A Chat with Aneel Aranha

Holy Spirit Interactive (HSI) completes five years this month. Despite its relative youth, HSI has become one of the most successful Catholic lay apostolates in the world, currently reaching out to over two million people each month through a dozen ministries including schools of discipleship, outreach programs, radio and television, retreats and seminars, Scripture study sessions, prayer groups, publishing ventures and an extremely popular and respected web site. Here are excerpts of a radio interview with HSI founder Aneel Aranha by Dr. Dominic Dixon of HSI MoreLove Radio.

DD: Congratulations on HSI's fifth birthday. HSI has been a tremendous success. What is its genesis? How did it all start?

AA: I was an atheist for most of my life until a very powerful conversion experience about six years ago made me discover Jesus. Very curious to know more I started asking people I knew questions about Jesus and their faith, but to my astonishment they couldn't seem to answer me beyond a basic point. I realized that with many it wasn't apathy, but a lack of resources that contributed to their ignorance, therefore as I began reading and studying about the faith, I thought it would be a good idea to make all this information available to them as well and the web site was born.

Initially it was very catechetical in nature, but as I began learning more it started taking on a different slant with articles leaning towards spiritual growth. A few priests and bishops found out about the site and they began recommending it to people in their parishes and dioceses. A few anointed priests like Fr. Rufus Pereira, Fr. Fio Mascarenhas, Fr. Francis Jamieson, Fr. Jack McArdle and Fr. William Saunders began contributing material and the site just took off from there.

DD: Today HSI has more than a web site. It is involved in publishing, radio, television, preaching, teaching and a host of other activities. Very strong are the HSI Communities mushrooming around the world. How did all this come about?

One day, a few months after I had launched the site, a friend suggested I start a prayer group. This was something that had been at the back of my mind ever since I had started the web site. When this suggestion came I believed it to be a confirmation from God, so I launched a small little prayer group. I wanted this group to be different from other prayer groups with an emphasis on spiritual growth, because the one thing I had noticed about prayer groups was that while people did grow, the growth only went to a certain point and then slowed down or even stopped. Unfortunately, the same thing happened here. Growth was dramatic at the start, but then it began leveling off.

We realized that one of the reasons for this was the constant stream of newcomers. Many of the people who walked into our prayer meetings for the first time had never encountered anything like this before, and though they enjoyed the prayer, if the teachings were a little advanced, it went right over their heads as they didn't have the foundation required to understand these teachings, or to implement them in their lives. This resulted in a lot of the teaching being tailored to the least common denominator, which slowed down growth for the more spiritually mature members of the group.

Another reason for the lack of growth was the inherent inertia we discovered in people, especially when it came to spirituality. For example, almost everybody we spoke to confessed a strong desire to spend quality time in personal prayer, but very few actually did so. We noticed, however, that some of the people we were personally mentoring were praying more than others and this was largely because we persistently encouraged them to do so. We couldn't possibly do the same with everybody because the numbers were too large. In trying to resolve these problems, however, we opened the door to something wonderful. We discovered the community.

We invited people who wanted to deepen their relationship with God and one another to be part of a locked community where they would be educated in the faith in a structured manner. There were a few preconditions to joining, one of which was a total commitment to the community and its requirements. Everybody, for instance, was required to put into practice the lessons they had learned, especially those pertaining to prayer, study, sharing and evangelism. To ensure that they did so we partnered people with each other, setting up a system whereby each partner would be accountable to the other to keep the commitments s/he had made. Within a few weeks, we knew we were on to something as we could see visible fruit in our members. And as the weeks progressed, members began discovering wonderful gifts that they had been blessed with, and as they began using these gifts for the glory of God the ministries began to be born.

Today we have twelve fully fledged ministries run entirely by members of our first community and together we reach out to a couple of million people each month. This has inspired the founding of new communities around the world and they are exhibiting the same kind of success as the first.

DD: As the leader of a ministry that is so successful, you undoubtedly face a lot of persecution. Just yesterday, while I was waiting outside Church I met a ministry leader who openly slandered you. I know there are others who accuse you of being protestant in your beliefs, that you are arrogant and refuse to submit to authority, that you are trying to start a parallel church, among other things. How do you deal with it?

AA: I believe persecution is a sign of authenticity of our relationship with Christ and it comes with the territory. Christ said, if they persecuted me, they will persecute you. I do find it sad, however, that a lot of it comes from brethren in the faith. I find it sadder still that many of these brethren are leaders in the Church. Instead of setting an example to others by working together in love and harmony to build the Kingdom of God, they sow seeds of discord and hatred that do nothing but damage to the body of Christ.

These accusations have no substance. Take the one about not being under authority, for instance. We are under the authority of the Vicariate of Arabia and everything that we do in the region has the blessings of the Bishop. Even in other countries where we have our missions, we always place ourselves under the authority of the Church. In Bombay, we have the blessings of Cardinal Oswald Gracias. In Tanzania we have the blessings of Cardinal Polycarp Pengo. Wherever we go the first thing we do is seek the blessings of the authorities, otherwise we don't do any work there.

The other accusations are equally baseless and for the most part we simply ignore them. We got too much work to do to waste time engaging in games or petty politics. Besides, reacting in any way other than love just plays into the enemy's hands, because he has us fighting each other rather than him. I wish everybody would realize this.

I'd like to say that it doesn't really bother me, personally, what people say. Jesus, in Matthew 5, promises a great reward to the people who are persecuted, insulted and slandered on account of Him so I actually welcome the abuse that comes my way. What does bother me, though, is the damage that these people do to the kingdom of God. Instead of working together to build it, they fight with each other and destroy it. This is what really dismays me. If we can find it in ourselves to work together, there is no limit to the things we can do.

HSI has grown to the extent it has because it works with other people, other groups, other organizations who share the same Spirit. We have partnered with MoreLove to put the gospel news on the airwaves; with CSS, the world's best teachers of Catholic Scripture to take authentic teachings to students; with Mother Nadine's Intercessors of the Lamb, who provide us with teaching resources and also support us in prayer and spiritual guidance; and with several others of like mind and heart. We, in turn, give them all the support we can provide. The fruit is visible for everyone to see.

DD: For the knowledge of our audience, what is the most slanderous charge that has been made against you, or what has been the most challenging allegation you have faced.

AA: There has never been any single incident that stands out from the others, but they have all been vicious. The attacks started even before I got into ministry, and for a new Christian as I was at the time it was quite scary to see. As I stated earlier I was curious about the faith, so I started asking questions, and people found it easier to call me protestant than give me the answers I was looking for. And this escalated after I started Holy Spirit Interactive. I found the accusations totally absurd because the ministry was so obviously Catholic you'd have to be seriously challenged to believe I was anything else. I was teaching the Catholic faith, defending the Catholic faith, propagating the Catholic faith and yet I was accused of being Protestant. Then, when the accusers realized that this particular attack was wearing thin they began claiming I was operating independent of the Church's authority and other assorted rubbish.

DD: I recently interviewed Br Fritz Mascarenhas, another renowned evangelist who has been in ministry for over forty years who said that the poverty of the Charismatic Renewal has been its failure to reach out to people, suppressing people instead. Why do you believe people would do this? Why would a group suppress another group? And how do you react to all these attempts to suppress you and HSI?

AA: I would not like to comment about the Charismatic Renewal, or any other organization for that matter, because no Catholic organization worth its name would give itself a mandate to persecute people or suppress another group. But organizations comprise individuals who often view others a threat to themselves and the positions of power they occupy within these organizations. Very often such people care very little about God's kingdom, seeking instead to establish their own little fiefdom's, and when they perceive somebody as a threat to their power base, they try to take them down. Slander is the most effective way of doing so because it requires very little effort, and it places the onus on the person being slandered to prove he is innocent rather than on the slanderer to prove that the person he is accusing is guilty.

A few weeks ago, for example, the leaders of a Church group went to a priest in whose parish we were ministering and fed him with a whole lot of lies about me and HSI. Their work was done in a few minutes. But consider the effort I would have had to expend had I felt the need to defend myself. I, however, leave my defence in the hands of God, who vindicates me in the most amazing ways. What He did in this particular case was a delightful surprise but we'll leave the telling of the story for another time.

DD: I asked the question about the Renewal as a form of reverse psychology to see your attitude and response and now I know that your response and attitude is love and forgiveness. This has demonstrated the character of Christ in you and HSI to the world. As a final note on this particular subject, what would you like to say to people who persecute others?

AA: What can I say that they don't know already? Don't do it, guys! You should be trying to make your enemies your friends, not your friends your enemies. When you make your enemies your friends you destroy the devil's work; when you do the reverse you just empower him. Let us work together. And I don't mean to suggest we just work together with other Catholics, but together with all Christians. But if we can't work with people who share the same beliefs as we do, how can we expect to work with those who don't?

DD: What is your vision for 2009, the sixth year of this ministry?

AA: I would like to establish at least a dozen more communities this year. These communities not only help people to grow, they empower people to take the gospel message to others, and we need as many of them as we can. As I mentioned earlier, the first community that we started has proved a remarkable success and all its 40 members are actively involved in spreading the Good News. We have four others currently operational with a sixth to begin in Houston, Texas a little later in this year followed by another in Toronto, Canada. If we can get ten more going this year it results in a total of 680 potential apostles! As the numbers grow geometrically you can only imagine what we can achieve within five years. I believe that we will be able to reach every man, woman and child on this earth in our lifetime if we can achieve our goals for this year.

DD: What is your motivation? What is it that keeps you going?

AA: God loves His children and wants all of them back home with Him. It hurts Him that we wander about in the world aimlessly, lost to Him. I can feel His pain, and althoughI know that I can't erase all of it, I can at least ease it a little by bringing His children—our brothers and sisters—back. I guess that is what drives me on the most, even when I am tired and discouraged and depressed, to bring a little solace to our Father's heart. I know we are reaching out to millions each month, but it isn't enough. There are billions whom I will never be able to reach. But then I figure I don't need to if other Christians pick up the gauntlet too. After all, we're all called to make disciples of all nations.

DD: Any other message you would like to give our listeners to conclude this broadcast?

AA: Love one another. Love one another as Jesus loves you. It's not as hard as it looks and we will all be blessed for it. Let the hatred die. Let the bitterness cease. Let us put an end to the envy and the jealousy and the fruitless dissension. Let us love one another as Jesus loves us. And then the whole world will know we are Christians by our love.

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