People of Praise is a Christian ecumenical charismatic covenant community. It presently consists of 21 branches in the United States of America, Canada, and the Caribbean, with a total of approximately 3,000 men, women, and children.
The People of Praise was formed in 1971 in South Bend, Indiana, by Paul DeCelles, Kevin Ranaghan and 27 others who wanted to build an ecumenical, charismatic community of men and women.
The impetus for this new way of community living came from several sources. The immediate locus for the inspiration was in the experience of the Charismatic Renewal or Pentecostal movement, particularly the charismatic renewal in the Catholic Church. This renewal centers on conversion to Christ and a “baptism in the Holy Spirit,” which, in the predominant Catholic view, involves prayer to release all the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit given in baptism and confirmation, but which needs to be actualized in the life of the believer. These gifts include prophecy, Glossolalia or speaking in tongues, and healing at first exercised primarily in weekly prayer meetings.
The charismatic renewal is rooted in the Pentecostal Movement and the Azusa Street Revival. Its development among Catholics seems to have been a response to the Second Vatican Council which encouraged the active participation and gifts of the laity in the work and mission of the church in the world. The Council was the major event which predisposed the founders of the community to the possibility of the baptism in the Holy Spirit and to life in community. In this sense, the Council itself and the Liturgical and Biblical Movements which preceded it, had a huge impact in the formation of those who founded the community. Similarly, the Cursillo movement, which fostered conversion to Jesus, and in which most of the early leaders of the community were involved, quite possibly influenced the development of the People of Praise, as well.
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