I am catching up with this thread and found the link to a Church Militant appraisal of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
This appraisal has the typical ammunition used against the Catholic Charismatic renewal. For example.
“The Charismatic Renewal arose from the Pentecostal movement within Protestantism. As such, it has Protestant fingerprints all over it, including faith in the movement and guidance of the Holy Spirit in all things.”
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal arose from the teachings of St. Paul, primarily 1 Corinthians, chapters 12 and 14. The evidence for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is first found in Acts 2: 1-4.
Jon, do you have a problem reading the same Scripture verses which Protestants read?
There is a potential problem with “Protestant finger prints?” I am a tad surprised that the link did not present in the text those documents opposed to the early beginning of the Catholic response to the teachings of St. Paul. There is a great document by Father John A. Hardon. But that would have to be followed by the examination of the U.S. Bishops Committee on Doctrine.
Some basic history from link
nsc-chariscenter.org/about-ccr/
“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.”
"As early as 1969, only two years after the Renewal started, the U.S. Bishops investigated the fledgling movement and the Committee on Doctrine wrote that “theologically the movement has legitimate reasons of existence. It has a strong biblical basis. It would be difficult to inhibit the working of the Spirit which manifested itself so abundantly in the early Church.”
The above tells us that there was communication between the early Catholic Charismatics and the Pentecostal Charismatics. It did not take long for the U.S. Bishops to step straight into the “muddle.” The Holy Spirit won! Practically speaking, the identity with the Catholic religion was retained. In other words, there is a huge difference, such as the Seven Sacraments, between the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and Protestant religions.
Today, whenever someone posts concerns about a particular Charismatic group which claims that it is Catholic, my immediate advice is to check if this particular group is approved by the Bishop. Usually, one is directed to the office of the Vicar of Spirituality for this information.
The majority of the link appears to be on spirituality.
“What needs to be distinguished here is the difference between “substance” and “style.” There is little in the “substance” of the Charismatic Renewal that is dangerous: greater faith and dependence upon God, obvious spiritual fruits such as charity and growth in virtue. What is dangerous is the confusion of charismatic “substance” with “style.” Because charismatic spirituality is so tightly identified with visible “style” such as speaking in tongues, or exercise of the gift of prophecy within prayer meetings and liturgy, or visible exuberance people have difficulty growing spiritually beyond what these external and visible expressions of spirituality permit.”
The quoted section above is, in my humble opinion, an attempt to scare people. Consequently, I sincerely would like to hear from people who view this section as a proper understanding of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
