Nordic Charismatic Conference, Stockholm 2010
28-31 October 2010, S:ta Eugenia Catholic Church Kungsträdgårdsgatan 12 och S:ta Clara Church (City, near the Centralstation)
“…Thanks to the Charismatic Movement, a multitude of Christians, men and women, young people and adults have rediscovered Pentecost as a living reality in their daily lives. I hope that the spirituality of Pentecost will spread in the Church as a renewed incentive to prayer, holiness, communion and proclamation…” (John Paul II 2004)
"I hope the Holy Spirit will meet with an ever more fruitful reception in the hearts of believers and that the 'culture of Pentecost' will spread, so necessary in our time" (Benedictus XVI 2005)
Bishop Anders Arborelius of Stockholm, Fr Wilfried Brieven from Belgium (earlier personal secretary to the late cardinal Leo Josef Suenens), deacon Pancho Chin A Loi, pastor Ulf Ekman, deacon Christof Hemberger from Germany, deacon Inga Pagreus (Swedish lutheran Church), Charles och Sue Whitehead from England.
Fr Wilfried Brieven is a catholic priest from Belgium who has been a personal secretary to the late cardinal Leo Josef Suenens. He will take us through a flashback of the early history of the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church.As a personal secretary to the late cardinal Suenens he became involved in the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church at a very early stage.
In 1974 he became a member of the International Catholic Charismatic Council that was formed in the US, where the Renewal movement was started at the universities of Duquesne in Pittsburg , Pennsylvania and Notre-Dame in Ann Arbor under the leadership of Ralph Martin in 1967. In 1978 the International Catholic Charismatic Service (ICCRS) was formed and Cardinal Suenens was appointed as a pontifical advisor to support it.
Kardinal Suenens encountered the CCR in 1972 during a visit to the US. He was personally touched by this encounter, seeing how the church was thriving under the influence of the Holy Spirit as if it were a new Pentecost. He spent the rest of his life supporting and guiding the Renewal movement. He also played a crucial role in making the pope and the Curia understand the aims and objectives of the Charismatic Renewal movement. The Charismatic Renewal movement in the Catholic Church has been giving strong support by all the popes since Pope PaulVI.
The first international Catholic Charismatic conference for leaders was organized in 1973 in Grottaferrata in Italy. Between 1974 -1986 at the instigation of Cardinal Suenes the Malines Documents were produced to serve as a guide for the Renewal with valuable insight into its possibilities and its needs. The last 2 documents addressed two specific issues namely an over-reliance on introspection and the controversial phenomenon Resting of the Spirit (1986).
Cardinal Suenens had a strong vision of the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit even before his encounter with the CCR; his Episcopal motto was “In Spiritu Sancto (In the Holy Spirit).
Pope John XXIII found in Cardinal Suenens a man who shared his vision for the renewal in the church. When the first session of the
second Vatican council fell into organizational chaos under the weight of its documents, he invited Cardinal Suenen to essentially set the agenda for the entire council.
Pope Paul VI appointed him as one of the four moderators of the second session of the council. It is also believed that he was a decisive force behind the Conciliar documents “
Lumen Gentium” - The dogmatic Constitution of the Church and “
Gaudium et Spes” - Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern world.
Christof Hemberger lives with his family in Ravensburg in southern Germany. He and his wife Sabine are members of the local Emmanuel-Community.He is a member of the ICCRS’ subcommittee for Europe working with young people.Christof is a social worker and a permanent deacon. He was born 1974 and has been active in the CCR from his youth.
He encountered Christ is a personal way and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a teenager. At 17 he became a leader of a prayer group for young people. In 1992 Christof became a member of the Diocesan CCR leadership and in 1997 he became a member of the CCR’s leadership for young people in Germany.
Since 2000 Christof has worked for CCR full time and he is now responsible for personal and leadership training.
Charles Whitehead, a catholic and his wife Sue, an anglican, both from England have been leading an ecumenical prayer group together since 1979. Charles and Sue are also involved in organizing ecumenical Charismatic Summer conferences in England for families annually. Charles has been active in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal for many years on both national and International levels. He was at one time the leader of the national service committee for CCR in England.
Charles worked earlier on in the paper industry and was the managing director for a company in the MoDo group and chairman of the board of directors of Mo and Domsjo UK Ltd.
He was the president of the ICCRS from 1990 to 2000. From 2000 he has been working full time for the church and the Catholic Renewal movement. He is also very much involved in ecumenical cooperation and is the president of ICCOWE (International Catholic Charismatic Consultation of World Evangelisation).
Charles traveled extensively during his tenure as president of the ICCRS and shortly afterwards talking about his faith and experience. He has also been very involved in building bridges to other Christian denominations. On one occasion he and Sue were speakers at the “Livets Ord” European Conference in Uppsala. Charles is also the Chairman of the Catholic Evangelisation Services (which includes the catholic Alpha groups), Coordinator of programs for young people in his diocese, member of Azusa Centennial Cabinet and the vice chairman of the Pentecostal and charismatic renewal leaders’ conference.
Inga Pagreus is a deacon in S:ta Clara (swedish lutheran church) in the city of Stockholm. S:ta Clara has an extensive social work among homeless, drugaddicts and prostitutes. We hope to be a channel for Jesus to every person we meet, and invite people to the community in the church where we can offer friendship and mediate contacts with social autho-rities, healthcare and treatment clinics, Inga says. The parish is organized in cell-groups, and the social work is dependent on volonters and is grounded in prayer.
Ulf Ekman is pastor of World of Life. His teaching on faith, a passionate Christian lifestyle, spiritual leadership and unity in the body of Christ has touched thousands of people all over the world. In 1979, Ulf Ekman was ordained minister of the Swedish Lutheran Church, but in the beginning of the 1980s, after studies at Rhema Bible Training Center in Tul-sa, USA, he left the Lutheran Church and founded Word of Life Church and Bible Centre in Uppsala, Sweden. The last years Ulf has reflected over the nature of the Church and the fullness in the Body of Christ in the Uni-versal Church, which has lead him to an openness to the older denomina-tions, the orthodox and catholic churches.
Bishop Anders Arborelius converted from Swedish lutheran church to Catholicism at the age of 20 and entered the Carmelites. He studied in Bruges and Rome and was ordained a priest in 1979. He became bishop of Stockholm in 1998 and was the first ethnically swedish catholic bishop in Sweden since the Reformation.
Pancho Chin A Loi is a permanent deacon and lives with his family in Stockholm. He is chairman for KKS, the national servicecommitté for Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Sweden.
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(Preliminary)
Thursday October 28th
- Registration from 16:00 at St Eugenia
- 18:00 Holy Mass
- 19:00 Welcome and opening of the conference with songs of praise and prayers
- Coffee and mingling
Friday 29th
- 9:00 Laudes, worship
- 10:00-12:00 Speakers: F Brieven, Christof Hemberger
- 12:00 Lunch
- 14:00-16:00 Workshop 1
- 17:00 Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
- 18:00 Holy Mass. Bishop of Stockholm Anders Arborelius and His excellency archbishop Emil Paul Tscherrig, papal nuncio for the Nordic countries.
- 19:30 Evening session – "Equipped by the Spirit - Christian Discipleship in the Power of the Holy Spirit". Charles and Sue Whitehead
Saturday 30th
- 9:00 Laudes,worship
- 10:00-12:00 Speakers: F Brieven, Christof Hemberger
- 12-13 Lunch
- No conference program 13.00-16.00 - opportunity to attend mass and deacon ordination in the Catholic Cathedral at 13.00
- 16-17.30 Workshop 2
- 18:30 Evening session - "The Power of Unity - Working together in the Power of the Holy Spirit" Charles and Sue Whitehead, Ulf Ekman
Sunday 31st
- 11:00 Holy Mass
- 14:00-16:00 Session 3 ”The Holy Spirit - the Spirit of Love, Power and Unity”. Ulf Ekman, closing celebration.
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The Conference organisers:
KKS
(Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Sweden)
In Collaboration with
The Catholic Diocese of Stockholm,
St. Clara Church
(Friends of St Clara, Swedish Lutheran Church)
together with Contact persons from the Catholic church in the Nordic Countries:
Iceland: María Priscilla Zanoria priscillaz@simnet.is Tel no. (354) 5643117 Cell no. (354) 8974013 / + 354- 8975391
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1. The Holy Spirit and social work
As Christians we are called to help our neighbour and bring the love of God to them through social work reaching out to those in need. With example from among others S:ta Clara church in the city of Stockholm we study how prayer an openness to the Holy Spirit is a source of power and inspiration for this. Inga Pagreus
2. The Holy Spirit and parish renewal - Youth is the Church of today!
Many people find it difficult to live an active Christian life in accord with Church tradition. A parish need to offer support for the families to communicate Faith to next generation and to evangelize in the neighbourhood. It needs to reach out to the young people which is not only the Church of the future, but foremost the Church of today.
This workshop is about how a fuller life in the Holy Spirit enriches the Church with many gifts. Gifts of prayer and praise that deepens the contemplative dimension of the christian faith, gifts of service that inspire to a holy life in work for peace and justice, the charismatic gifts that give a sensitivity for the Spirit, and an expectant faith that God really can change human conditions, and a more devoted engagement for evangelization. The workshop has its focus especially on the young generation. Christof Hemberger
3. The Holy Spirit and Christian unity
The Pentecostal movement originated as an unexpected developement in World Christianity early in the 20:th century. In the middle of the 20:th century the typical pentecostal experience also became rooted in the older denominations, the lutheran, anglican and catholic churches in the form of charismatic renewal. What is the purpouse with this acting of God? What is the role of this pentecostal/charismatic stream in a broader ecumenical context? This is items that will be reflected over in this workshop. Charles Whitehead
4. The´Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit
Sue Whitehead
The conference will take place in the centre of Stockholm:
S:ta Eugenia Catholic church,Kungsträdgårdsgatan 12 Stockholm, 10 minutes walking from the Central station near the beautiful park of Kungsträdgården and St. Clara church (Lutheran) nearby the Central station.
Participants will be responsible for providing their own meals during the conference. There are many eateries in the vicinity of the place the conference will be held.
As far as accommodation for participants is concerned there are some alternative offers for those who have not yet arranged their own:
- Single room in a hotel 1200 SKr per person/night.
- Shared double room 650 SKr per person/night.
- Hostel (multiple beds in a room) 300 SKr per person/night.
- Living with a family, which could mean a longer distance from the place the conference will be held.
&nbs