Church of the Risen Christ

The Catholic News - October 2006

By Vincent Especkerman

SINGAPORE - Charismatic leaders from Asia-Oceania will be converging on Singapore from Dec 9-10, 2006, to chart directions for the Renewal in the region. 

The worldwide Catholic Charismatic movement is divided into regional sub-committees which serve the needs of the people in their respective regions. The sub-committees in Europe and Africa are well established.

At the Pentecost 2006 International Conference in Rome, delegates unanimously decided to form a single sub-committee for the whole of the Asia-Oceania region to be headed by Filipino Father Bart Pastor, a former council member of International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services (ICCRS), who now heads a charismatic covenant community in the Philippines.

Singapore was asked to host the inaugural meeting of the Asia-Oceania Sub-Committee, where members will chart directions for the future.

"These are exciting times for the Charismatic Renewal in the region," said Gerard Francisco, Chairman of Singapore Archdiocese Catholic Charismatic Renewal (SACCRE). "The Asia-Oceania is a vast region of diverse cultures, and is the cradle of many of the world's great religions. We want to discern what the Holy Spirit is saying to God's people living in this part of the world," he added.

With the threat of terrorism, the problem of modernization and materialism, the SARS  and bird flu pandemics, tsunamis, earthquakes and floods, deforestation, and more recently the major oil-spill in the Philippines, there is an urgent need for discernment.

Allan Panozza, the Australian President of ICCRS, with its headquarters in Vatican City, will be down for this milestone meeting.

Other well-known figures in the region's Charismatic circles, including Father Rufus Pereira and Redemptorist Father Gino Henriques, will also be attending. Father Rufus Pereira, a former ICCRS council member and former head of the Healing Ministry, is currently the Vice-President of the International Committee for Exorcism and Deliverance.

Father Gino Henriques has been based in Singapore for many years. In conjunction with this high-level meeting, a 2-night Evangelization Rally in the evenings of those two days, will be held at the Church of the Risen Christ. The details will be announced at a later date.