Question 88 – What Is The Catholic Teaching On The Charismatic Movement?

Transcript:

There is no direct teaching concrete about the charismatic movement as such. Even so, we know that the Vatican Council and the Pope accepted and even encouraged the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement, especially John Paul II. But we have to look at this phenomenon from a wider horizon. The Church is not only 50 years old, but the Church is also 2000 years old. 

So we have to keep in mind that the charismatic movement started more or less 50 years or 55 years ago. In the Catholic Church, that is a short time and the approval of John Paul II is not a criterion for its authenticity, it is not automatic. The Pope can also make some Prudential errors in approving some different movements after they reveal that there are some defects. 

So we have to look into this objectively. It’s historically proven that this movement started from Protestant communities in the United States or from the African American Protestant communities at the beginning of the 20th century. So, it was kind of a new form of religion or a completely new Christian denomination. Until then, Christianity had two wings or principles, the Catholic church and the Orthodox Church, which is our sacramental structure and objective, with the priesthood, episcopacy, sacraments, the veneration of the saints, and other objective expressions of piety and devotion in the church. 

Currently, we have the Catholic-Orthodox, the ecclesiastical sacramental Christianity, and the Protestants which came from Martin Luther and the other so-called reformers, which was not a reform but a deformation of Christianity. This wing of the Protestant is a more subjective approach and is not sacramental, without the priesthood, without the veneration of Our Lady and the saints. 

Now came a third wing, the charismatic movement from Protestantism. Of course, it came from Protestantism because it essentially has a mark or characteristics of subjectivity. The subject, my personal experience, and my personal feelings are becoming essential and central in this new form of a Christian denomination or even a kind of religion because they are charismatic religions that are non-Christian. 

So, in other religions also, personal experiences, especially feelings, and the sentimental aspect become the center of this religion and the criterion. And so, this is of course, very dangerous because you cannot make the element of Feeling, which is of course, also a valid element, the center. We have these elements in the Catholic tradition also because we have a heart. We have these moments of feeling and sentiments in religion, the Catholic religion, and also even in the Orthodox. 

But it has its place and it's not in the center. It's not so essential, it is only secondary. Here lies the danger of the charismatic movement, either the Catholic charismatic movement or the Protestant, this aspect of the sentimental and the feeling is so important and central. Also, the act of putting your personal feelings aside and displaying them to the public is unnecessary. 

Our Lord said, ‘When you are praying to your Father, go to your room and close the door and pray there and the Father will see you,’ but the charismatic movement does the contrary. They present their personal experiences and feelings to the public. So in a way, I would say it's against the puder, in Latin, or modesty and shame. We do not only have bodily shame but also spiritual shame, you cannot exhibit yourself completely, neither bodily nor spiritually to the public. 

This is also a characteristic of charismatic movements, the lack of modesty and discretion. The church never approved this. Historically, the so-called first true charismatic phenomenon in the history of the church was the Pentecost event. When the Holy Ghost came and filled Our Lady, the disciples, and the apostles on the day of Pentecost. They were not crying, clapping hands, or dancing. Our Lady was not there dancing and clapping with the apostles. They didn’t fall to the floor to rest in the Holy Spirit, as it often occurs today.

They did not present their personal feelings in the Pentecostal event. Neither Our Lady nor the apostles, only Peter spoke in an objective sober way the gospel truth but he was filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit. He spoke clear words so that everyone could understand him in his language. He spoke rational words with content, and this fire of the Holy Spirit gave them the courage to proclaim Christ and accept the persecution, to be martyrs, and also to be prudent and wise. 

They were filled with the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. We know that there is a gift of the Holy Spirit which is prudence. We have to be prudent. You cannot display everything in public.  Also the fear of God, reverence, awe, and piety. These are the gifts of the Holy Spirit which is the charismatic event, the true charismatic event of Pentecost. In the second century, there came a fake charismatic event, the Montanism movement. It was in the second century, a phenomenon in Asia and Phrygia. 

Catholics and even some priests (Montanus was a priest) claimed that they had a new Pentecost experience, that the Holy Spirit came down again upon them, that they had the baptism of the Spirit, and so on, now they are experiencing the “true church”, the Church of the Holy Spirit. Then they started to spread some very radical practices and they obeyed more of the so-called prophets in their community. Therefore the church condemned this charismatic movement, the Catholic charismatic movement of the second century, the Montanism. It was condemned and since then, the church has been very careful about this. 

There is a very good book in English about all this phenomenon about the history and the phenomenology of the charismatic, it was written maybe 50, 60, or 70 years ago by Knox, it’s entitled “Enthusiasm”. I would highly recommend you to read this. It's a very careful and wise presentation of this phenomenon in diverse religions and also its problems. I would say, of course, the charismatic movement, the Catholic Charismatic Movement also has good qualities and characteristics. We cannot deny these, especially the zeal for prayer, thus they can take whatever is good. The zeal for prayer, sacrifices, and the consecration of the self to God. Many charismatic members of Catholic charismatic movements do adoration, Eucharistic adoration, and the praying of the rosary, this is good. 

However, this is not a specific characteristic of the charismatic movement. This is a characteristic of the Catholic tradition, to make adoration, to pray, and to venerate Our Lady. So I think we have to help and convince our brothers and sisters in the charismatic movement to come back to the more balanced methods and ways, the more sure and proven – the entire Catholic tradition did this. They will then bear more fruits and more durable fruits in the church and their personal life.