Patti Mansfield hadn’t planned on talking about the gift of tongues at this year’s Catholic Charismatic Conference in the Vancouver area, but apparently the Holy Spirit had different plans. So she ditched one of her scheduled speeches, and soon almost 800 Catholics were praising God in the “tongues of angels” (1 Cor 13:1).
Mansfield has been one of the brightest stars of the charismatic renewal from the day it began in 1967, and at the 2017 Golden Jubilee celebration she was seated next to Pope Francis before a crowd of 50,000 in Rome. On Labour Day weekend she was a featured speaker at a Vancouver conference, along with Bob Canton, who has a healing ministry.
The conference, co-sponsored by Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services of BC and Vancouver Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services, was held at Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel in Richmond.
Mansfield was a 20-year-old student at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh when she attended a retreat with a student Bible study group in February of 1967. The retreat is considered the beginning of the Catholic charismatic renewal, which now numbers more than 100 million participants worldwide.
At the conference, she told the audience they could find her second scheduled talk on the Internet; the Spirit was urging her to speak about tongues, the most controversial of the gifts of the Holy Spirit exercised by charismatics. The gift is defined as speaking or praying in a language not known to the speaker; in most cases it is not a known human language at all.
Mansfield said she didn’t get the gift of tongues at the Duquesne retreat. So a few weeks later she knelt before a crucifix and told God she wasn’t getting up until she prayed in tongues. Eventually, she made a few “ugly, guttural sounds,” but then she began singing a beautiful song in tongues.
And that’s pretty much what happened to the conference audience. Mansfield asked those who hadn’t prayed in tongues before to be open to the gift, and those who had the gift already to be open to a new tongue. Soon the hotel ballroom was full of singing and praise in tongues.
Mansfield said she had been afraid the gift would overtake her and embarrass her, but that didn’t happen. She said once we have yielded to tongues, we can pray or stop praying in tongues whenever we want, and can pray loudly, softly, or even under our breath. In addition to praise, she said, tongues are useful for intercession when we don’t know how to pray.
Canton prayed for healing for women who have had miscarriages or abortions and for people suffering from partial or complete blindness, and then led prayers for a long list of ailments for the whole congregation. For any who were healed, he said, “see your doctors. Let your healing be verified by your doctor.”
Several people reported healing from partial blindness. Nancy Fudge, 85, of Bellingham, had been almost totally blind in her left eye due to macular degeneration. “I could see your shadow,” she told Canton. “Now I can see your face.”
In an interview afterward, she said her right eye is still good enough to pass her driving licence test, but eventual blindness was inevitable, and she was worried she would have to give up the grief support group she leads. “I’ve had two specialists say we can’t do anything for your eyes,” she said. She said she has been active in the Catholic charismatic renewal for about 25 years.
Coral Cardoz, of Richmond, said she was hit by a car in a crosswalk in 2006 and nearly died. She was left with brain lobe damage that gave her a “sleepy eye;” even though the eye itself worked properly she could not open it to see. After Canton’s prayer, she said she could see.
Archbishop Michael Miller celebrated the closing Mass for the conference. He said in his sermon that the charismatic renewal has upheld the mission of clergy, religious and laity by its prayers, and “you remind many of the power of the prayer of praise.”
He asked those present to join in 40 days of prayer and fasting for the Oct. 26 Upper Room Vancouver conference celebrating the 100th anniversary of Pope Benedict XV’s apostolic letter Maximum Illud on evangelism, and to bring that request to their charismatic prayer groups. For more information visit upperroomvancouver.com.
