Kevin Ranaghan (born 1940) is an American

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researc ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

, and a founder of the

People of Praise People of Praise is a network of lay Christian intentional communities. As a parachurch apostolate, membership is open to any baptized Christian who affirms the Nicene Creed and agrees to the community's covenant. The majority of its members ...

. He is married to Dorothy Ranaghan, and has six children and twelve grandchildren.

Early life

Kevin Ranaghan was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1940 to parents of

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the Briti ...

descent.

College

While completing his

doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in liturgical studies in the theology department at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

, Kevin met his future wife, Dorothy. They were married in 1966.

Religious conversion

Ranaghan heard about a new work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of some friends at

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit , image = Holy Gh ...

. After an initial period of

skepticism Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...

, their

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified ...

and study led him and his new wife to be baptized in the Holy Spirit on March 5, 1967.

Catholic Charismatic renewal

In 1969, the Ranaghans published ''Catholic Pentecostals'', the first book detailing the history of this renewal movement and articulating its theological implications. They linked baptism in the Spirit to a renewal of the

sacraments of initiation The sacraments of initiation (also called the “ mysteries of initiation”) are the three sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. As such, they are distinguished from the sacraments of healing ( Anointing of the sick and Sacrament of ...

. The book was translated into several languages, and Kevin Ranaghan traveled extensively, both in and out of the United States, to spread the news about this Pentecostal outpouring in the church. His travels brought him into contact not only with Catholic groups throughout the world, but also with groups of Protestants from Pentecostal, mainline, and

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

streams of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. Ranaghan served as a bridge between Catholics and those from other denominations who, for the first time in history, were experiencing a simultaneous and similar renewal in the Spirit.

Committees and conferences

Ranaghan was ordained a permanent Catholic

in 1973. He joined United States National Service Committee for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal for 15 years, and for 11 years was its

executive director Executive director is commonly the title of the chief executive officer of a non-profit organization, government agency or international organization. The title is widely used in North American and European not-for-profit organizations, though ...

. He has been a principal organizer of national and international conferences, especially the 1975 Catholic Leaders Conference in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, and the 1977 Ecumenical Conference in Kansas City. Currently serving as an ICCRS Council member representing community expression of the renewal, Kevin also serves as council vice-president. He was a member of the council from the time of its establishment in the late 1970s until 1984. In 1990, he returned to the Council in his present role.

People of Praise

Ranaghan was a founding member of the

, an ecumenical Christian

covenant Covenant may refer to: Religion * Covenant (religion), a formal alliance or agreement made by God with a religious community or with humanity in general ** Covenant (biblical), in the Hebrew Bible ** Covenant in Mormonism, a sacred agreement b ...

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

References

*This article includes text derived fro
the ICCRS Newsletter
used with permission {{DEFAULTSORT:Ranaghan, Kevin 1940 births People of Praise American Charismatics University of Notre Dame alumni Living people American Roman Catholics