Being myself involved within the Charismatic Renewal, I can certainly understand why some catholics view the Renewal as protestantism. Or others may view it as too huggy huggy kissy kissy. And I can honestly say that it is because of the bad testimony that we charismatics give. I know of people in my parish alone, that may be bordering on protestantism, not because they are teaching heresy or anything of the sort, but because of the way they are. There are lots of people, and I know that this isn’t specific to the Renewal itself, that have a problem with authority, especially ecclesial authority. There are people that would rather do what they want to do and not give a hoot about being submissive to the Church. In my area that I live in, we have a Vicariate for the Charismatic Renewal, and there are 6 parishes in our diocese that are involved in it. It seems that the same problems are present everywhere. People do not want to be submissive to the Magisterium, and this is something that totaly goes against Christ himself.
One example I can think of right now, is that there is one prayer group in our parish for those who are serving in church, this prayer group is under the wing of the parish vicar. Whoever are involved in the prayer group are able to serve in the prayer groups Healing Mass on Wednesday’s. But come, Wednesday’s there are people who want to serve during the Mass that are not even going to the prayer group. They basically fell away from the group because they didn’t like that the prayer group coordinator is being submissive to the Magisterium, and what ever the priest gives an o.k. on the p.g. does.
Another problem, is that in our town, there are several other p.g’s. in some neighborhoods, that are not under a priests wing. These other prayer groups are formed by those who use to go the the parishes p.g. but are still Catholic. The problem with this is not that they are praying, but the fact that these groups are not under anyone’s (meaning priests) authority.
As far as the emotionalism aspect that exists, I know that this is a problem as well. I’m not talking about being emotional when God touches someone deeply that they cry. I’m talking about us letting our emotions taking control of us. We have controlof our emotions, and in this area we have to be very careful because of the type of movement we are involved in. If we believe that God is with us, just because we feel good, then where is He when we feel bad. This is the type of danger that many fall in. We must know and acknowledge that God is always with us, in good and bad times.
Another aspect, is the ignorance that exists within the movement as well. There are many, many, many charismatic catholics out there that are just ignorant of their faith. This is both very disappointing and sad. I remember a lady from the p.g said that her sister was a Jehova’s Witness and they come and talk to her and quote her bible verses left and right, and she can not even respond to any because, “we” (Catholics in general) don’t know anything. I couldn’t even believe what I was hearing when she said that. I was beside myself, I said, we are the original Christians, how can you say that?!?! We have a 2000 year history that no other Christian religion has.
Now I know that there are more problems, but I think every movement within the Church is going to have problems. No movement is and will be perfect, since the Body of Christ is composed of sinners like us. As you may be reading this, you may have asked yourself what measures are being implemented to counter these problems. I can only speak of the area that I live in, I do not know what other dioceses are doing, but what I can say is that there are guidelines that are being implemented for each p.g. in each parish. Guidelines that the diocese has come up with that we all need to adhere to. As far as the ignorance goes, we are making formation a priority because we see the problems that ignorance has caused. The type of formation that is being offered covers the Church, the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how they are suppose to be used, and soon apologetics with Early Church Fathers. You may think of me of a hybrid charismatic because I am not ignorant of my faith. One of my favorite things to say to people in the renewal is that our spirituality can not be at a higher level than our intellectual knowledge of the Church or vice versa, they have to be at the same level. And this is something that I strive in doing.