OFFICIAL NAME
Comunità Gesù Risorto
ACRONYM
CGR
ESTABLISHED
1987
HISTORY
The Risen Jesus Community was founded in Rome on the initiative of three married couples who had long experience in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. They were Deacon Giampaolo Mollo and Anna Liberace, Deacon Paolo Serafini and Carmencita Leonardi, and Alfredo Ancillotti and Jacqueline Dupuy. They were involved in the establishing of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Italy and its expansion.
The Community immediately moved to the premises of the parish Assunzione di Maria Santissima in Rome.
The first meetings clearly outlined the identity of this new Community, also expressed by its name. The Pentecost that immediately followed its foundation was officially taken as the date of its founding – 7 June 1987.
Wide and rapid diffusion followed, and this prompted the Community to establish itself in 65 dioceses in Italy and in 15 abroad, reaching a total of 324 parishes.
In 1994, in support of the activities of the Community, the Risen Jesus Association was established. It received a decree of recognition from Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Vicar General of His Holiness for the diocese of Rome.
On 4 April 2010, the Pontifical Council for the Laity issued the decree of recognition of the Risen Jesus Community as an international association of the faithful.
IDENTITY
The Risen Jesus Community, and the journey that gave rise to it, is one of the recognised entities of the Italian Charismatic Renewal of which it fully embodies the founding principles: the lived experience of the “outpouring of the Holy Spirit” and the revival and practical expression of all charisms with the purpose of uplifting the Church, experienced with community spirit.
The members of the Community invoke and welcome the Spirit of the Risen One. Accordingly, they are willing to “allow themselves to be transformed into Christ” by accepting his thoughts and feelings; by allowing themselves to become one in fellowship, to the glory of the Father; by learning to give their lives for their brothers and sisters, that is, “to die for them so as to rise with them”. Through the Community, the members are invited every day to experience in spirit the “resurrection from death”. This does not only await us at the end of our earthly journey and must be transmitted to others who are baptised.
This “passage” is experienced first and foremost in prayer, the founding and key “activity” of the Community. It can be described as: spontaneous and inspired praise, thanksgiving and adoration, biblical and liturgical, community and personal. The inner transformations that result from this find concrete expression in the works that each one personally feels called to carry out.
Another founding activity is evangelisation, to which everyone is committed, and which is also carried out through organised, residential missions.
ORGANISATION
The spiritual and organisational leadership of the entire Risen Jesus Community is the International Service Committee, composed of 7 members, from which a president is elected every four years.
In whatever nation the Risen Jesus Community becomes established, it has the same spirituality and the same structural characteristics. It is mainly centred in parishes. Alongside the parish, another important area is the family, which is not simply regarded as an object of outreach, but as a protagonist in charismatic and evangelising action.
To join the Community, it is sufficient to attend its meetings regularly. Those who most clearly embody its spirituality and show that they can serve it well, are chosen to be leaders, animators and diocesan delegates and thus take on more specific commitments.
WORKS
The Community offers various activities that are part of its spiritual journey. These include the opportunity to experience God's love in prayer, to participate in the Seminar of New Life in the Spirit, to reinforce our conversion and communion in a Community of Growth (where the review of life is practised), and to evangelise the places where we live, study and work through Environmental Communities.
There are works of a broader nature that are focused on personal development. These are diocesan and regional retreats, courses for young people, for animators and leaders and for diocesan delegates, and an international meeting.
PUBLICATIONS
Gesù Risorto, A quarterly magazine.
WEBSITE
HEADQUARTERS
Comunità Gesù Risorto
Via Servilio Isarnico, 16/18
00174 Roma
Italy
Tel. e Fax. [+39]0631050532
E-mail: cis@gesurisorto.it
