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Most Catholics don't want to go to hell, but Catholic charismatic speaker James Murphy believes they don't care much about getting to heaven, either.

Mr. Murphy will lead a workshop sponsored by the Diocesan Service Committee, titled "A Day on Holiness," April 27 at St. Mary's parish in Crescent. The director of leadership formation for International Catholic Charismatic Services, he travels the world teaching the Gospel.

"One of the things that I consistently hear from the Church is this call to holiness," he told The Evangelist. "People are hearing this at a very grassroots level - in their own prayer, in their own hearts and conversations."

But he finds Catholics' understanding of holiness lacking.

"[For] a lot of people, holiness isn't even on their radar screen," Mr. Murphy said. While people may respect the holiness of Blessed Teresa of Kolkata or St. Francis of Assisi, "they don't think it pertains to them."

He assures his audiences that holiness is "doable.

"I'm a man who's desperately trying to grow in holiness in my own life," he explained. "Through a lot of trial and error, I've picked up a few tips along the way."

Mr. Murphy was raised Catholic in Michigan, but became restless with his faith as a teenager.

"There was kind of a hunger or a yearning or a searching in my own life," he said. "I came to the idea that the greatest human good was freedom. It was an internal attitude of keeping the whole world at arm's length."

He noticed that his older sister appeared happier and transformed after college. She explained that she had given her life to Jesus. "Is that Catholic?" Mr. Murphy asked skeptically.

But on Holy Saturday in 1970, the teen's journey reached a critical point when he broke down crying in his room.

"There was a presence in the room of love and peace. In human language, I cannot properly convey what that was like," Mr. Murphy recalled. "It's like I saw Jesus hanging on a cross. He looked at me, and He had these eyes that pierced through your soul."

In his vision, Mr. Murphy heard Jesus say, "I went through this so that I could become a part of your life and we could become friends."

"In that instant," Mr. Murphy said, "my entire definition of Christianity was turned on its head." He surrendered his life to Christ.

Mr. Murphy ended up getting a degree in social work and starting a salvage diving company, but was in high demand as a speaker at parishes and eventually turned to full-time ministry. In the 1990s, he undertook a 4,200-mile, 18-month walk across the U.S., carrying a cross on his shoulders.

In his upcoming talk, Mr. Murphy hopes to discuss misconceptions about holiness, reasons to strive toward it and practical tips. He says holiness is not perfection, but "being grasped by Christ.

"There's this deep bonding with God that begins a journey, a process of purification," he said. Blessed Pope John Paul II called it "the high standard of ordinary Christian living."

"You're not capable of making yourself holy," Mr. Murphy said. "Holiness is a quality of God and He's willing to share it with us. You've got to want it, you've got to be able to strive for it, and yet you've got to be able to receive it as a gift."

Prayer, fasting, Mass, and reading the Bible is a start, he said: "I'm talking about creating a lifestyle. Jesus is just dying to make you holy. If you give Him an inch, He'll give you a mile."

Mr. Murphy is the former chair of the National Service Committee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. The Charismatic Renewal's Diocesan Service Committee sponsors monthly liturgies at Christ Our Light parish in Loudonville, teaching days, prayer meetings and an annual Pentecost Mass with Bishop Howard J. Hubbard at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany.

Local liaison Deacon Jerry Grigaitis said the Charismatic Renewal movement is about healing, forgiveness and personal growth with God: "It's transformed a lot of lives." [[In-content Ad]]

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