Last month, Hispanic Catholics in South Jersey traveled to the cradle of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal for an international conference celebrating 50 years of life in the Spirit.
The July 20-23 gathering in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, brought together more than 6,000 in prayer, adoration, liturgy, and development for the 2017 Jubilee Conference. The diverse, multi-lingual event drew Haitians, Filipinos, Hispanics and English-speaking faithful.
Eighteen of these individuals in attendance serve as leaders of Hispanic Charismatic prayer groups throughout the Diocese of Camden, said Kathia Arango, National Coordinator for the Hispanic Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
“Those days were a powerful moment of evangelization,” she said, referring to the witness talks; praise and worship experiences; and, most especially, the Eucharistic adoration throughout the streets of Pittsburgh, outside the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
As well, some diocesan participants took time to visit the nearby Ark and the Dove center, where 12 people on a retreat in 1967 received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, beginning the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, a movement that has since spread worldwide.
“It was a blessing to celebrate this year’s gathering, in the same city where it started. In addition to celebrate the fruits of the renewal in the past 50 years, the conference was a powerful experience to encourage us to continue spreading the Good News of the Gospel: Jesus is Alive!” Arango noted.