CV NEWS FEED // About 3,000 Catholics gathered in Dubai for the 5th Convention of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal last weekend, which hosted participants from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Charis (the Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service) hosted the event, along with Bishops Paolo Martinelli of Southern Arabia and Aldo Berardi of Northern Arabia.
The conference featured international speakers, testimonies, praise and worship sessions, workshops, and healing sessions. Some of the speakers included Archbishop Christophe Zakhia El-Kassis of the UAE, Bishops Martinelli and Berardi, and several Charis leaders, including Chevalior Cyril John, Andrés Arango, and Dr. Joseph Lukose.
The theme was “Be holy, for I am holy,” (1 Peter 1:16.) Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life, sent a reflection where he wrote that God’s holiness is not only “a total separation from evil” stemming from his transcendence, but his holiness is also relational, because God is the “Holy One of Israel.”
“God elected an insignificant people and made them the recipients of care, fatherly and motherly attention,” wrote Farrell:
This is an invitation addressed to each person to become neighbors to their brothers and sisters, to enter into a relationship of closeness, of care, and of love with others, especially with those who are suffering.
In 2008, Abu Dhabi, UAE, hosted the first Gulf Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services (GCCRS) conference. Four conferences have followed, held in Kuwait and Oman. These conferences usually bring more than 2500 participants.
In the GCCRS’s prayer for the conference, the group prayed that “the stream of grace flow from this gathering through the entire Gulf region.”
“Make it be an event of grace, healing, restoration, and building of your chosen flock in Charis and the Catholic Church,” the prayer continued:
Bless the whole Gulf region, so that every knee shall bend and every tongue shall proclaim, Jesus is the Lord, inspired by the Spirit of God… Bless our leaders to guide us as per your will. Empower and enlighten all of us and make our fellowship, church and the region, an instrument of peace, compassion, harmony and fraternal human love.