Stockon Record-Stockton Charismatic Set to Speak at Vatican
2009 Schedule of Events

Stockton Charismatic Set to Speak at Vatican

By Anna Kaplan
Record Staff Writer
October 14, 2006 6:00 AM

Robert Canton's faith takes him around the world. As a Catholic Charismatic, he has traveled to places such as Singapore and Turkey to lay hands on the sick and pray for divine intervention.

In April, the Stockton man will travel to Rome to speak for all U.S. charismatics as the newest member of the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services in the Vatican.

"I was told I was the first non-Caucasian, the first Filipino, the first Californian, the first Stocktonian," said Canton, 54

"It's really a gift to us in this diocese that he would be in this position," said Bill Brennan, a deacon with Church of the Presentation in Stockton and a liaison for the diocese's charismatic prayer groups. "I don't think they look as much for the cultural background but for good leaders. It's certainly a reflection on the diversity of the renewal."

Canton will be one of 14 international representatives who determine the future of the Catholic movement that emphasizes faith-healing and speaking in tongues as ways of channeling higher power.

"This is a deep relationship with the holy spirit," said Jim Murphy of Michigan, who has been the U.S. representative for the past 10 years. "This is really the call of any baptized Christian. What the renewal is doing is raising that banner."
Canton, a self-proclaimed "cradle Catholic," found this aspect of his faith in 1984, when he attended a seminar taught by Brennan. The experience changed his perception of how faith could affect him.

The largest crowd of his healing ministry came in 1999, when 12,000 people seeking healing by the laying on of hands came together in Singapore, Canton said. "We go to Asian countries, and demonic spirits are very real there," he said. "We teach them not to go with witchcraft."

Canton was born in the Philippines and moved to the United States in 1973 after earning an accounting degree. He settled in Stockton because he had family here, and has long worked for the San Joaquin County assessor's office.

The three-year term with the Charismatic Renewal will have him traveling to Rome at least once per year for weeklong meetings.

"It's kind of like a United Nations of Catholicism," Murphy said of these meetings. "When we come together in Rome, we get a thumbnail sketch of the whole world."

For Canton and his family, the appointment is a matter of faith affirmation.
"It's a big responsibility. It's enormous, just thinking about the Vatican," said his wife, Chita Canton. "He said, 'Honey, I think this is what the Lord wants me to do.' My husband is a very faithful man."

Contact reporter Anna Kaplan at (209) 546-8294 or akaplan@recordnet.com
Used with permission from The Record, a division of Ottaway Newspapers, Inc.

2008 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
(Click items for details on events)

JANUARY 2009

January 7-12, 2009
Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine and Healing Crusade
Mexico City

January 24, 2009
Healing Service and Teachings with Bob Canton
San Mateo, CA

January 31, 2009
Mass and Healing Service
St. Luke's Parish
Stockton, CA

February 2009

March 2009