Approaching Pentecost 2001



Dear Friend of the NSC,

“Our parish was in trouble. We had 16 pastors in 15 years. The grumbling and confusion chased those priests away. They were not wanted and they did not want to be there. In the midst of this chaos, the Spirit called the people to gather around the altar with Jesus and to be what they consume at that altar, the Body of Christ.”

Bob tells us now, “they now gather with a oneness of mind and heart. The wind of Pentecost fills the Church. There is new life in Christ and in Spirit animated outreach mission to the people of the impoverished area in which they live.”

Thank you Jesus!

The Holy Father challenges us! When he writes:

“Now is the time for each local Church to assess its fervour and find fresh enthusiasm for its spiritual and pastoral responsibilities, by reflecting on what the Spirit has been saying to the People of God . . . .” (John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte, 3, January 2001 emphasis added)

This is what the National Service Committee’s Pentecost Campaign is all about!

Yes it is a fund raising effort – but more importantly it is a campaign to renew “the grace of Pentecost in the life and mission of the Church” now.

We who have experienced “baptism in the Holy Spirit,” and a growing docility to the Spirit’s promptings are stirred-up. We know that “now is the time.”

Our broken, wounded, confused . . . brothers and sisters not having been touched by this “fervor” and “fresh enthusiasm” hunger.

The National Service Committee and Chariscenter USA work day and night to bring that knowledge, that experience and that new life to the whole of the “life and mission of the Church,” the Bride of Christ.

As the Holy Father says, What awaits us . . . is an exciting work of pastoral revitalization — a work involving all of us.(29)

The challenge is before us in this great moment of opportunity, we must move forward.

Help us, the NSC and Chariscenter USA, now is the time. This “work involves us all.”

We have entered the “New Millennium.”

We have the “Grace for the New Springtime.” Now is the time.

There are other parishes and lives waiting, knowing or not, Jesus is coming – bringing new life and the fervor and enthusiasm.

The work is there, the time is now, your prayers and financial support are what is needed now.

We, the National Service Committee have been serving the Church for the past 30 plus years in this move of God’s Spirit called the Charismatic Renewal.

We are at work “renewing the grace of Pentecost in the life and mission of the Church” and there is fruit as Bob shared at the beginning of this letter.

The Holy Father says, “now is the time.”

Now at this moment in salvation history, as the greatest period of evangelization ever known, is unfolding before us, we must “stir into flame the grace” we have received and lead a people and Church through the maze of opportunity and challenge that lies ahead.

In Jesus, our Jubilee,
Walter Matthews
Executive Director



P.S. “Now is the time,” HELP – the Pentecost Campaign is about “a work that involves us all.”!