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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 1987)
PAGE 8 — The Georgia Bulletin, February 19, 1987 Students At St BY GRETCHEN REISER An opportunity for students at St. Pius X High School to attend a Mass with prayers for healing became an extended time of prayer and experience of the Holy Spirit that deeply affected them, some students and faculty members said last week. Nearly all of the student body of 900 or more students at tended the healing Mass Wed., Feb. 11 that was offered as part of a week of renewal at the archdiocesan Catholic high school. Father Michael Panter, archdiocesan liaison for the Catholic charismatic renewal, who conducts a monthly healing Mass at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Atlan ta, had been asked to celebrate the Mass at the school by Paul Ennis, who is assistant director of pastoral ministry at the school. Two days before the Mass was to be held, after several teachers had given presentations on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and described healing services, the faculty realized that some 700 to 800 students planned to attend the Mass, which was optional. At that point, Ennis said, assistance was requested from other priests in the archdiocese and from members of charismatic prayer groups who could aid on prayer teams. Seven priests, including four from IHM and two from Holy Cross, assisted at the Mass and took part in a healing service anointing the students with oil. Virtually all attend ing the Mass came forward to be anointed with oil and prayed for by the priests, Ennis said, and approximately 300 students stayed after the Mass to receive additional prayer from prayer teams. Damien Serauskas Encuentro Matrimonial Anunciamos el proximo Encuentro Matrimonial para los hispanos. FECHA: 20, 21 y 22 de febrero, 1987 INFORMATION: Adolfo y Mirta Casal, telefono 471-50%; Olga y Julio Tarrago, telefono 434-7749 El Encuentro Matrimonial es un curso intensivo. dado por parejas entrenadas y sacerdotes. Se aprende una tecnica muy eficaz de comunicacion. A traves del fin de semana los esposos pueden profun- dizar y enriquecer la felicidad que comparten en su matrimonio. Se ofrece cuidar a los ninos para que puedan disfrutar estos dias unicos estando solos. Desea Comprar Casas? Habra un taller de informacion para como comprar casas para aquellas personas que desean hacerlo por primera vez. Este taller se Uevara a efecto el sabado 7 de marzo de 2-4 p.m. en el Centro Catolico 680 W. Peachtree Street N.W. (parqueo gratis detras del edificio) para mas informacion llamar a Vicky Gon zalez al telefono 888-7841 de lunes a viernes de 8:30 a 4:00 p.m. Le esperamos. . Pius Affected By Healing Mass The Mass began at 9 a m. and was expected to be over in the morning. With the time spent anointing students and then with the time for individual prayer, the service did not end until about 2 p.m., Ennis said. Some students returned to class and came back later for individual prayer, he said. Some class periods were cancelled to allow the students to remain for prayer. During prayer some students were mov ed to tears and some “rested in the Spirit." "This was one of the most amazing days they’ve ever had," said Ennis, the day following the Mass. He said that those who assisted at the Mass and faculty members were "totally amazed at what happened" in terms of the number of students who came to the Mass, their quiet, reverential attitude and their desire for prayer and "totally amazed at how open the kids were" in their requests for prayer. In addition to seeking prayers for physical healing, many sought prayers for family problems, for loneliness and hurt and for the emotional and physical needs of their friends and relatives, according to several people who assisted at the service. "I think it struck all of us how much hurt there is” among young people, Ennis said. Two students interviewed at the school Feb. 13 said they thought they had experienced physical healing. A third said that she believed she had experienced healing of emotional pain. Katie Young, a freshman from Stone Mountain who had never been at a healing service before, said that she had sought prayer for further healing of her leg which was broken in a soccer accident several months ago. The cast had been removed, she said, but she still experienced swell ing and discoloration around her ankle. When she was prayed with she said she felt her ankle “was kind of burn ing. You kind of got shaky. You wanted to fall over.” “There was something around me,” she said. “I felt like I wasn’t on the ground, like I had this warmth all over me and I had it inside me. I prayed for my friends. I prayed for the people I felt needed prayer." When she got home from school that day she said "most of the swelling was gone and the discoloration was gone." Interviewed two days after the Mass, she said "when I think about it I kind of have this sensation that I’m floating and I thank God for everything," She said she wants to go to Mass now and thinks she has “a better grip on what the Lord wants and how to react and how to receive his help Damien Serauskas, a sophomore from Riverdale, was a “skeptic" who was taken up for prayer by friends because he had a severe eye injury. His right eye was injured in August and, as a result, the muscle that contracts the pupil didn’t work, he said. Bright light was painful and he was wearing sunglasses, indoors and out, at school to protect his eyes. Immediately after being prayed with he said he went to the bathroom and shined a bright light in his eye to see if the pupil would dilate. Detecting a slight change, he went back for more prayer. He was no longer wearing his sunglasses indoors two days after the Mass and said, “I think it is getting better." “It was all totally new to me,” Serauskas said. “It's been a real upper for my faith and those around me, too. They see it as a real miracle." Jennie Murphy, a senior from Atlanta, said she prayed for emotional healing and that her legs and hands started to shake while she was sitting in the bleachers. “I felt good in side," she said. “Spiritually I felt better, I still do." The experience was so significant to her that she went home and asked her mother to come with her to the monthly healing Mass at IHM parish which was that night. The ex periences that took place at St. Pius "helped people realize that there is something up there — there has to be," she said. Two days after the experience she said, "I feel like I should pray more. I feel better about myself." Several faculty and staff members said they believed there was a need for ongoing support and follow up to the Mass and to the dramatic experiences of the day. "The Mass was two and a half hours long and you could hear a pin drop in the gym," said Sister Mary Kay Fin- neran, who is on the school staff. "The Spirit was working. It was just very, very evident. The whole day was disrupted classwise." She said she was touched that faculty members and teachers let go of the rigidity of the normal schedule, com municating to the students that "their whole life is impor tant" not just their academic grades. Given the depth of what took place, she said, “we have that responsibility now to continue" to give the students support and further opportunities for healing prayer. Katie Young Charismatic Renewal Marks 20th Birthday Would you like to know how the Catholic charismatic renewal began in the U.S.? Would you like to learn about the origins of the Catholic charismatic renewal in the Atlanta archdiocese? Would you like to know how the renewal has evolved to its present status in the archdiocese and around the country and where the renewal movement is going? Then come to the 20th anniversary celebration and find out. On February 18 the Catholic charismatic renewal movement in the U S. is 20 years old, having begun on that date in 1%7 when students on the campus of Du- quesne University attending a spring weekend of renewal on the Acts of the Apostles experienced the Holy Spirit in a renewed way. Twenty years later there are an estimated 10 million Catholic charismatics in the United States and 30 to 50 million Catholic charismatics worldwide. On Sat., Feb. 21 a special evening dedicated to the 20 years of the Catholic charismatic renewal will be held at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish, 2855 Briarcliff Road, N.E., Atlanta, beginning at 7:30 p.m. An historical presentation on the renewal will be made by Father Michael Panter, who is liaison to the renewal for the archdiocese. There will also be a time of prayer and praise and rededication to the Lord with an opportunity for prayer for a greater yielding to the work of the Holy Spirit in one's life. There will also be a video presentation on this sum mer's interdenominational conference on the Holy Spirit and World Evangelization in New Orleans, which will take place in July and replace the annual Catholic charismatic conference at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. Jennie Murphy
