The Missionaries of God's Love

Fr. Ken's Article (June 1989)

TAKING THE RENEWAL TO THE HEART OF THE CHURCH

(Reprinted with the permission of Renewing Australia, PO Box 20, Lyneham ACT 2602.)

by Fr Ken BARKER

It is a unique happening in the Australian Catholic Church --- a Eucharist celebrated in charismatic style in the Archdiocesan Cathedral every Sunday night.

For five years now, at St. Christopher's Cathedral, Canberra, we have experienced such a special anointing from the Lord that now we do believe Jesus' words that with God nothing is impossible. If you had told me when I was ordained a priest fourteen years ago that I would be presiding over a congregation of hundreds of people waving their hands in the air, shouting joyously the praises of God, I would have thought you were crazy. But that is what happens every Sunday night. Under God's sovereign anointing we have experienced great conversions, healings and other signs and wonders, all in the context of the Eucharistic celebration, which is interspersed with charismatic praise and prophecy.

How did it all begin? In late 1983 I had recently been baptised in the Holy Spirit at a charismatic priests' retreat. I really felt the Lord had given me a new grace of surrender to Him and that He was beginning to put my personal life in order according to His priorities. I hadn't experienced great fireworks in this new conversion to Him, yet, all of a sudden, priestly ministry began to have a whole new power. What had been bestowed in ordination was now being released in ways that began to astound me. I had been meeting on Tuesday nights with a small group of people for a regular prayer meeting in a building adjoining the Cathedral. At this time the Lord began to speak to us in prophetic word about taking the grace of the charismatic renewal to the heart of the Church. What could that mean? Well, of course, into the Cathedral next door!

So, we decided to tack the prayer meeting on to the end of the regular 7pm Mass in the Cathedral. The very first time we set out to do this, the Lord showed us He had other plans. After delivering the homily at the Mass, I sensed the Lord prompting me to have an "altar call" --- not really a standard Catholic practice! Well, rather timidly, I suggested that maybe someone or other might like to come forward for prayer (thinking that probably no one would respond). To my everlasting surprise, three-quarters of the congregation catapulted out to the front. "What do I do now?" I thought to myself. It seemed appropriate to pray with everyone. So I simply began to pray and then, to my horror, a woman in the front keeled over like a sack of potatoes! "Oh, my goodness!" I thought. "What shall I tell the Bishop?"

Well, that was the beginning of a sovereign anointing from the Lord in which we experienced healing, deliverance and conversions in powerful and unexpected ways. None of us was ready for it. Two other priests, Bernie Patterson and Greg Beath, joined with me in a trio for a couple of years of exciting ministry as we preached the Word, exhorted the faithful to greater faith and presided over reconciliation and healing of the lives of many. Now they have moved on to other pastures, but the Lord has continued to bless the work.

One of the first words we received at St. Christopher's was from Ps 24: "Oh gates, lift high your heads, grow higher ancient doors, Let him enter, the king of glory."
The Lord was intent on entering His Temple again in glory. The ancient doors of the Cathedral Church were being burst open by the sovereign action of God. This is symbolic of what has happened in the Catholic Church as a whole in the last twenty years with the new outpouring of the Spirit The new wine of the Spirit is being poured out and the old wineskins cannot contain it, so whole new forms of worship, new ways of living, new styles of consecrated life, new types of community, are developing to contain the charisms of the Spirit and to make them available to the whole Church.

It was clear from the very beginning that the 7pm Mass was to be an instrument of evangelisation. At first, I found this a little surprising since I had always thought of the Eucharist simply as worship which, indeed, it primarily is. However, the people of God truly at worship in spirit and in truth are like a magnet which draws the lost, the lonely, the isolated and the alienated. The warmth, joyfulness, spontaneity, eagerness, and total participation of the congregation speak to people who are drawn to want to be part of it all. They encounter Jesus in the midst of His people; they experience the Church as it is intended to be --- a sign of love and unity, a sign of the Kingdom of God coming about in today's world.

One of the early images we received in prophecy was of the Cathedral being a great light, a beacon in a darkened world, and that people would be drawn to that light. People are not drawn by the building, as beautiful as it is, they are drawn to the light that radiates through the faces of the people who worship there. Often you hear visitors making comments such as: "everybody here is so full of love", "there's something different here that I have never found before", "people here love to praise God; why isn't that so in all our parishes?" etc. To facilitate this evangelising purpose, we have a team dedicated to welcoming new people and following them up later with care for their needs and offering invitations to other events that will aid their growth in the Lord.

We have discovered, also, that the Lord uses healing as part of the way He draws people to Himself. Often, people come just to be healed. It's an incredibly broken society with deep emotional hurts, sinful bondages, alienation in relationships, and much rejection, violence and hatred. It's not unusual for people to arrive at St Christopher's as a "last resort" measure after having tried every other solution that society can offer to solve their problems and to find the love they seek. If they are open, the Lord ministers His healing love to them, and then they begin to have the trust to be able to turn to Him in their hearts and make a personal commitment. Every fourth Sunday of the month we focus the Mass solely upon healing as such. We believe the Eucharist itself heals, so we always point people to Jesus. In the Catholic liturgy before receiving Jesus in communion we, echoing the words of the centurion in the Gospel, say: Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only sa! y the word and I shall be healed". While we anoint people with oil, and pray over them and counsel them, we believe that the most effective means of healing given to us is Jesus Himself, active in and through Eucharistic communion.

One of the great blessings of the St. Christopher's experience is its ecumenical dimension. On any Sunday night there is always a sprinkling of people from other Christian traditions. They seem to feel quite at home with the Eucharist, even though some would not be accustomed to this type of ritual worship in their own traditions. The presence of Christians from other churches is also a source of pain for us Catholics since we are not able to offer them full Eucharistic hospitality by inviting them to receive communion. This serves as a reminder of the distance we shall have to go in our ecumenical journey and spurs us on to pray even more for the unity which the Lord desires.

At St Christopher's we have discovered that Church liturgy doesn't come alive simply by improving techniques, bringing in the professionals, and applying the latest liturgical fads. It comes alive through the anointing of the Spirit, the inspired preaching of the Word, and the conversion of hearts to the Lord. We have found that music ministry opens the heart when it is conducted in the Spirit and not as performance ;or esoteric display of talent. We have found that the Lord honours preaching that concentrates on His saving mystery and does not in any way compromise the truth of the Gospel. And, probably the greatest secret of all, we have found the power of intercessory prayer. For a number of years prior to the initial outpouring, a small group of faithful women had interceded each week for the Lord to do a mighty work at St Christopher's. They continue to intercede today. If there is one visible and tangible sign I can identify in order to account for what happens at St ! Christopher's, I do not hesitate to point to these loyal intercessors who have consistently called upon the Lord and "stood in the gap" against the powers of darkness.

It is difficult to realistically assess the overall impact of this Mass on the Church as a whole. Thousands of Catholics from all over Australia have come to join in the celebration over the years. Any normal Sunday there is a congregation of three or four hundred people. While some make it their regular place of worship, others drop in every now and then to be refreshed by the alternative style of worship, but remain committed to their local parishes. There is always a substantial number of people being initiated into the Church through a catechumenal programme associated with the Mass. Many people move on from an initial conversion experience into committed relationships with Hephzibah Covenant Community¹, or plug into some of the various prayer groups in the charismatic renewal.

The greatest disappointment to a shepherd is to witness the number of people who are touched by the Lord at some time, but choose not to go on with Him in committed discipleship. They may hang around for a while enjoying the "good vibes", but not really place their lives in obedience to the Lord. Our greatest challenge is to try and "strengthen the nets" so that we can provide every opportunity, encouragement and challenge to people who come into the ministry to really reach their full potential in God, and to put their roots down in a strong faith environment which will nurture the seed that has been sown.

1  A Catholic community located in Braddon, Canberra. [Note added: Hephzibah now called Disciples of Jesus (see www.disciplesofjesus.org).]

Father Ken Barker of Canberra is an elder of Hephzibah Covenant Community. He is also director of St. Francis' Catholic Youth Ministry which evangelises in the high schools and colleges there. In addition he Ieads a new group of men and women called The Missionaries of God's Love, who are consecrated to God in poverty, chastity and obedience.