Through the ages, the Church has survived but has experienced many ecclesial movements which played important roles in renewing her spiritual life of various crucial times in history. The Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement is one of many recent ecclesial experiences after the Second Vatican Council together with others like the Focolare, the Curcillo, the Marriage Encounter and many more inspired by the Spirit to refresh spiritual life. All these involved something old, that is, going back basically to the challenge of the Gospel but packaged in new wrappings through distinctive fresh approaches more appropriate to the needs of the times. It is this freshness, this newness that characterize the Charismatic activity of the Spirit in the Church.

Its momentum started during one weekend retreat in February 1967 with a group of about 20 students and faculty members at the Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. This event was marked by an outpouring of charismatic gifts like the apostolic experience recorded in the Book of Acts and the fulfillment of the promise in Acts 1: 8, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; then you are to be My witnesses." Those who were present testified to have received gifts like that of speaking in tongues or glossolalia, prophecy, discernment of spirits, and the power to drive away evil.

The event obviously manifested the Holy Spirit's response to the expressed need of the Church to experience a new Pentecost as prayed for by Pope John XXIII and intimated through the teachings of Vatican II, likewise, the later pronouncements of Pope Paul VI. The movement rapidly spread to the campuses of Notre Dame University and the universities in Michigan and Indiana. Like wildfire, it drew so many to a spiritual re-awakening in schools, parishes, convents, monasteries, offices in all parts of the world, the Philippines included. According to the Malines Document I, as of 1993 or a little more than 25 years later, it was estimated that some 60,000,000 Catholics have already experienced being "baptized in the Holy Spirit."

The Catholic Church in the Philippines, particularly, the Archdiocese of Manila witnessed the swift spread of the movement not very long after it started in the United States and in Canada. This is because of the many Filipino residents, visitors, and students abroad.

In the beginning, there were many "loose" groups which gathered together not formally organized but came to worship God in prayer and songs, to read the Bible and share their personal experiences in finding peace and consolation in the Lord Jesus. The only community that was known to be organized then, which offered schedule after schedule of Life in the Spirit Seminars (LSS) and conducted regular weekly prayer meetings was the Ang Ligaya ng Panginoon Community, founded in July 1975 under the headship of Fr. Herb Schneider, S.J. Ang Ligaya ng Panginoon was receiving continuous guidance from Ann Arbor, Michigan directly from some of the professors who experienced the week-end retreat of February 1967.

Subsequently, people who experienced renewed awareness of God's love felt the intense desire to share their faith and service to others, thus, prayer groups and communities mushroomed everywhere. Many foreign speakers and guests were invited for congresses, conventions and healing explosions. They helped build the firm foundation of the renewal we have in the Archdiocese today.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE PAST AND PRESENT...

Through the years, with the movement of people and events, coupled with problems solved and unsolved, modifications and innovations have become necessary to answer the challenges of the new wave of activities and time. Under the guidance of Bishop Bacani, the Archdiocesan Secretariat has undergone series of reorganizations. Today, the Secretariat has been replaced by the Archdiocesan Executive Council made up of four branches. They are: The Federation of Transparochial Charismatic Communities Foundation, Inc., the Alliance of Parochial Charismatic Communities Foundation, Inc. or that which we knew as parish-rooted communities, or the Office Prayer Group, and the Young Ambassadors for Christ Ministry or the Youth and Campus Ministry.

WHAT DO WE DO, WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal has now reached its 33rd year of experience, the age of adulthood, the stage ready to be engaged.