About

Mid-South Regional Charismatic Conference (MSRCC)

What started as the outgrowth of a small charismatic prayer group that formed in 1980 at the St. Ignatius of Antioch Church in Tennessee eventually turned into what is now the 38th Annual Mid-South Regional Catholic Charismatic Conference. It has been operating since 1984 under the approval of Bishop David Raymond Choby as a sanctioned arm of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement.

Its aim is to form disciples in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and to enter into and become a part of the current of grace that is renewing the heart of the Church worldwide.

Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR)

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement began in 1967 at the Duquesne Weekend retreat in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania after a group of Catholic university students were baptized in the Holy Spirit at an Episcopalian charismatic prayer group.

Despite initial skepticism due to its ecumenical origins, the movement exploded throughout the United States in the form of prayer groups and covenant communities that were formed as individuals began to receive the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit: faith, expression of knowledge and wisdom, miracles, the gift of tongues and their interpretation, prophecy, discernment of spirits, and healing.

The movement eventually spread across the globe as missionary priests from outside the United States were baptized in the Holy Spirit after attending charismatic prayer groups, and in 1993 it was granted pontifical recognition as an official body of the Holy See in what is today called the Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service (CHARIS), a part of the Vatican Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life.

The last four popes have all spoken favorably of the movement, and as of 2013, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal has had over 160 million members who have testified to its transforming effect on their lives, and the movement continues to grow to this day.

If you’re in the US, regardless of whether or not you’re able to attend this year’s Mid-South Regional Catholic Charismatic Conference, we encourage you to seek out a local renewal community at Pentecost Today USA to enter into the grace of this renewal.

Frequently Asked Questions

We’ve compiled a list of common questions and misconceptions about the charismatic gifts below. The list is far from exhaustive, but it should give you a basic rundown of the teachings emphasized by the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement.

Answer: Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a life-transforming experience of the reality and presence of the risen Lord Jesus and of the Holy Spirit and His gifts. It is not a sacrament itself but a coming to life of the fundamental graces of the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. It enables the power and efficacy of these sacraments to come to fruition in a new way, resulting in a new empowerment for service and evangelization.

Answer: Yes. Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a grace available to all baptized Christians who are in a state of grace and seek it with an appropriate disposition. That isn’t to say that you’re guaranteed to receive it at any one particular encounter, but that if you continue to pursue it you can confidently expect that God will give it to you.

Conversely, if you haven’t yet been baptized in the Holy Spirit, that doesn’t necessarily mean something has gone wrong. If you’re actively pursuing spiritual growth, God is most likely working on foundational elements that need to be in place before you can receive the deeper indwelling of the Holy Spirit. If you’re not pursuing spiritual growth though, you likely won’t receive this grace until you start to live a life of more active Christian discipleship.

Answer: The charismatic gifts of the Holy spirit are faith, expression of knowledge and wisdom, miracles, the gift of tongues and their interpretation, prophecy, discernment of spirits, and healing. When spoken of as “charismatic” gifts, these are referring to supernatural gifts, not to be confused with the natural gifts of the Holy Spirit we receive at baptism and mature in over time.

Answer: Some are. According to St. Paul:

To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.

1 Corinthians 12:7-11 (NABRE)

Answer: Speaking in tongues has a variety of different manifestations and benefits. The term itself is overloaded and is frequently used to refer to one or more of the following situations:

  • Speaking in an unknown language (glossolalia) – When done in private it is for the edification of the speaker who is allowing the Holy Spirit to pray on his/her behalf. When done in public it is for the sake of praise and worship or for the sake of prophecy when another baptized Christian is both present and given the gift to translate it.
  • Speaking in human languages not know to the speaker (xenolalia) – A gift of the Holy Spirit given for the sake of communication between two or more people who don’t speak the same language.

Answer: Because Jesus commanded us to do so for the sake of bearing supernatural fruit.

As Christian disciples, we’re all called to act on God’s behalf in order to bear spiritual fruit, and failure to act is itself a sin if we refuse to exercise the gifts with which we’re entrusted. This principle is illustrated in the parable of the talents:

Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’ His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’

Matthew 25:24-30 (NABRE)

Additionally, we know from Jesus cursing the fig tree that simply bearing natural fruit “in season” is not good enough for Him:

Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went over to see if he could find anything on it. When he reached it he found nothing but leaves; it was not the time for figs. And he said to it in reply, “May no one ever eat of your fruit again!”

Mark 11:13-14 (NABRE)

Therefore, we must be obedient to the teachings of St. Paul regarding spiritual gifts so that we might bear supernatural fruit by the power of the Holy Spirit:

Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it. Some people God has designated in the church to be, first, apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then, gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work mighty deeds? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.

1 Corinthians 12:27-31 (NABRE)

Pursue love, but strive eagerly for the spiritual gifts, above all that you may prophesy.

1 Corinthians 14:1 (NABRE)

Now I should like all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy.

1 Corinthians 14:5 (NABRE)

So, [my] brothers, strive eagerly to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues, but everything must be done properly and in order.

1 Corinthians 14:39-40 (NABRE)

Answer: Yes. A baseline level of spiritual maturity is required to discern between authentic spiritual gifts and their counterfeits.

My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

John 10:27 (NABRE)

If you don’t yet trust yourself to know the voice of Jesus from the voice of the enemy, we recommend you only attempt to exercise the charismatic gifts with someone spiritually mature enough to help you discern their authenticity.

The prayer leaders at the Mid-South Regional Catholic Charismatic Conference are there to help guide you in this.

Additionally, even if you’re spiritually well-grounded, it’s still a good idea to seek out the opinion of others who are spiritually mature and know you well such as a spouse, close friend, or spiritual director when discerning the authenticity of spiritual gifts. All of us are vulnerable to deception, so the opinion of those who know us well can help keep us out of harm’s way.

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. Test everything; retain what is good. Refrain from every kind of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 (NABRE)

To learn to discern the voice of Jesus from the voice of the enemy, we recommend spending time meditating over sacred scripture, studying magisterial teachings, reading spiritual writings by the Saints, and praying to God to help you grow in the natural virtue of the “discernment of spirits” (as opposed to the charism, its supernatural counterpart).

Lastly, if you’re spiritually well-grounded but are still nervous about the exercising of these gifts, we encourage you to take the following words from Jesus to heart:

“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

Luke 11:9-13 (NABRE)

Answer: Yes. The truncated timeline of Vatican approval is as follows:

  • 1960s – Local chapters were overseen by their regional bishops
  • 1972 – The first international office was established in the United States
  • 1981 – The office was transferred to Rome
  • 1985 – The office was transferred to the Vatican
  • 1993 – The office became an official body of the Church (CHARIS)

You can read statements from the last four popes supporting the Catholic Charismatic Renewal here:

“Nothing is more necessary for such a world, more and more secularised, than the testimony of this ‘spiritual renewal” Its which we see the Holy Spirit bring about today in the most diverse regions and environments. Its manifestations are varied: deep communion of souls, close contact with God in faithfulness to the commitments undertaken at Baptism, in prayer that is often community prayer, in which each one, expressing himself freely, helps, supports and nourishes the prayer of others, and, at the basis of ever filling, a personal conviction. This conviction has its source not only in instruction received by faith but also in a certain experience of real life, namely, that without God, man can do nothing, that with him, on the contrary, everything becomes possible. […] How then could this spiritual renewal’not be a change’ for the church and for the world? And how, in this case, could one not take all the means to ensure that it remains so?

The address of Pope Paul Vl to participant in the Second International Leaders’ Conference of Charismatic Renewal in Rome, 19 May 1975

The Catholic charismatic movement is one of the many fruit of the Second Vatican Council, which, like a new Pentecost, led to an extraordinary flourishing in the Church’s life of groups and movements particularly sensitive to the action of the Spirit. How can we not give thanks for the precious spiritual fruits that the Renewal has produced in the life of the Church and in the lives of so many people? How many lay faithful – men. women, young people, adults and the elderly – have been able to experience in their own lives the amazing power of the Spirit and his gifts! How many people have rediscovered the faith, the joy of Prayer, the power and beauty of the Word of God, translating all this into generous service in the Church’s mission! How many lives have been profoundly changed! For all this today, together with you, I wish to praise and thank the Holy Spirit.”

Address of the Holy Father Pope John Paul ll to leaders of Renewal in the Spirit in Italy, Rome.

“As I have been able to affirm in other circumstances, the Ecclesial Movements and New Communities which blossomed after the Second Vatican Council constitute a unique gift of the Lord and a precious resource for the life of the Church. They should be accepted with trust and valued for various contributions they place at the service of the common benefit in an ordered and fruitful way. Your current reflection on the centrality of Christ in preaching is very interesting as well as on the importance of “Charisms in the life of the particular Church” referring to Pauline theology, the New Testament and the experience of the Charismatic Renewal. What we learn in the New Testament on charism, which appeared as visible signs of the coming of the Holy Spirit, is not a historical event of the past, but a reality ever alive. It is the same divine Spirit, soul of the Church, that acts in every age and those mysterious and effective interventions of the Spirit are manifest in our time in a providential way. The Movements and New Communities are like an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Church and in contemporary society. We can, therefore, rightly say that one of the positive elements and aspects of the Community of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is precisely their emphasis on the charisms or gifts of the Holy Spirit and their merit lies in having recalled their topicality in the Church.”

Address of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI to participants organized by the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowships

“You, the charismatic Renewal, have received a great gift from the Lord. Your movement’s birth was willed by the Holy Spirit to be ‘a current of grace in the Church and for the Church’. This is your identity: to be a current of grace. […] You have received the great gift of diversity of charisms, the diversity which becomes harmony in the Holy Spirit, in service to the Church. […].  The Charismatic Renewal is a great force meant to serve the preaching of the Gospel in the joy of the Holy Spirit. […] You, the people of God, the people of the Charismatic Renewal, must be careful not to lose the freedom which the Holy Spirit has given you! [.,.] I expect you to share with everyone in the Church the grace of baptism in the Holy Spirit (a phrase we find in the Acts of the Apostles).”

Address of the Holy Father Pope Francis, Charismatic Renewal at 37th Convocation at Roman Olympic Stadium, Rome, Italy  June 1, 2014

Answer: Here. The Doctrinal Commission put together a list of questions and answers on behalf of CHARIS for the faithful to learn from. All the answers on that page have been vetted by canon lawyers and are approved by the Vatican.

Conclusion

If you’d like to delve more deeply, we encourage you to join us at this year’s Mid-South Regional Catholic Charismatic Conference.