Mumbai: Cyril John, a lay leader from Delhi, has been chosen as the chairperson of the national service team, the apex body of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services in India.
John will head a 16-member team that will coordinate the 44-year-old movement’s activities in the country for the next three years. He was chosen on June 11 at a meeting held at Sarvodaya, St Pius Seminary, Mumbai. He replaces Fr Jose Anchanickal, a priest from Palai diocese in Kerala.
This is the second time John is heading the team. He was the chairperson of the movement from 2001 to 2010. John was also a member and later vice-president of the Vatican-based International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service’s Council for about 10 years. He is currently the chairperson of the ICCRS Sub-Committee for Asia-Oceania. He lives in New Delhi with his wife, Elsamma Cyril and four children.
The new charismatic team for India was chosen during a May 29-31 meeting in Bangalore, southern India. Bishop Francis Kalist of Meerut, Episcopal adviser appointed by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), guided the discernment process, said a press release from the New Delhi-based National Charismatic Office.
Other team members are Savio Mascarenhas from Goa (vice-chairperson), Sr Serena MSA from Ajmer (secretary), Fathers Ignace Ekkla and Tarcius Toppo from Chhattisgarh, Linus D’Costa from Vasai, Valerian Lynrah from Shillong, Joy Antony from Mysore, Sr Nirmal Jyothi MSMI and Santhosh Thalachira from Kerala, Antony Sagayaraj from Bangalore, Benjamin Gonzaga from Chennai, Raymond Baptist from Kolkata, Merwun Luis from Mumbai, Kanubhai D. Parmar from Gujarat, Viswanath Ignatius Oraon from Jharkhand.
The outgoing chairperson Fr Anchanickal will be ex-officio member for one year.
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal, which started in the United States in 1967, has become a movement of 125 million members spread over 235 countries. In September 1993, the Vatican recognized the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services as a body for promoting the movement worldwide, with a juridical personality.
CBCI officially recognized the movement in 1996 as a national Catholic organization. It had come to the country in 1972 with a prayer group in Mumbai. Later it spread to other parts of the country. It reaches at grassroots level through the regional or local service teams or the diocesan contact persons appointed by bishops. It has 25 regional or diocesan service teams in India. The team is in contact with 163 of the 171 dioceses in India.
The national team ensures that the movement remains faithful to the Catholic Church and for its obedience to the Pope and local hierarchy according to the Church’s teaching.