Catholic Charismatic Renewal

Catholic Charismatic Renewal has been characterized not so much as a movement but rather as a stream of spirituality running through the believers’ universe. It has found expression in spiritual growth groups who are given to prayer and meditation about the Scriptures. They invoke the Holy Spirit to experience its power and its “gifts of growth and hope.” In this aim, Charismatic Renewal intends to recover the primordial apostolic community's spirituality, according to which the descent of the Holy Spirit was a source of knowledge and spiritual renewal. Just as it used to happen within primordial communities, renewal moments of prayer are characterized by events such as “speaking in tongues,” prophecies, and healings.

Catholic Charismatic Renewal represents a Catholic version of the wider religious awakening that developed within Protestantism in the context of traditional Pentecostalism and neo-Pentecostalism. Traditional Pentecostalism originated within the North American Methodist Church in the early 20th century and then began to influence other Christian denominations during the first half of the century. Since the 1950s, the primordial Pentecostalism spirit has been reflected in different Protestant churches; its main characteristic is the award of the “gift of the Holy Spirit,” which is meant as a second and definitive conversion after the first (baptism).

Born inside American universities at the time of Vatican Council II, Charismatic Catholic Renewal develops the idea of a religious life based on a strong restoration of the spiritual dimension that is built around communitarian prayer, a direct confrontation with the Bible, and the constant invocation of the Holy Spirit. From this perspective, it manifests an implicit critique of the superficiality of the behaviors of Catholics and the formalism of the Catholic institutions.

Charismatic Catholic Renewal, also defined as “Groups of the Renewal,” is characterized by the [Page 188]strong autonomy of each renewal community, but at the same time, it develops many ways of organization and communication among communities. The “Renewal in the Holy Spirit” is an example of this tentative organization recognized as a private association of believers; it embraces most “Groups of the Renewal.”

In 1975, on the occasion of the Third International Council, leaders of the Charismatic Catholic Renewal were given an audience with Pope Paul VI, which was interpreted by the movement's followers as showing its allegiance to the Holy See and its loyalty to the ecclesiastic hierarchy, from which it has sought guidance and advice. Therefore, Charismatic Catholic Renewal takes on the shape of an interior revitalization inside Catholic churches. Through the “Baptism in the Spirit,” it can realize the objective of a renewed religious enthusiasm, in contrast to secularized society. In this way, it becomes functional to the process of pastoral reform and spiritual rebirth that was begun in the Catholic world by Vatican Council II.