Catholic Charismatic Renewal

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Charismatic Catholicism, also known as Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a movement within the Catholic Church which is very similar with the Pentecostal movement within Protestantism. Worship services are characterized by a high energy Mass, as well as prayer meetings featuring prophecy and sometimes glossolalia, or "speaking in tongues." Some supporters within this movement see it as based on the belief that certain charisms (a Greek word for gifts), bestowed by the Holy Spirit, such as the abilities to speak in tongues and to heal (which all Christians believe existed somehow in the early Church as described in the Bible) should still be practiced today.

Catholic Church Christ the King in Ann Arbor's website (http://www.rc.net/lansing/ctk/welcome/index.html) describes Charismatic Prayer, "A charismatic style of prayer is common at Christ the King. People are free to raise their hands in prayer and during songs, many pray their own prayers audibly, some pray in tongues, etc.... They pray with expressive or charismatic prayer at monthly parish prayer meetings, at the beginning of parish meetings, and most especially during certain moments in the Holy Mass. These are some of the external markers of a charismatic parish. Internal markers include a radical surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all parts of life, a strong adherence to the Gospel and the teachings of the Catholic Church, and the pursuit of strong friendships centered on Christ."

1 Origins
2 Reaction from the Church hierarchy
3 Relation to other charismatic movements
4 See also
5 References
6 Books
7 External links

[edit] Origins

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal as it exists today is the outgrowth from a retreat held in February 1967 of several faculty members and students from Duquesne University. Many of the students - though not all - experienced a movement of God’s Spirit called being “baptized in the Holy Spirit.” The professors had previously been “baptized in the Spirit” a week or two before. God’s action was also prepared for in a very human way by the students’ prayerful preparation in reading the Acts of the Apostles and a book entitled The Cross and the Switchblade.

What happened quickly spread to graduate students and professors at the University of Notre Dame and others serving in campus ministry in Lansing, Michigan. It continued to spread so that, as of 2003, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal exists in over 230 countries in the world, having touched over 119 million members according to David Barret, head of Global Evangelization Movement in Richmond, VA.

The Second Vatican Council stated in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium:

It is not only through the sacraments and the ministrations of the Church that the Holy Spirit makes holy the people, leads them and enriches them with his virtues.... He also distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts he makes them fit and ready to undertake various tasks and offices for the renewal and building up of the Church.

The movement was given a major endorsement by Leo-Josephus Cardinal Suenens, a leading liberal cardinal in the Catholic church.^[1]

The charismatic element of the Church is still as evident today as it was in the early days of Christianity, albeit the manifestations may not seem as dramatic as in the first few hundred years. This is thought to be the result of the Church becoming more and more established in the world, and personal sanctification becoming more prevalent. Nevertheless, the charisms as identified in Saint Paul's writings, especially Romans and Corinthians, are as true today as ever. Traditionally they are: faith, expression of knowledge and wisdom, the gift of tongues and their interpretation, prophecy, discernment of spirits and healing. On a lower level, they have expression in the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

[edit] Reaction from the Church hierarchy

Reaction to the movement by the church hierarchy has been wildly mixed. Some had initially supported it as being a harbinger of ecumenism (a unity among the Christian denominations). It was thought that these practices would draw the Catholic and Protestant churches together. This support has been tempered however more recently, as it is thought that anti-fundamentalism amongst the charismatics would eventually hurt the cause of ecumenism between Catholics and non-Catholics.

In the United States, the decline of church attendance among Catholics and the rise in popularity of the charismatic movement have caused bishops to take special attention and care to this community, which might be the major constituent in many of their parishes.

Three popes have acknowledged the movement: Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI. Pope John Paul stated that the movement was integral to the renewal of the entire Catholic Church. Both Popes Paul and Benedict, while acknowledging the good aspects of the movement, at the same time urge caution to its members to maintain their link to the Catholic Church.^[1]

[edit] Relation to other charismatic movements

The relationship between the Catholic charismatic movement and other charismatic movements is complex. In the first place, most observers agree that the Catholic charismatic movement was inspired by other charismatic movements such as Pentecostalism.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

↑ Charismatic Renewal - General. Donovan, Colin B. Eternal Word Television Network. http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/charismatic_renewal.htm. Retrieved 18 April 2006.

[edit] Books

Paul Josef Cordes (December 1997). Call to Holiness: Reflections on the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Michael Glazier Books. ISBN 0-8146-5887-3.
Kristina Cooper (2001). The Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Catholic Truth Society. ISBN 1-86082-114-6.