Journal

A Charismatic Catholic experience

Posted on August 27th, 2005, in the evening

I visited a Charismatic Catholic conference with a friend today and received both food for the soul and food for thought. (No food for the stomach, though - that was provided by the good people at The Black Bull.)

There was much in common with events in my own stream: the retreat centre, the tents, the marquee, the bookstalls, the seminars, the worshops, the celebrations, the worship band, the speakers and especially the Matt Redman CDs playing between sessions all seemed strangely familiar. I'm glad Christians from the whole spectrum have freezing cold nights under canvas in common.

There were lots of the same kinds of faces as well - I recognise these people in Christians I know. There really is a family likeness. The occasional cassocks and habits and what-not are something of a novelty, but you can tell it in people's eyes.

The rituals were unfamiliar (although it was enlightening to discover the source of much of the Anglican communion). It's always an interesting experience not knowing what I'm meant to be saying or doing, having long forgotten that initiation in to my own tradition. Mostly it was fun muddling along, but there was one sad note in the otherwise wonderful strangeness: not feeling able to take communion with these brothers and sisters. I don't know whether I would have been forbidden (I didn't mention that I'm not a Catholic), but the teaching beforehand had been clear that not sharing the eucharist with non-Catholics is one of the pains of the divided church, so I bowed my head for a blessing at the appropriate moment.

But there are so many of the deepest things I hold in common with the folks at the conference today. The sense of welcome was utterly genuine, and I've been personally challenged to a more incarnational discipleship, stimulated by an unfamiliar telling of early church history, and inspired by accounts of the lives of great men and women of God. The abiding effect of the visit for me will be a stirring to pursue more passionately in my own life our common call to love, and for that if nothing else I'm hugely grateful.