On New Year’s Day, 1901, the Holy Spirit fell on a group of students at a Bible school in Topeka, Kansas, and the world has never been the same.
There had been breakouts of the Holy Spirit throughout church history, but this was different. The denomination sponsoring the school kicked the leader, Charles Parham, and his students out of the school building, but this only spread the Pentecostal movement. Charles Parham opened another school in Houston, Texas, and one of his students, William Seymour, moved to Los Angeles and began the famous Azusa Street Revival. From there, Pentecostalism spread throughout the world.
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Halfway around the world, on New Year’s Day 1901, another leader was praying for the Holy Spirit to fall. Pope Leo XIII prayed, “Divine Spirit, renew your wonders in our time, as through a new Pentecost.” Many Catholics believe that his prayer was answered in Topeka because the Catholic Church was not ready. It was not until the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s that the church accepted non-Catholics as brothers and opened to Pentecostalism. In 1967 the Holy Spirit fell on a group of students in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal was born.
Today 150 million Catholics, about 1 in 8, and 450 million other Christians, almost half, trace their roots back to New Year’s Day in Topeka Kansas. The house where it all started, known as Stone’s Folly, burned shortly after the Holy Spirit was expelled, and the site was overlooked for decades. Then a group of Catholic charismatics discovered the location of the basement, which miraculously survived. It was sitting in plain sight on land owned by a nearby Catholic Church. Christians from all denominations are welcome to visit the site for prayer and worship.
As we celebrate New Year’s Day 2025, let all Christians look back on their shared heritage in the 1901 Topeka outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
But let us also look forward to 2025 as a year of revival for America. Join us in prayer for repentance and revival in America, and let us unite in agreement with the prayer of Pope Leo XIII for a new Pentecost.
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Ron Allen is a Christian businessman who is active in ministries spreading a message of reconciliation to God, to men and between believers. He is the founder of American Wake Up Call. For more information on the site of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, visit www.stonesfolly.com.
Abby Trivett 
Charisma Staff 
