This was the name for the National Conference of the Charismatic Renewal in Austria. It took place at Schladming, a ski-resort in central Austria from August 25th till August 31th. The Austria NSC started his new form of a more family-orientated conference according to the English "Celebrate" - conference.

About 800 persons attended the conference, 250 of them were children and teenagers. They had their special programs during the whole week.

Wednesday was a day free of programs except an Eucharist on a mountain top and concerts in the evening. On all other days there was an Eucharist and a key talk in the morning.

As main speakers we had Charles Whitehead (GB), Theo van der Weele (NL), Bishop Alois Kothgasser (A) and Astrid Eichler/D). In the afternoon most of the participants went to some of the 75 seminars and workshops on a big variety of topics as marriage, family, vocation, prayer and social problems. But also creative elements were included in the program as mime, musicals and concerts.

One evening was dedicated to present the Alpha-course, another to introduce the so - called "Round Table", the way of reconciliation among leaders of different denominations and churches in Austria since 1997.

In this "ecumenical evening" testimonies showed the progress during the last few years in this respect. 95% of all participants encouraged us to start another conference of this type in 2004. Photos of the 2002 - conference can be seen at our homepage:  www.erneuerung.at 

P.S. September 2002 Verena and Hans-Peter Lang have been re-elected to co-ordinate the CCR in Austria for another three years. As a married couple they do the leadership together. Kees