Half the people were from Göttingen and the surrounding area, the other half travelled here from all corners of the republic, from Austria and Switzerland. They all came to meet a priest: Father James Manjackal. Motto of the meeting: “Praying for the Holy Spirit”.

Father James Manjackal was born in 1946 in the Indian town of Cheruvally (Province of Kerala). By a scholarship originating in Germany, he who came from a poor family (five siblings, the father died very early) was able to go to a higher school and to university. In 1973 Manjackal was ordained a priest in the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales. After teaching at an Indian seminary, more than 25 years ago, Father James felt the urge to go to the Missions – on trips for evangelisation to Asia, to Europe, to Latin America. He preaches, conducts retreats, gives talks and celebrates Healing Masses.

That was also included in the program at Göttingen: talks and prayer, confession and worship make up the retreat. In between there is much singing. But there are prayers which the retreatants are especially longing for: the prayer for inner healing and above all the prayer for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. That is, praying for the Holy Spirit.

Father James comes to the ambo. He speaks English, a young assistant translates. The Salesian priest speaks quietly for a long time. About virtues, about the love of Jesus for the people, about the gifts, the charisms of the Holy Spirit. Father James’ voice becomes louder, more insistent. He speaks of the fact “that we need God’s truth – not the wisdom of the world”. This truth is found in the teachings of the Church, through them one can get to know the Holy Spirit.

“Open your Hearts”

A moment of peace and quiet. Father James goes to the tabernacle, removes the Eucharist, exposes it. “Now”, he says, “we will pray to receive the Holy Spirit”. Those who come to the altar should surrender themselves completely to the Lord: “Ask the Lord! Open your hearts! Trust him”. Father James’ voice becomes almost deafeningly loud: “Grant us a new Pentecost”. The Salesian prays to the Holy Spirit for the gifts: “May he grant the charism to heal! May he grant the charism to preach! May he grant the charism to be powerful witnesses! Through him we become the Church!” And then: ”May the Holy Spirit fill you with his fire.”

The retreatants come to the front, line up. Father James lays his hands on each one’s head, whispers a prayer. Some of them only sway, others fall over – and are caught by helpers standing behind them and laid on the carpet. There they remain for a few minutes, some of them without moving, some of them jerk arms or legs. One retreatant reports afterwards, the he felt an enormous power, which was burning on his head, another person says, she suddenly felt herself very light, finding herself beside her body.

Quiet reigns after this experience. Father James asks the retreatants to go together in groups of two. One should sit down, while the other lays his hands on his or her head, later they exchange places. “Let the power Jesus gave you flow like living water”, says Father James, “Pray and ask”. Whoever receives a message from Jesus, should tell the other person. The Salesian prays for all the families in Europe, that Germany may again be Christian, for the unity of the Church, for those who accept Jesus as the Lord of all: “Keep them free from sin, keep them away from Satan”.

“Felt great power”

Once again it is quiet in the church: Now Father James says: “Tell us what happened to you here”. Several retreatants come to the microphone. A young woman comes forward. She has epilepsy, she reports. On Thursday, when she wanted to leave for the retreat, she had an attack: “It was worse than ever before – I am sure that some evil power wanted to prevent me from coming here”. Her parents prayed the rosary for her, then she had enough strength to get over the crisis. During the days with Father James she felt increasingly better. “I felt so much power when Father James laid his hands on me”, says the young woman. Now she is certain: “I know that Jesus healed me”.

A young man tells about his little son. He is only two years old and has cancer. “My wife and I were non-believers” he says. By attending the retreat the couple has come to have a relationship with God, they prayed for healing. Now Father James has announced that the boy is healed: “We praise the Lord for that”.
 

"Affirm our faith"
Fr. Dr. Christian Hennecke about the charismatic renewal 

Hildesheim (wal). People fall down after being touched by a priest, others report a healing. Is that something disturbing? The KiZ asked Father Dr. Christian Hennecke. We document parts of his statement. 

Although I personally cannot find access to the spirituality of the charismatic Renewal (CR) in the Catholic Church, the fact is, that obviously, there are people in our church, who have special gifts of healing (1 Cor 12 f) and in the beginning of Christianity and throughout the history of the church, that was something not at all abnormal. I myself do not always find it easy to cope the manner and behaviour of the spirituality, but I do realize that it is possible for people to find access to the mystery of God here, and that there are fruits in the lives of people who follow this spirituality. I also realize that the people who have found a home in the Charismatic Renewal, are credible Christians and they are committed to our church at Hildesheim.

The problem of the person is ambivalent: naturally, a special charisma is always connected to a person and because of that, the person will always play a role in it.—for some, that gives the impression of a personal cult around that person, but I think, that is something not strived for by charismatically gifted persons. For many of us Christians it is “abnormal” to speak about the Spirit and the infilling with the Spirit in the way Father James does that. When you read his biography on the internet, it becomes clear, that this was not always the case for him either. But isn’t it possible, that in the CR, an accent of our faith is being underlined, which is not likely to be brought to the foreground in the “normal” (what is actually normal) parish life?

The Charismatic Renewal is surely an enrichment for our Church, especially since I have the impression that it is well integrated in the Catholic Church – even if at the same time, it may be somewhat disturbing for many co-Christians. Here, we are challenged to keep up the conversation. Even if it is a border-phenomenon: I still believe that spiritual experiences really happen here, which then also lead to healings. That this remains ambivalent, is due to the nature of every religious experience (our own included). Only in this case, it is especially emphasized. 

Last week in Slovenia ( July 12.and13. at Sveta Gora and July 14-17. at Kurescek) charismatic priest from India., Fr James Manjackal held a retreat under motto " Jesus in Eucharist- All Mighty Healer ". Thousands of Slovenians were attracted to his powerful and vivid speeches, his charismas and his long experience of conducting retreats all over the world. There were about 2000 people at Sveta Gora and thousands more at Kurescek of whom about 100 were priests, nuns and seminaries. The main message of the retreat was that Jesus is the only healer of sinful and sick mankind, that He heals both physical and spiritual sicknesses. Jesus is always with us in Eucharist. We can reach Him by having good confession, sincere repentance for our sins, forgiveness to all who did something wrong to us, by prayer, faith and confidence that Jesus is really going to help us. 

Fr .James Manjackal fervently called Slovenians to go back to Jesus, to love the Church, to support bishops and priests, to forgive all and start new lives powered by Eucharistic Jesus. 

At the end of the seminar, in the afternoon of July, 17. the Holy Mass was celebrated by bishop of Ljubljana Msgr. Andrej Gavan.