BY Daniel Harkins | June 5 | 
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Church needs the deep breath of prayer, Bishop Keenan says
Bishop John Keenan believes that the Church urgently needs the deep breath of prayer and that Jesus wants us to touch human misery and wants us to know the power of his tenderness.
The Bishop of Paisley made the remarks when speaking to members of the Charismatic Renewal movement from across Scotland who recently came to St Francis’ Church in Port Glasgow for a celebration of Pentecost.
The annual Paisley Diocesan Charismatic Day of Renewal is the biggest gathering held by the group in the diocese—where it has had a presence for more than 40 years—and around 100 people attended this year including a number of families.
Before Mass was celebrated in the church, the Faithful gathered in the church hall for a lecture from Bishop Keenan, with a further talk from Grace Binnie and testimony from Tom Judge and Helen Border on how the Lord had changed their lives.
We need to be a people of missionary and prayer, he continued, saying we can do this if we use the gifts of the Holy Spirit and adding that Jesus wants spirit-filled Evangelisers, but evangelisers whose lives have been changed by God’s presence and steeped in prayer.
You only need to know Jesus to be able to evangelise, the bishop said, before adding that Scotland needs spiritual change more than political change—that it needs Jesus Christ—and concluded that we need to be a poor Church to pass on the faith to the poor.
The gathering ended with Bishop Keenan celebrating holy Mass with Fr Douglas Macmillan, spiritual director for Charismatic Renewal in Paisley Diocese.
Speaking after the May 23 event, Fr Douglas Macmillan said the day’s activities were a great celebration. Fr Macmillan first came into contact with Charismatic Renewal in 2005 through a prayer group in St Mirin’s Cathedral and was later appointed chaplain to the group in the diocese.
“It was all new to me at that point and time although I was aware of it,” he said. “But I became very much enamoured by it and found it as a valid way to turn towards God and receive God’s blessing upon you.
“I think people can get the wrong impression of Charismatic Renewal and think it is all about people waving their hands in the air and jumping up and down, but there is a very serious side as well and they do embrace other forms of prayer such as Adoration of the Sacrament and the Rosary.
Fr Macmillan praised Bishop Keenan for his support of the movement and said he gave a good and inspiring talk that ‘made you feel like going out and proclaiming the word right away.’
Helen Border, a member of the Paisley diocesan service team for Charismatic Renewal, attended the event and testified at it.
“The Holy Spirit radiated through the word of the Lord, the talks and testimonies given,” she said. “The joy could be seen very clearly in everyone’s faces as they praised the Lord in prayer and song.”
—Pic: Robert Wilson
—This story ran in full in the June 5 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.
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