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| Prayers of young adults in a remote village in Kerala, India, reached Chicago this weekend. Photo of a Keralan houseboat by Wesley Olson |
A couple weeks back, just 25 people had registered for a conference hosted by a Catholic non-profit called Shalom World Ministries. In a grassroots effort, locals told friends and family, notices appeared in parish bulletins, and teams visited prayer groups and parishes across Chicagoland – all with this invitation: "Something incredible is coming to Chicago that will impact the world. Come and see."
On Saturday August 24, 2013, on the Feast of St. Bartholomew
the Apostle, 700 people, natives of Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas,
gathered in a high school auditorium in Chicago suburban Park Ridge. Flanked by
flags of all nations, they spent 12 hours in praise, worship and reflection,
led by a team of internationally-known clergy and religious, musicians and lay
evangelists called by a new term – techno-evangelists.
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| Shalom World's new logo features a chalice within a dove, reflecting openness to the Holy Spirit and a love for Christ in the Eucharist. |
An inspired worship band from Canada called All4Him played, as participants
gathered singly, in twos or threes, in families, until the auditorium was
packed shoulder-to-shoulder. I was there because I’m a Facebook fan of Catholic
singer songwriter Danielle Rose. A Facebook friend of Danielle’s sent me an
invitation and some exciting news. Joe Scaria wrote:
“I belong to a new
Catholic ministry in USA named Shalom World Ministries. Our mission is to use
all sorts of media to evangelize and spread the gospel. Our roots are from
India and our television channel 'Shalom TV' is the biggest catholic TV in
India…We are launching Shalom TV in English next year beginning in USA and our
first regional conferences are starting this year. I request your prayers and
support for our ministry. Please consider joining our upcoming conference in
Chicago."
I went alone and had those awkward first moments when everyone
around seems to know everyone else. But then a nice lady sat next to me. She
hailed from Kerela, India, which set us chatting, since I have missionary
priest friends from Kerala and Pondicherry. We laughed as I tried reading the
many-syllabled name off her name tag and pronouncing the name of her identity
and language. The Malayalese from
Kerala speak Malayalam.
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| All4Him out of Canada leads praise and worship at the Chicago area Shalom Festival August 24. |
My new
friend said to call her "Kathy," and explained that her “house name”
ended with Amma, an affectionate term for female relatives, often used for a
mother or grandma.
As the day progressed, I learned Shalom World Ministries was
rooted in a remote village in Kerala. Young Catholics in prayer received this Holy
Spirit message: Global troubles stem from a lack of peace within
families and human hearts. The world needs Christ’s peace, spread through every
means of modern communication.
This echoes the call of our beloved Pope John Paul the Great, who urged Catholics to not be afraid, to step out into the deep
in spreading the light of Christ to the world, using every modern means.
Shalom means peace…and the growth of
Shalom World Ministries over the past two decades has been miraculous, with the
founding of a publishing house for faith-filled books and Shalom Tidings
Magazine, and the launching of Catholic television stations in India and across
the world. In 2014, the first English-language Shalom Catholic Charismatic television station offering
high definition programming is being launched in North America, with eight production houses in the U.S. and four in Canada. Operating 24/7, the network
will be bolstered by prayer teams interceding around the clock before the
Blessed Sacrament and receiving prayer intentions from faithful viewers.
In 2014, the first English-language Shalom Catholic charismatic TV station is being launched in North America.
The
Vatican and bishops around the world are blessing and praying for this new
outreach, which bears the marks of a fresh breath of the Holy spirit. Speakers
yesterday included Bishop Francis Kane, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago; Fr.George Kumblumootil, Dean of Theology at St. Charles Seminary in the
Archdiocese of Nagpur, India; former volleyball star turned nun Sister Miriam James Heidland, of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity out of
Ohio; international model-turned lay-evangelist and media producer Mario St. Francis; and Robert Canton, fondly called “Brother Bob,” a native of the
Philippines, who has an international ministry of healing and is Council
Member of the Vatican-based International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services
, representing English-speaking North America, Central America, and Caribbean
countries.
The absolute highlights of this Shalom Festival were the solemn Mass
that launched the event, and the healing service that evening, centered around
Eucharistic adoration. Hundreds of people dropped to their knees and reached
hands toward the Eucharist in a gesture of complete abndonment to God’s
Will. The theme throughout the day centered around Romans 8:31: "If God is for
us, who can be against us?"
Bishop Kane spoke of Paul’s audacity in spreading
this message, when he himself had suffered shipwrecks, stoning, imprisonment -- and how that pointed to a deep, abiding and supernatural trust in God’s workings. Sister Miriam spoke of every person’s desire for greatness as
children of an infinitely great God, and how the Church leads us to harmony of
intellect, will and emotion. Bob Canton described the gifts of the Holy Spirit
just waiting to be unleashed in our lives, and how the key to true healing is
forgiveness, of others and ourselves. Fr. Kumblumootil gave a powerful talk
about the right and obligation of every Christian to evangelize, and that our
spiritual anchor must be Christ in the Eucharist.
In fact, every speaker
highlighted this theme: when we awake each morning, we must first run to
the Eucharistic Lord with a childlike faith. Also, to spread peace in the world
and reach a state of true forgiveness, we should consider that when someone is
hurting us, God is asking us to cooperate with their salvation.
Shalom Festivals are coming to Miami, New York, Houston, Orange and San Jose through September.
In the sweet,
uplifting way of the Holy Spirit, encounters through the day form some of my
best memories. One Filipino lady named Nieva, which she explained means, “new,”
invited me to her Carmelite prayer group. A mother of six in the restoom line,
told me a powerful story of converting to the Catholic Church, after dreaming
about men in funny hats…who she later learned were bishops. She also described
being drawn into a deep love of Jesus through the Blessed Mother. She now feels
compelled to share her story, in spite of a fear of public speaking. I took a
photo of a young woman in a beautiful Indian Salwar Kameez, who worked with
computers, but had turned to writing to share her story of conversion for
the March Shalom Tidings Magazine.
At 9:30 PM, I reached my car and sat for ten
minutes. I could not drive away, until I walked back in, asked Bob Canton for a final prayer, and then told several Shalom workers of how priests from
India had changed my life -- one priest from Pondicherry serving at my parish had asked me to "write for India." Another from Kerala echoed this call, sharing tales of his spirit-filled outreach to the poor in his adopted mission diocese of Visakhapatnam.
Shalom -- an
intiative sprung from a hidden group of young adults from that remote village
of Kerala, is setting many hearts on fire with love for God. The bishops are
doing it and we should too…daily pray for Shalom World Ministries to spread
Christ’s peace across the globe.
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