ABOUT US

In 2017 the Holy Father Pope Francis met with leaders of Catholic Charismatic organisations and called for the creation of a new single service for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal across the world. With the support of Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, statutes were drafted and approved. In the process, this new service was named CHARIS, an acronym standing for Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service.

CHARIS is a body established by the Holy See, through the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. It therefore operates in close contact with the shepherds of the Church. In Ireland, Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan sits on the national service of communion and is the link person to the Church hierarchy in Ireland. The activities CHARIS carries out — are always, by nature carried out on behalf of the Church and for the good of the Church itself.

At the inauguration on the Feast of Pentecost in 2019 Pope Francis commissioned CHARIS with three specific tasks. He called on CHARIS to…

• “to share baptism in the Holy Spirit with everyone in the Church. It is the grace you have received. Share it! Don’t keep it to yourselves!

• to serve the unity of the Body of Christ, the Church, the community of believers in Jesus Christ. This is very important, for the Holy Spirit creates unity in the Church, but also diversity. The personality of the Holy Spirit is interesting: with the charisms he creates the greatest diversity, but then he harmonises the charisms in unity. Saint Basil says that “the Holy Spirit is harmony”; he creates harmony: harmony in the Spirit and harmony among us.

  and to serve the poor and those in greatest need, physical or spiritual. This does not mean, as some might think, that suddenly the Renewal has become communist. No, it has become evangelical, for this is in the Gospel.”