A
History of WWCCR
Charismatic Renewal in
Western Washington
by Pat Corwin
2002 marked the 25th anniversary of WWCCR. This article is the first of a series
that will tell the story of WWCCR throughout this Silver Jubilee year.
On April 3rd,
1960, Fr. Dennis Bennett,
the Rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Van Nuys, California, preached on
the Pentecostal Movement and told how he himself spoke in tongues. It made
Time and Newsweek
as well as national TV news, creating such controversy in his parish that within
three weeks he had submitted his resignation. In his book
Nine O’clock in the Morning Dennis shared the scripture
reading for the feast of St. Mark, Ecclesiastes 51:13-22: My heart
was troubled in seeking her (wisdom): therefore have I gotten a good possession.
The Lord hath given me a tongue for my reward, and I will praise Him therewith.
At the urging of a priest friend, Dennis
wrote to the Episcopal Bishops in Portland and Seattle and each said they would
be happy to talk with him. In June he told his story to Bishop William Lewis who
responded as written in Nine O’clock in the Morning (p 67):
“Look, Dennis, what about coming to this diocese?
Bring the fire with you! I have a mission out in the Ballard area, St. Luke’s.
It’s never gotten off the ground in the last sixty years. I’ve got to do
something or close it up. Would you like to go out and look over the situation?”
If you are not familiar with the story
of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Ballard, do yourself a favor and read
Nine O’clock in the Morning. During the next
seven years many Seattle Catholics slipped into the Friday night meetings at St.
Luke’s to hear about Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Some Catholics (including nuns,
priests, and seminarians) received the release of the Holy Spirit on a Friday
night in Ballard. Fr. Dennis
Bennett’s efforts to integrate the Pentecostal experience into the Episcopal
Church mark the beginnings of the Pentecostal movement in mainline Protestant
denominations.
Catholic Pentecostals 1967
The beginning of the Catholic
Pentecostal movement started at Duquesne University with a small group of
students. Patti Gallagher Mansfield’s book, As by a New
Pentecost, tells the story of the Renewal’s earliest years. After
spreading to the Notre Dame campus, it wasn’t long before things really started
to happen in Seattle. Some of the youth from Blessed Sacrament Parish, where
Fr. Joseph Fulton
was pastor, attended the Friday night gathering at St. Luke’s. So Fr. Fulton had
heard something about St. Luke’s when a mutual friend brought him and Fr. Dennis
Bennett together. In his book, Dennis shares his meeting with Fr. Fulton:
“Early in 1968 we met Fr.
Fulton. He heard with great interest our experience of the Holy Spirit and His
gifts, but that was as far as the matter went at that time. Then, a month or two
later, I received a call from Fr. Fulton. “Dennis, can you come over to St.
Thomas Seminary tomorrow? Fr. McNutt, a Dominican monk, claims to have the same
experience that you have. He wants to meet you!” “You bet I could!” I met Fr.
McNutt and found he had been praying with some local clergy, and several had
received the Holy Spirit. Fr. Fulton had been sitting in a corner listening to
all that was going on and he too, quietly began to speak in tongues.” (p. 185)
After Fr. McNutt and Fr. Bennett’s ministering at St. Thomas
Seminary, a weekly prayer meeting of about twenty priests started.
The First Prayer Meeting in a Catholic Church
In March of 1969,
Fr. Fulton started
the Blessed Sacrament Prayer Meeting in the church basement. Meetings of over
one hundred people from all walks of life—hippies from the University District
and professional people from Laurelhurst—became the bright lights in the area,
drawing many people to the new experience of the Holy Spirit. We owe much to the
faithfulness of these leaders, and others throughout our area, who have
continued to provide a place to participate in dynamic “praise and worship” and
to discern and develop various charisms of the Holy Spirit.
Resurrection Community
In 1970, Gerard Frederick, a graduate of
St. Martin’s in Olympia, became involved in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal
(CCR). In 1972, he was a co-founder of the Resurrection Covenant Community. The
community started a prayer meeting at St. Joseph’s in Seattle where they
provided Introduction Nights of CCR, Life in the Spirit Seminars,
and Growth Seminars. By 1974, the meeting was moved to St. Patrick’s where
Resurrection Community became the focal point for Catholic Charismatic Renewal
in western Washington.
As a member of the National Advisory Committee, Gerard saw
the need for support for the leadership of the many prayer groups. He called the
leaders together and helped form the Area Service Committee. During this time,
Fr. Leo Thomas, another Dominican who impacted the Renewal in the Northwest,
moved to Seattle from the San Francisco area and became a member of the Area
Service Committee. Fr. Leo also served as the Bishop’s Liaison to Charismatic
Renewal. His gentle ways, sound teaching, pastor’s heart and continuous support
brought much needed credibility to the Renewal.
Gerard died March 31, 1975, leaving the
Resurrection Community in the hands of Colin LaVergne and Chuck Johnston.
Shortly after this, after much prayer and discernment, Colin announced that he
and some of the members of Resurrection would move to the Minneapolis-St. Paul
area and join a larger covenant community. Resurrection Community eventually was
disbanded here.
WWCCR Office Opens
At a leaders meeting in 1977, Archbishop
Raymond Hunthausen suggested that the prayer groups develop an organization to
provide structure and resources to the growing movement. In the summer of 1977,
Fr. Leo Thomas
asked Larry Monuteaux if he would be willing to set up an office for charismatic
renewal as Archbishop Hunthausen had suggested. Larry agreed and was joined by
Pat Corwin in a search for affordable office space. In September 1977 they
rented a storeroom and one of the music rooms in the basement of St. Thomas
Seminary.
Months of
hard work by the Area Service Committee were needed to write up the Corporate
Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation. (Subsequently we applied for and received
non-profit status from the IRS.) Finally, on November 4, 1977, all the proper
documents were filed with the State of Washington and we officially became
Western Washington Catholic Charismatic
Renewal.
Pat Corwin has been involved in Charismatic Renewal since
the early meetings at Resurrection Community. For more than twenty years, she
ran the WWCCR bookstore. Pat was also a member of the National Advisory
Committee for many years. Pat is a parishioner at St. Brendan’s Parish in
Bothell, WA.
