four has decided to expand to five by including an ethnic representative.
Bishop Sam Jacobs is the Chairman. Other members include Arlene Apone (Diocesan Liaison Steering Committee), Dale Clark (Catholic Fraternity), Rev. Patsy Iaquinta (NSC), and now Rev. Joe Malagreca, representing the ethnic reality.
The Ad Hoc Committee of Five will convene a special evening session in Pittsburgh prior to the Conference.
In Paul's letter to the Romans he exhorts us, "We have many parts in the one body, and all these parts have different functions... so we are to use our different gifts in accordance with the grace that God has given us." (Rom. 12:4,6).
The leadership structures on a national level and those who serve on them have arisen in response to the Lord's gifts and call. They must, as the writer of Hebrews makes clear, "give to God an account of their service" (Heb. 13:17).
Let us support them with our prayer as we--together--move forward empowered by the Holy Spirit into the third millennium of Christianity.
This article has been reprinted, with permission, from the Jul./Sept./Aug. 1997 issue of the Chariscenter USA newsletter.
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