Charismatic Renewal

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joeysk8er98

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I have definitely been drawn back into the Catholic Church from the Charismatic Renewal and I would like to share my story before I ask my question.
When I was younger, I had stopped practicing my Catholic faith and I would very rarely go to mass. I eventually attended a protestant retreat and I developed a desire to know God personally. I eventually got involved in youth group at my local Catholic Church. I would attend mass and go to youth group every Sunday but I would also attend the protestant services on Wednesdays. I felt like I was being fed in the protestant church but not int he Catholic Church.
This all changed when I attended the Steubenville conferences. After attending, I developed a deep appreciation for my Catholic faith, especially the gift that we have of Eucharistic Adoration. The charismatic movement has definitely given me the desire to know God more fully and to grow stronger in my Catholic faith.

So, my question is this. Why is there so much controversy with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal? There are many people who have strong feelings against the Charismatic Renewal and are discouraging its place within our Catholic faith. As a result, I am very confused because this is my spirituality and this is how I communicate with God.
If you have strong feelings against the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, please do not respond to this thread.
 
Hi Joey, here I will try to explain based on my experience with Catholic Charismatic Renewal, I’m not active in it but I’m not against it either.
Long ago when the first Catholic Charismatic Renewal was in my country, I joined their retreat about healing. Ofcourse, I can’t say that I enjoyed it because actually I was afraid of it. The way people prayed and worship. Because I was craddle catholic and always like to be silent to pray so I can really focus in it.
And the reason I didn’t like it very much before, because when we were in lunch time, we gathered together and started to talk. And you know what I noticed, many people who attended it, they started to ask about Mother Mary etc. So I wondered how can if they said they are catholic but said something against it. Since then I’d never attended any ministry by them.And the real life happened that many catholics who were active in this movement, they converted to protestants. Later, there’s changes which the movement should be at the church not outside the church and should be watched by parish priest.
Then a few years after, my good friend asked me to attend the retreat by Catholic Charismatic Renewal, I told her that I was a little bit traumatic with it, she told me that it’s okay. So because I felt that time I needed retreat to I attended. Sure, there’re some changes, I saw people there talked not against Mother Mary or others, even they prayed through her too. Although I still felt uncomfortable with their prayers and worships. But it’s okay for me. So, I’m not against this movement, but I just told myself that it’s not my branch. I just thought that Jesus Christ is the True Vine and we are His branches and We still remain in HIM although my branch is different with Catholic Charismatic Renewal. But I can say that some people don’t like this movement because some people who are active in this movement think that they are holier than others who are not in this movement. I guess that is one reason people don’t like this movement. Anyway…it’s only my opinion. God bless
 
To me, the charismatic approach is a dangerous middle-ground between Catholicism and Protestantism, and therefore is not truly Catholic. My opposition to it isn’t ‘strong’, however, because I don’t think about it much or consider it threatening to Catholicism. The latter is incompatible with Protestantism, as evidenced by the steady decline and disintegration of the Anglican Church, informally known as the ‘Church of the Third Way’. Therefore, the charismatic movement exists in its own dimension, and won’t have much of an impact. I mean no disrespect.🙂
 
The C in CCR stands for Catholic. This is an approved Catholic movement, and definitely not another dimention.

Lux
 
So, my question is this. Why is there so much controversy with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal? … If you have strong feelings against the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, please do not respond to this thread.
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Kind of hamstringing the responses there? 🙂

I have strong feelings against the CCR, but I won’t go into the specifics. Just know that, like all religions/religious movements, there is room and opportunity for abuse.
 
The controversy around the CCR has to do with the following:

Catholicism is traditionally a very reserved church in their method of praise and worship and also in what it values such as the meek, humble, reverent, and simple in spirit and dress. The church honors those that do not look for attention or attract attention to themselves. Examples of holiness given to us are those Saints who did not take credit for miracles themselves but gave credit to God.

Traditional Catholicism does believe in the gifts of the holy spirit, and in miracles, and in other extrodinary and magnificent things but again it is extremely reserved in its awknowledgement of such things.

The Charasmatic renewal is exactly what the name implies which is a renewal. It is essentially a renewal in the approach on Catholicism using the exact same beliefs (therefore it IS Catholic) BUT is not so reserved in the awknowledgement of the extrodinary. I guess you could say that the CCR is sort of an unreserved or flamboyant approach to the Catholic faith. This really freaks some people out.

The Catholic Church traditionally does believe that there are gifts of the holy spirit given to people for the building up of the church but it has never publicly awknowledged them openly or reallly sought out those gifts. (That I know of.) Again they are really reserved in such things.

The Charasmatic renewal openly awknowledges such gifts and identifies them when they exist among their own members and so forth. Again a whole new approach to Catholicism.

The CCR really is a good thing but like all organizations or movements there will be those who misunderstand and misinterpret.

The CCR really freaks out traditional Catholics (I think) because there are people who will (for instance) tell you what their gifts are. In traditional church it is not considered to be a holy trait to tell anyone that you have special gifts. You are supposed to be as humble and meek as possible.

Some people in the renewal really get sort of prideful or arrogant about their special gifts which again is not the trait of a holy person. As Catholics we all know that pride is the root of the fall of Satan and is a very scary trap to fall into. I think when traditional Catholics see the CCR Catholics falling into these traps of pride as a result of things they have learned in the renewal they think that the renewal is not a good idea and perhaps we would be better off staying away from such pursuits.

Conclusion:
The CCR is really just a different approach to Catholic beliefs. The approach is so different that it makes many traditional Catholics uncomfortable. What I think people need to remember is that God loves variety. Some people might come closer to him from this very different approach.

Anyway I hope this helps. There is so much more to say but essentially I think this is enough to get my point accross. I think this is why there is so much controversy.
 
KingAlfred said:
To me, the charismatic approach is a dangerous middle-ground between Catholicism and Protestantism, and therefore is not truly Catholic. My opposition to it isn’t ‘strong’, however, because I don’t think about it much or consider it threatening to Catholicism. The latter is incompatible with Protestantism, as evidenced by the steady decline and disintegration of the Anglican Church, informally known as the ‘Church of the Third Way’. Therefore, the charismatic movement exists in its own dimension, and won’t have much of an impact. I mean no disrespect.🙂
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Note that the proper Catholic groups operate under the oversight of a liaison appointed by the bishop in each diocese. Also note that the Papal Preacher [Father Cantalamessa Sp?] is very active in the Renewal.
 
Well, if it’s approved by the Church and monitored by it as well, so be it. 👍
 
Probably the biggest reason why people don’t like the charismatic renewal is because its different. They change the mass a bit and they have more contemporary music. Some also speak in toughs.

Not every Charismatic group or Mass is the same. Therefore we can’t think of them all as being the same. Some groups are completely in communion with Rome and try to follow the GIRM as best they can. Others so more questionable things. I guess it all has to do with the individual group.

All I can say is that if your gut says that there is something wrong with it, then there probably is.
 
nate12387 said:
Probably the biggest reason why people don’t like the charismatic renewal is because its different. They change the mass a bit and they have more contemporary music. Some also speak in toughs.

Not every Charismatic group or Mass is the same. Therefore we can’t think of them all as being the same. Some groups are completely in communion with Rome and try to follow the GIRM as best they can. Others so more questionable things. I guess it all has to do with the individual group.

All I can say is that if your gut says that there is something wrong with it, then there probably is.
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I’m afraid I have a ‘bad gut’, when it comes to this. :o
 
nate12387 said:
. They change the mass a bit and they have more contemporary music. .
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How so? I’ve not been to too many charasmatic masses but I didn’t notice any changes in any part of the mass when I did go so this statement confused me. What was your experience?
 
Archerette74 said:
How so? I’ve not been to too many charasmatic masses but I didn’t notice any changes in any part of the mass when I did go so this statement confused me. What was your experience?
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My church has a life teen mass, which I would consider to be a charismatic mass, that is good about keeping the liturgy holy. Others people, however, are used to seeing things like this:
youtube.com/watch?v=rh_nqtp3VrU
 
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