By Renée St. Martin Wizeman

The numbers and enthusiasm tell a tale of renewal. This year, 550 registrants – including a contingent of youth from across the diocese, and several dozen Carroll College students – doubled last year’s attendee count for the diocesan Holy Spirit Conference.

The conference began Friday, May 2, with Bishop George Leo Thomas delivering his welcome. He invited everyone to “open wide the doors of your heart. Ask the Spirit to rest on every heart and home, take away fear and sadness, and keep our eyes and hearts focused on Jesus.”

Bishop Thomas spoke of a series of 12 reflections by Father Ratzinger, which were eventually published as The Introduction to Christianity by Cardinal Ratzinger. “Professor Ratzinger was beginning to pick up the barometric pressures…the post-council years in which the Holy See would witness the emptying of the churches in western Europe.”

Bishop Thomas said Professor Ratzinger’s conclusions were both profound and sad: the world had lost a sense of God among us. Father Ratzinger suggested that the remedy was “…to recover the wisdom of the great St. Augustine, …God is closer to us than we are to ourselves.” This is the second part of Pope Benedict’s agenda: the Holy Spirit. The bishop again quoted the Holy Father,

"'For two millennia, the ordinary Christian has failed to understand and yield to the grace and goodness of the Holy Spirit, leaving the Holy Spirit homeless, both in the Church and in the world.'"

“And that’s why a gathering such as this tonight is anointed, and so very important,” Bishop Thomas noted.

“The point of departure tonight is to recover, to rediscover, the power of the Holy Spirit that God has poured out, so generously and with such largesse. …the Holy Spirit reorients us when we become lost in life,” Bishop Thomas said. “Tonight he is calling each of you by name; he knows your heart, he knows your struggles.”

Mother Adela Galindo, the foundress of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary, provided the Friday evening keynote. Mother Adela was born in Leon, Nicaragua. Her contemplative and apostolic community was founded in 1991, in the Archdiocese of Miami. Her keynote address – “The Word Became Flesh by the Power of the Spirit” – examined how Mary’s open heart and prayerfulness were necessary for the Incarnation. “The Holy Mother kept her heart in constant dialogue with the heart of God,” she said.

Eucharist, Enthusiasm & Mitzvah

Saturday morning began with Mass, and homilist Father Michael Drury of Cut Bank spoke about Saints Philip and James – who they were and what we can learn from them. “We are given God’s grace; and we can be living instruments of the Lord. And if he gives you a ministry of healing or intercession, use it; not because you’re so great, but because God is great. That’s what the apostles tell us – focus on Jesus,” he said.

Father Marc Lenneman, the chaplain and director of campus ministry at Carroll College, began the morning’s general session on the transforming power of the Eucharist.

“To be a Christian Catholic, you have to be in love with fire,” he said, referencing the writings of saints and Scriptural references. “Are you on fire with the love of the Lord, is our diocese on fire with the love of the Lord, are our parishes on fire with the love of the Lord? If we aren’t bursting at the seams, wanting to tell people about Jesus Christ and what he can do in their lives, we haven’t really met the Lord.”

Father Lenneman emphasized that we must open wide our hearts to receive the grace and power of the Eucharist. He asked, “How many of you have been to Calvary?” explaining that everyone should raise their hand, since Mass transports us to Calvary, and we must be cognizant of this reality.

“Bring it to the altar – all that you are, wherever you are – bring it to the altar and make it an offering, and it becomes acceptable,” he said.

Father Eric Gilbaugh, parochial vicar for the Cathedral of St. Helena, next spoke on “Enthusiasm for the Gospel.” He began by noting that this was his first Holy Spirit Conference. Citing the “prophetic words” of Blessed Pope John XXIII about a new Pentecost, Father Gilbaugh said, “This is a Charismatic Renewal, not just a movement, in the Church,” he said.

Father Gilbaugh then recounted his “crash course” in Charismatic Renewal as a seminarian in Browning. The parish pastor had taken a much-needed break, and the substitute priest organized a healing service. Father Gilbaugh was the witness to and instrument of miraculous healings, including restoration of eye sight and the re-conversion of a high school friend. “So, I’m not a ‘charismaniac,’ but I am kind of a closeted charismatic,” he said.

“The manifestation of the charismatic, extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit is an authentic sign of the renewal of the Church that God desires,” Father Gilbaugh said. He explained that the gifts are meant to help us spread the Gospel, and our enthusiasm for the Gospel is critical.

In the third general session, Brother Bob Fishman, a Jewish convert to Catholicism and a permanently professed member of the Brothers and Sisters of Charity, spoke on the meaning of “mitzvah.”

“When I talk about mitzvahs, the Holy Spirit ties right in because we need to take the Holy Spirit out into the world,” he said.

Fishman called upon those present to do “little mitzvahs” for one another, using their talents to reach out to the “spiritually naked and hungry.”

“I believe that there is a revival in the land. It starts with you and me, reviving our own hearts, getting ourselves pumped up with the Holy Spirit…and taking the Holy Spirit out there and sharing it.”

He also touched on the importance of prayer, including praying the rosary as a family, the mystery of the Eucharist and the significance of the crucifix.

Identity, Adoration and Healing

Sister Juana Maria Sanchez, SCTJM, addressed the unity of the Holy Spirit and the Church, the purpose of apostolic movements, and the fruits of the Charismatic Renewal.

“We tend to see things based on our perception; to have a broadness of heart and wideness of outlook is not an easy thing.” She encouraged constant submission and submersion of individual views, in favor of pursuing the path of holiness, recognizing that there is always a greater good.

She also emphasized that the Lord said “my life and salvation will come by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the work of the Church.”

“My perspective must always coincide with that of the Father,” she said, noting that Pope John Paul II gave us identity, helping us to move away from viewing reality from a personal and fragmented perspective. She continued, “The divine plan of the Father is to glorify the human person.”

Eucharistic adoration, a healing service, and confessions followed. Jane Diepstraten of Stevensville participated in the youth track, which was coordinated by diocesan Youth Minister Doug Tooke. She said this was her first conference, and welcomed the experience of seeing the gifts of the Holy Spirit. During the healing service, she witnessed another young woman’s healing and prayed with her. “It changed my life to know I can really help people; I’m going to take this back and continue helping others,” she said.

On Sunday, May 4, Mother Adela gave the final general session, reflecting on Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical Deus Caritas Est. Mass was then celebrated by Fathers Drury, Lenneman, and Bart Tolleson of Ss. Cyril and Methodius Parish in East Helena.

Enthusiasm carries forward

Those new to the Holy Spirit Conference shared their enthusiasm for the experience.

Molly Harrington and Mareth Gunstream, both of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Missoula, were new to the conference this year. They both said they came with uncertainty about what to expect, and were leaving eager to share their experience.

“It was really organized, and I could tell the Holy Spirit was working, but it wasn’t frightening. I’ve learned to be open to the Holy Spirit,” said Gunstream. Harrington said she found Father Lenneman’s guidance about the Eucharist helpful.

Patricia Vaile, of Our Lady of the Valley Parish in Helena, explained that she’d recently returned to the Church. She works with Dennis Loveless, a conference committee member, and he invited her to attend the conference. “It’s been the most spiritual, uplifting, loving thing I’ve done in many years. I gave my heart to God last night and it will impact my life on a daily basis. I look forward to coming next year,” she said.


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 24, No. 5, May 16, 2008.