Human Promotion Commission
Purpose and goals
CHARIS, at the time of its foundation, received among the objectives given by Pope Francis, the mission to “promote service to the poor and social action through the CCR” (CHARIS Statutes, art. 3). The Human Promotion Commission within CHARIS has the mandate to help achieve this mission. Facing the many crises of the present time, “Let us dream: the way to a better future” with the Gospel, as Pope Francis has just underlined during the Covid crisis. The Human Promotion Commission wants to show how, with the Holy Spirit, ordinary and inspired people acting together despite their differences can discover unforeseen possibilities and participate to create newness in the world.
This mission for the Charismatic Renewal is not new. It needs to be nourished by prayer and social action. As a fruit of the friendship and dialogue between Cardinal Suenens and Dom Helder Camara, this was developed in the Malines Document 3 (1980). Even today, we still hear Dom Helder Camara’s voice: “Charismatics, my brothers! You who love to pray and love to listen to the Lord, stay awake and alert”; be part of all those who, here and now, “are endeavoring to build a more just and human world, the kingdom on earth”. In this sense, Pope Francis indicates that CHARIS “serves the poor, the most deprived of all needs, physical and spiritual” (Speech of the Holy Father during the inauguration of CHARIS, 8.6.2019). It thus clearly shows a special attention in the witness of life and works to the Caritas of God which means “never looking away from the poor” (Tb 4,7). As Pope Francis reminds us for ” the Church, the option for the poor is primarily a theological category rather than a cultural, sociological, political or philosophical one…” (Evangelii Gaudium, 198), because “God’s heart has a special place for the poor” (Evangelii Gaudium, 197). As Pope Francis points out, the Covid crisis has affected the whole of humanity in a very visible way. There are also thousands of other crises which we are not always as aware of. Can we speak and act as if they did not exist, especially “like the Covid crisis, they affect the whole humanity”? God asks us to dare to create something new, a new economic system, a new “politics that can integrate and dialogue with the poor, the excluded and the vulnerable, that gives people a say in the decisions that impact their lives” (Pope Francis, Let Us Dream: The Path of a Better Future, Prologue). With other realities of the Church, many people and groups of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal are working concretely for this in many parts of the world. We need to share our actions, our inspirations, our dreams. Please share testimonies and videos. Contact humanpromotioncommission@charis.international
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Charismatic Renewal, social action and service to the poor
Online meeting: 01 July 2022
Charismatic Renewal and Social action: a dialogue
“Help those Christians whose conflicting tendencies have become polarized to understand that prayer and Christian commitment are intimately united.”
Bishop Helder Câmara
The Associazione Via Pacis has been working for many years in Colombia in favour of the poor, and particularly in this time of Pandemic they have developed this initiative.
The brothers and sisters of Kkottongnae, twice a week, distribute food to the homeless at the Vatican.
Human Promotion Project in Benin by the Fondacio Association.
The Minute of God, a social and charismatic work in Bogota (Colombia), is the result of the blessings of the Lord, received through Father Rafael Garcia Herreros (1909-1992). An evangelization initiative becomes an incredible social project led by charismatics.
CHARIS and Service to the poor
“To serve the poor and those in greatest need, physical or spiritual. This does not mean, as some might think, that suddenly the Renewal has become communist. No, it has become evangelical, for this is in the Gospel.” (Pope Francis to CHARIS and the whole Charismatic Renewal, 8th June 2019)