Notes from Day 1 of The Ark and Dove Week Online Conference 11 Feb – 15 Feb 2019
These are rough notes only; very rough in places; that convey the gist of what was said.
Day 1, Monday 11 Feb 2019
Talk 1: Memory, Hope, Vision and Mission by Johnny Bertucci (video 12:51 mins)
Greetings and welcome. I am the chairman of the Ark and Dove Worldwide.
In 2015 the CCR (Catholic Charismatic Renewal) in the U.S.A. was notified that the Ark and Dove site was up for sale. Trusting in Providence, we figured out a way to procure the property. We simply could not not buy it. On 18 Dec 2015 we signed the act of sale.
The Ark and Dove was built in 1924, as two buildings, for the Bell Telephone Company, as a place of rest for female employee, and the smaller building was for the caretakers. Later on it became a boarding school. In 1964 the diocese of Pittsburgh purchased it, and invited nuns from Holland, the Ladies of Bethany, to run it. They were the ones who renamed the property, 'The Ark and Dove', and they operated it as a retreat centre.
As you know the 1967 Duchesne weekend took place here.
In 1979 the Sisters of Divine Providence purchased the property and named it 'Providence Villa'.
We have reclaimed the name, 'Ark and Dove'.
The CCR now having ownership of the property, we looked at each other and said, 'OK, now what?' It's ours. How could we use this place for unity and for passing on the grace of the Baptism in the Spirit?
No one would be excluded, it is considered as belonging to all in the CCR.
We were excited that we had the property in time for the 50th anniversary of the CCR (Feb 2017), and to be able to celebrate the Jubilee here, including that sense of people being restored to their land that the biblical concept of Jubilee has. We had a big celebration and fitted some 120 people into this place.
On that Jubilee weekend there was a prophetic word from Genesis 7:11, 'In the 2nd month, on the 17th day of the month, the fountains of the great deep burst forth and the windows of the heavens opened'.
It meant a lot to us that it was part of the story of Noah, the Ark and the Dove, and that both the original Duchesne weekend and this 50th anniversary were held 17 Feb 1967 and 17 Feb 2017. We felt like it was a note from God underlining just how special this day was.
Unity is to be our calling card. Unity is to be our mantle and our cry.
On that Jubilee night in 2017 Patti retold the story of the Duchesne weekend, and we crammed 45 people into the chapel with her, in that upper room, and we recorded it. On Friday 15 Feb during this Ark and Dove Week you will get to see that recording. It is a great love story. It was also a great night of praise and worship.
The mission we have been given is far from over.
The Ark and Dove is poised to be a beacon and clarion call for unity.
It is your place, your home. When you come to visit, you come as a member of the family coming home. Come and be refreshed.
We need to foster this unity.
...........................................................................................
Talk 2: The Holy Spirit outpoured at the Ark and Dove by Patti Mansfield Gallagher (video 6:51 mins)
When I was a little girl I would ask my mother to tell me the story about how you and Daddy met. I never got tired of hearing it.
In a similar way how God started the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a love story, and I get to retell the story.
That retreat weekend somehow I left my makeup at home. That helped remind me that I wasn't here for a new boyfriend, but for a spiritual purpose. This was by first ever retreat, and I went with a bit of fear and trepidation. I had a plan for my life.
Since I was from a poor immigrant family, all I had was a public school education. So this retreat for me was scary, but I was excited too. I was scared God might call me to be a nun.
I discovered I need to both ask of God and to surrender to Him. My prayer was 'teach me to follow Your Son Jesus'. Somehow my unconditional surrender was needed.
There were no chairs or pews in the chapel that weekend, just cushions.
When I went into the chapel that night I knelt and trembled at the awesomeness of God. I felt it.
I asked myself, what is happening? This is something we didn't plan.
Then I was flat on my face in the chapel, and somehow my shoes were off my feet. I experienced immersion in the love of God. My prayer was, 'Stay, don't leave me'. I was basking in the love and mercy of God.
Somehow I knew that if I could experience this, others could too. Jesus is alive. Jesus is real.
After visiting the chaplain and telling him my story I saw two girls on the retreat. They said my face was glowing. I took them up to the chapel with me. I had never prayed out loud in my life before, but I asked God to do for them what He had done for me.
There were about 12 of us that night, sovereignly drawn into the chapel.
I felt a tingling all over, like I was on fire.
I was there as a witness, but it's not my story, it is God's story.
.............................................................................................
Talk 3: The Holy Spirit outpoured at the Ark and Dove by David Mangan (video 11:13 mins)
I am delighted to be here. God has used what happened here at the Ark and Dove with me and others to advance His purpose in the Church and the world.
When I arrived at the Ark and Dove for that retreat weekend I was lacking in motivation. Having had a long day at work, all I wanted to do was sleep. I heard there was a lovely meditation on Our Lady that Friday night, but I missed it.
I knew I wanted to experience the Lord. We had been asked to read Acts Chapters 1 to 4 and 'The Cross and the Switchblade', but most of it went over my head.
I had been asked to do the talk on Acts Chapter 1, but I asked someone else to give that talk because I didn't know enough about the Holy Spirit. In that Acts Chapter 1 talk, the person who gave it said some things that changed my life. He said that the word in Greek translated as power came from the same root word as dynamite.
I wanted to follow God, but on my own steam. However I realised I was not tapped into God. I asked, 'Where's the dynamite? Surely the sacraments give us His Holy Spirit, so where's the dynamite?'
The second talk was on Acts Chapter 2, and the speaker said, 'This still happens today'. After that talk I wrote in my notebook, 'I want to hear someone speak in tongues – me.'
In the discussion after that talk, I was back to the dynamite question. Baptism is something we affirm later in life if we were baptised as infants. Confirmation, too, was similar. What about providing an opportunity to renew our Baptism and Confirmation commitments on this retreat? I was disappointed that when this idea was presented to the whole group there wasn't enthusiasm for it.
Then it was lunch time. After lunch I walked around the grounds of the retreat centre with Patti, continuing this discussion. I decided that even if no one else is interested in this, I'm going to do this. And Patti said, 'Me, too'.
Going back into the retreat centre, a leader said that the water pump had broken.
I knew I was on the trail of something, and I didn't want the retreat to end so soon. What about praying for water? OK, let's go to the chapel to pray, and a handful of us went off to do that.
I asked the Lord for water, and I was given a great burst of faith that God had given it – so I prayed in thanksgiving. I went down and turned the tap in the kitchen, and the water came out strongly. We discovered later that the repairman had a change of heart, and worked on it. God answered, it didn't matter how.
I went back to the chapel to give thanks, and the presence of God was so thick and tangible. I was on my face before the tabernacle, explosions in my body. I sat Indian-style on the floor, about to say thank you, and I started speaking a language I did not know.
I went down and talked to the leaders and asked them if this was a valid experience, and they said 'Yes'. As I left, one of the leaders asked if I had spoken in a non-English prayer, and suggested if I experienced it again, to let it flow.
God will do this for you, if you let Him.
..........................................................................................
Talk 4: And the Fire came to our Nations by Andres Arango (video 25 mins)
Special greetings to all of you.
(then invocation prayer to the Holy Spirit for grace for the talk)
My book, 'Catholic Charismatic Renewal: A Current of Grace' has recently been published in Spanish.
As part of the research for the book I went to Lucca in Italy where Blessed Elena Guerra lived and died. I was able to pray in her room.
The work of God in her was a precursor of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, helping the world be aware of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Primarily this was done through her correspondence with and encouragement of Pope Leo XIII.
Because of this, Pope Leo XIII wrote an encyclical on the Holy Spirit, dedicated the 20th century to the Holy Spirit, and initiated the worldwide novena to the Holy Spirit leading up to Pentecost each year.
Pope St John XXIII, convened the Second Vatican Council and asked God for a new Pentecost. Elena was the first person he beatified during his pontificate. He called her the Apostle of the Holy Spirit. She wrote about the importance of crying out for a new Pentecost.
In 2015 Pope Francis quoted Cardinal Suenens about the river must be emptied into the sea, and the charismatic renewal as a current of grace.
In 2014 Pope Francis addressed the Renewal in these words: 'You, the charismatic renewal, have received a great gift from the Lord. Your movement’s birth was willed by the Holy Spirit to be "a current of grace in the Church and for the Church". This is your identity: to be a current of grace.'
When I was a child we went to a farm near a river, with lots of wildlife and fishing. We would spend time going to explore, and seeking the stream head for the river. It took some finding, because it was small and unassuming, and yet that is where the river began.
The Ark and Dove is like that stream head for the river, small and not well known, and yet the place from which this current of grace sprang for us.
May this retreat centre be a faithful instrument of God, helping us to fulfill the commission Pope Francis gave us to bring the baptism in the Holy Spirit to the whole Church.
How do we do this?
• By every day claiming a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
• As Pope Benedict XVI encouraged, make parishioners aware of the Holy Spirit. Ask them, 'Do you have the Holy Spirit?'
•Remembering that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is for all Christians, it is an instrument for ecumenism and unity and for collaborative evangelisation.
• By installing the culture of Pentecost as described in Acts 1:8 'You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be My witnesses not only in Jerusalem, but throughout Judea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.'
It is our task to carry the presence of Jesus, to enable people to encounter Jesus, to fall in love with Him and to be transformed by Him.
To grow in holiness is a life style, to be lived each minute, to be filled and moved by the Holy Spirit so as to live like Jesus.
(at the end of the talk there was a prayer)
...............................................................................................
Talk 5: Interview re CHARIS by Jim Murphy (video 5:53 mins)
CHARIS (Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service) is the name of the new international body representing both the Communities (previously Catholic Fraternity) and the Prayer Groups (previously ICCRS) of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
Background information:
http://www.iccrs.org/en/charis-moderator-and-isc-announced/
https://www.nsc-chariscenter.org/charis-new-international-service-for-catholic-charismatic-renewal/
http://www.iccrs.org/en/new-charis-statutes-now-available/
Jim Murphy:
Pope Francis has a vision of a much broader community/family to live in the Spirit.
The current of grace of the Renewal is not something that can be controlled, managed or put in a box.
We have to get into the river of that current of grace and let it take us where it wants.
Let's go together, not in conformity, but unity in diversity, which requires an open heart.
All of us are invited into the current of grace, but don't tell anyone how they should swim. Let them swim their own way.
Start now and move slowly.
For example, 'Can we have lunch and talk about where God could be leading us?' We don't have to wait for the perfect plan. 'Could we just meet for an afternoon of prayer and discussion?' Let's start with that.
Then God can show us the next step.
Move slow, then it will be authentic. 'Let's get back together in 4 weeks'. Begin dialogue, call and invite, but do not push.
God is looking for the intention of the heart rather than the perfect plan.
God has to show up; because if He doesn't, then it is all over.
…………………………………………………………………………
The full videos for this online conference are available from the premium section (currently payment $56 US and login required for 12 month access) at www.arkanddoveweek.com
These are rough notes only; very rough in places; that convey the gist of what was said.
Day 1, Monday 11 Feb 2019
Talk 1: Memory, Hope, Vision and Mission by Johnny Bertucci (video 12:51 mins)
Greetings and welcome. I am the chairman of the Ark and Dove Worldwide.
In 2015 the CCR (Catholic Charismatic Renewal) in the U.S.A. was notified that the Ark and Dove site was up for sale. Trusting in Providence, we figured out a way to procure the property. We simply could not not buy it. On 18 Dec 2015 we signed the act of sale.
The Ark and Dove was built in 1924, as two buildings, for the Bell Telephone Company, as a place of rest for female employee, and the smaller building was for the caretakers. Later on it became a boarding school. In 1964 the diocese of Pittsburgh purchased it, and invited nuns from Holland, the Ladies of Bethany, to run it. They were the ones who renamed the property, 'The Ark and Dove', and they operated it as a retreat centre.
As you know the 1967 Duchesne weekend took place here.
In 1979 the Sisters of Divine Providence purchased the property and named it 'Providence Villa'.
We have reclaimed the name, 'Ark and Dove'.
The CCR now having ownership of the property, we looked at each other and said, 'OK, now what?' It's ours. How could we use this place for unity and for passing on the grace of the Baptism in the Spirit?
No one would be excluded, it is considered as belonging to all in the CCR.
We were excited that we had the property in time for the 50th anniversary of the CCR (Feb 2017), and to be able to celebrate the Jubilee here, including that sense of people being restored to their land that the biblical concept of Jubilee has. We had a big celebration and fitted some 120 people into this place.
On that Jubilee weekend there was a prophetic word from Genesis 7:11, 'In the 2nd month, on the 17th day of the month, the fountains of the great deep burst forth and the windows of the heavens opened'.
It meant a lot to us that it was part of the story of Noah, the Ark and the Dove, and that both the original Duchesne weekend and this 50th anniversary were held 17 Feb 1967 and 17 Feb 2017. We felt like it was a note from God underlining just how special this day was.
Unity is to be our calling card. Unity is to be our mantle and our cry.
On that Jubilee night in 2017 Patti retold the story of the Duchesne weekend, and we crammed 45 people into the chapel with her, in that upper room, and we recorded it. On Friday 15 Feb during this Ark and Dove Week you will get to see that recording. It is a great love story. It was also a great night of praise and worship.
The mission we have been given is far from over.
The Ark and Dove is poised to be a beacon and clarion call for unity.
It is your place, your home. When you come to visit, you come as a member of the family coming home. Come and be refreshed.
We need to foster this unity.
...........................................................................................
Talk 2: The Holy Spirit outpoured at the Ark and Dove by Patti Mansfield Gallagher (video 6:51 mins)
When I was a little girl I would ask my mother to tell me the story about how you and Daddy met. I never got tired of hearing it.
In a similar way how God started the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a love story, and I get to retell the story.
That retreat weekend somehow I left my makeup at home. That helped remind me that I wasn't here for a new boyfriend, but for a spiritual purpose. This was by first ever retreat, and I went with a bit of fear and trepidation. I had a plan for my life.
Since I was from a poor immigrant family, all I had was a public school education. So this retreat for me was scary, but I was excited too. I was scared God might call me to be a nun.
I discovered I need to both ask of God and to surrender to Him. My prayer was 'teach me to follow Your Son Jesus'. Somehow my unconditional surrender was needed.
There were no chairs or pews in the chapel that weekend, just cushions.
When I went into the chapel that night I knelt and trembled at the awesomeness of God. I felt it.
I asked myself, what is happening? This is something we didn't plan.
Then I was flat on my face in the chapel, and somehow my shoes were off my feet. I experienced immersion in the love of God. My prayer was, 'Stay, don't leave me'. I was basking in the love and mercy of God.
Somehow I knew that if I could experience this, others could too. Jesus is alive. Jesus is real.
After visiting the chaplain and telling him my story I saw two girls on the retreat. They said my face was glowing. I took them up to the chapel with me. I had never prayed out loud in my life before, but I asked God to do for them what He had done for me.
There were about 12 of us that night, sovereignly drawn into the chapel.
I felt a tingling all over, like I was on fire.
I was there as a witness, but it's not my story, it is God's story.
.............................................................................................
Talk 3: The Holy Spirit outpoured at the Ark and Dove by David Mangan (video 11:13 mins)
I am delighted to be here. God has used what happened here at the Ark and Dove with me and others to advance His purpose in the Church and the world.
When I arrived at the Ark and Dove for that retreat weekend I was lacking in motivation. Having had a long day at work, all I wanted to do was sleep. I heard there was a lovely meditation on Our Lady that Friday night, but I missed it.
I knew I wanted to experience the Lord. We had been asked to read Acts Chapters 1 to 4 and 'The Cross and the Switchblade', but most of it went over my head.
I had been asked to do the talk on Acts Chapter 1, but I asked someone else to give that talk because I didn't know enough about the Holy Spirit. In that Acts Chapter 1 talk, the person who gave it said some things that changed my life. He said that the word in Greek translated as power came from the same root word as dynamite.
I wanted to follow God, but on my own steam. However I realised I was not tapped into God. I asked, 'Where's the dynamite? Surely the sacraments give us His Holy Spirit, so where's the dynamite?'
The second talk was on Acts Chapter 2, and the speaker said, 'This still happens today'. After that talk I wrote in my notebook, 'I want to hear someone speak in tongues – me.'
In the discussion after that talk, I was back to the dynamite question. Baptism is something we affirm later in life if we were baptised as infants. Confirmation, too, was similar. What about providing an opportunity to renew our Baptism and Confirmation commitments on this retreat? I was disappointed that when this idea was presented to the whole group there wasn't enthusiasm for it.
Then it was lunch time. After lunch I walked around the grounds of the retreat centre with Patti, continuing this discussion. I decided that even if no one else is interested in this, I'm going to do this. And Patti said, 'Me, too'.
Going back into the retreat centre, a leader said that the water pump had broken.
I knew I was on the trail of something, and I didn't want the retreat to end so soon. What about praying for water? OK, let's go to the chapel to pray, and a handful of us went off to do that.
I asked the Lord for water, and I was given a great burst of faith that God had given it – so I prayed in thanksgiving. I went down and turned the tap in the kitchen, and the water came out strongly. We discovered later that the repairman had a change of heart, and worked on it. God answered, it didn't matter how.
I went back to the chapel to give thanks, and the presence of God was so thick and tangible. I was on my face before the tabernacle, explosions in my body. I sat Indian-style on the floor, about to say thank you, and I started speaking a language I did not know.
I went down and talked to the leaders and asked them if this was a valid experience, and they said 'Yes'. As I left, one of the leaders asked if I had spoken in a non-English prayer, and suggested if I experienced it again, to let it flow.
God will do this for you, if you let Him.
..........................................................................................
Talk 4: And the Fire came to our Nations by Andres Arango (video 25 mins)
Special greetings to all of you.
(then invocation prayer to the Holy Spirit for grace for the talk)
My book, 'Catholic Charismatic Renewal: A Current of Grace' has recently been published in Spanish.
As part of the research for the book I went to Lucca in Italy where Blessed Elena Guerra lived and died. I was able to pray in her room.
The work of God in her was a precursor of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, helping the world be aware of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Primarily this was done through her correspondence with and encouragement of Pope Leo XIII.
Because of this, Pope Leo XIII wrote an encyclical on the Holy Spirit, dedicated the 20th century to the Holy Spirit, and initiated the worldwide novena to the Holy Spirit leading up to Pentecost each year.
Pope St John XXIII, convened the Second Vatican Council and asked God for a new Pentecost. Elena was the first person he beatified during his pontificate. He called her the Apostle of the Holy Spirit. She wrote about the importance of crying out for a new Pentecost.
In 2015 Pope Francis quoted Cardinal Suenens about the river must be emptied into the sea, and the charismatic renewal as a current of grace.
In 2014 Pope Francis addressed the Renewal in these words: 'You, the charismatic renewal, have received a great gift from the Lord. Your movement’s birth was willed by the Holy Spirit to be "a current of grace in the Church and for the Church". This is your identity: to be a current of grace.'
When I was a child we went to a farm near a river, with lots of wildlife and fishing. We would spend time going to explore, and seeking the stream head for the river. It took some finding, because it was small and unassuming, and yet that is where the river began.
The Ark and Dove is like that stream head for the river, small and not well known, and yet the place from which this current of grace sprang for us.
May this retreat centre be a faithful instrument of God, helping us to fulfill the commission Pope Francis gave us to bring the baptism in the Holy Spirit to the whole Church.
How do we do this?
• By every day claiming a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
• As Pope Benedict XVI encouraged, make parishioners aware of the Holy Spirit. Ask them, 'Do you have the Holy Spirit?'
•Remembering that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is for all Christians, it is an instrument for ecumenism and unity and for collaborative evangelisation.
• By installing the culture of Pentecost as described in Acts 1:8 'You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be My witnesses not only in Jerusalem, but throughout Judea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.'
It is our task to carry the presence of Jesus, to enable people to encounter Jesus, to fall in love with Him and to be transformed by Him.
To grow in holiness is a life style, to be lived each minute, to be filled and moved by the Holy Spirit so as to live like Jesus.
(at the end of the talk there was a prayer)
...............................................................................................
Talk 5: Interview re CHARIS by Jim Murphy (video 5:53 mins)
CHARIS (Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service) is the name of the new international body representing both the Communities (previously Catholic Fraternity) and the Prayer Groups (previously ICCRS) of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
Background information:
http://www.iccrs.org/en/charis-moderator-and-isc-announced/
https://www.nsc-chariscenter.org/charis-new-international-service-for-catholic-charismatic-renewal/
http://www.iccrs.org/en/new-charis-statutes-now-available/
Jim Murphy:
Pope Francis has a vision of a much broader community/family to live in the Spirit.
The current of grace of the Renewal is not something that can be controlled, managed or put in a box.
We have to get into the river of that current of grace and let it take us where it wants.
Let's go together, not in conformity, but unity in diversity, which requires an open heart.
All of us are invited into the current of grace, but don't tell anyone how they should swim. Let them swim their own way.
Start now and move slowly.
For example, 'Can we have lunch and talk about where God could be leading us?' We don't have to wait for the perfect plan. 'Could we just meet for an afternoon of prayer and discussion?' Let's start with that.
Then God can show us the next step.
Move slow, then it will be authentic. 'Let's get back together in 4 weeks'. Begin dialogue, call and invite, but do not push.
God is looking for the intention of the heart rather than the perfect plan.
God has to show up; because if He doesn't, then it is all over.
…………………………………………………………………………
The full videos for this online conference are available from the premium section (currently payment $56 US and login required for 12 month access) at www.arkanddoveweek.com
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