Hispanic Charismatic Conference immerses local Catholics in life in the Holy Spirit
By Jay Nies
There is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.
About 200 Catholics from all over the diocese found time for all of these things during this year’s Hispanic Catholic Charismatic Conference, held Oct. 3 in Sedalia.
“It was two gatherings in one, to evangelize families at a single event,” said Jose Palacios of St. Vincent de Paul Parish of Pettis County.
The daylong conference brought people of all ages to Sacred Heart School to worship God with their whole being and to welcome the Holy Spirit more fully into every aspect of their existence.
The theme was “Called to Holiness” — referring to Jesus’s instruction to “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” (Matthew 5:48).
There was heavy emphasis on opening oneself to the power of the Holy Spirit, which is a foundational aspect of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
Thoroughly rooted in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and in worshiping Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament, the Charismatic Renewal has a vigorous presence in parts of Central and Northeastern Missouri, especially in parishes with large Hispanic populations.
“In love with the Lord”
This was the first time the annual conference’s organizers included a separate Youth Congress for ages 12 to 17.
Jose Almazán, a member of St. Peter Parish in Marshall, led the meditations and activities for the young people.
Altar servers from the Marshall parish, including Carlos Fuentes, Paola Pacheco, Xavi Pacheco, Alisson Contreras and Bryan Orozco and organized by Ilsi Benitez, led the singing for the youth.
Mr. Almazán believes drawing young people into the Charismatic Renewal is essential.
“It’s about our life with Jesus Christ,” he said. “And our best moment in life is when we give our life to him.”
Turing to God in youth sets people on an early path to holiness.
“If we learn to love him when we’re young, we’re going to make a lot fewer mistakes in life,” Mr. Almazán asserted. “That’s why I think it’s so important for us to work with our youth.”
He emphasized that the Church needs young people, and young people need the Church.
“We need for them to be in love with the Lord,” he said.
The messages for the Youth Congress were similar to what the adults heard, but focused more through the lens of adolescent energy and preparing to make important life decisions.
“When you’re young, you see things differently,” Mr. Almazán noted. “Your reality is different from adults. You need to have things explained to you in a different way, so you can understand them and bring them to your reality.”
He believes God made his presence abundantly known throughout the Youth Congress.
“You could especially see that when we had Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, with the young people kneeling in unity around Jesus,” he said.
Some of the young people came forward to be nearer to Christ.
“You could tell, they knew he was here and just wanted to be closer to him,” said Mr. Almazán.
The organizers’ goal was for everybody to become more aware of God’s presence in their everyday lives and to celebrate that presence with their families and peers.
“Showing that they know Jesus through their lives at school, telling others about Jesus, letting them know that the Holy Spirit is real,” Mr. Almazán elaborated.
Everyone is called to holiness, he noted, with the destination being heaven.
“¡Ven, Espiritu Santo!”
Both sides of the Charismatic Conference included powerful experiences of adoring Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
“This afternoon, present yourself to God!” Father Julio Padilla, a priest of the Diocese of Nashville, Tennessee, implored in Spanish. “Open your heart to his holiness and peace and let him forgive your sins and give you the strength to continue on your journey with him.”
“We know that whatever we cannot do, he CAN do,” the priest said.
Fr. Padilla and the people knelt and stretched out their hands to accept the grace, peace and love that was filling their hearts.
Some rejoiced out loud, filling the air with spontaneous prayers. Others simply wept.
“We adore you!” the priest called out to Christ. “You are with us in our sadness and joy.”
La Misón San Pedro Music Ensemble from the Marshall parish led hymns and worship anthems for the adults, while Fr. Padilla repeatedly urged everyone to welcome God more deeply into their hearts.
“Receive him!” the priest called out in Spanish. “Receive his Son. Receive his grace to heal you. Receive his peace. Don’t lose out on this opportunity to be transformed, to accept him into your heart.”
All the while, the Holy Spirit, who knows “how to pray as we ought” (see Romans 8:26-27), went about expressing himself in new and ancient ways.
The priest pleaded with the Lord to come and fill his people with peace and joy, to free them to worship him in word, service and delighted acceptance.
“We rejoice in your presence, the light of your presence!” Fr. Padilla prayed to Jesus fully present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. “Please, unite yourself with our hearts!”
Deacon Pedro Almazán, who assists the pastor of the Marshall parish and St. Joseph Parish in Slater and works in Hispanic Ministry, carried the Most Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance through the assembly.
He stopped frequently to call a blessing upon families and individuals.
On their knees, each person spontaneously worshiped — some in languages and melodies of their ancestors, some in the language in which those before them confessed Christ as their Savior, led by the witness of his Mother, Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Some came to rest peacefully in the Spirit, while others gently helped them lay down before the Lord.
“Look at Christ!” Fr. Padilla pleaded. “Accept him into your heart, now and forever!”
“¡El Espiritu, El Espiritu, El Espiritu Santo! ¡Ven, Espiritu Santo!”
“Come, Holy Spirit!”
The people then came forward and gathered around the altar of repose.
The shimmering lights reflected off the polished floor like the sea of glass in Revelation, where thousands upon thousands cry out for all eternity, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!”
Praise faded to sublime stillness, followed by heartfelt thanksgiving and people exchanging a Sign of Peace.
The assembly prayed the Divine Praises together and concluded with a hymn.
Day and night
Mr. Almazán grew up in El Salvador in a family and a parish where the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are appreciated and celebrated.
“The Charismatic Renewal is a little different from other movements in the Catholic Church,” he noted. “But in some ways, it’s exactly the same.”
He recalled hearing adults pray in tongues and seeing people resting in the Spirit by the time he was 5.
“That was just normal to me when I was growing up,” he said.
In 2005, when he was 16, he and his family moved to Marshall. Masses in Spanish were only being offered there once a month, and the Charismatic Renewal had yet to gain traction in this area of the Church.
“But in 2007, we had our first Charismatic retreat, and the community started growing and growing and growing,” said Mr. Almazán.
By 2008, a Mass in Spanish was being offered every Sunday in St. Peter Church, and the Charismatic Renewal was spreading to Hispanic communities throughout the diocese.
The Marshall parish also has Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament every Friday morning and every Friday evening, attended mostly by people who are part of the Charismatic Renewal.
“Whoever works the second shift goes to Adoration in the morning,” Mr. Almazán noted. “People who work in the day, they come at night.”
“Deepest expression”
Jose Funes noted that some of the young people at the Charismatic Conference preferred to spend the day with their parents.
“This year, we gave them the option to do that or be a part of our Youth Congress,” said Mr. Funes, the Jefferson City diocese’s assistant director of pastoral ministry.
“One of the reasons for offering both was, we wanted whole families to feel welcome and free to come,” Mr. Funes added. “We wanted everyone to hear that God is calling them to be saints.”
About 20 teens took part in the youth events in the smaller gym at Sacred Heart.
In addition to the talks and Adoration, they got to play games and dance to music.
Mr. Funes said ministering to young people in Hispanic communities in this country is always interesting.
They usually stand on the edge of two cultures, questioning whether either is fully theirs.
Many speak Spanish at home and English at school and with their friends.
“When we gather, they prefer the music in Spanish,” said Mr. Funes. “Even though they want the talks to be bilingual, when they pray, when they sing to God, they want to do so in the language they grew up with.
“It’s where they find the deepest expression of themselves,” he said.
The late Pope Francis (+2013-2025) described the Catholic Charismatic Renewal as a “current of grace in the Church and for the Church,” emphasizing its role as a gift from the Holy Spirit rather than a structured organization.
The late pope encouraged this movement to share the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit” with everyone, fostering unity, service to the poor, and evangelization.
This past March, Mr. Funes stated his belief that viewing the Catholic faith through a Charismatic lens restores something that’s often missing.
Namely, “preaching the Gospel how it used to be in Jesus’s time,” he explained. “Wherever and whenever he spoke and taught, his powerful mercy and glory would manifest around the people.
“I have felt that in modern days, people tend to think that God stopped performing miracles,” said Mr. Funes. “That’s not true. The time of miracles is still happening. Because we have a living God, a living Jesus.”
Organizers are already planning next year’s Charismatic Conference.
