By Gretchen Keiser

A new statement by the bishops of the United States on the Catholic charismatic renewal calls the renewal movement “a grace for the Church” in which many people are experiencing a deep conversion and radically reorienting their lives toward God, the sacraments and Scripture.

Those involved in the charismatic renewal “say the transformation in their lives is a result of repentance, turning to Jesus Christ and receiving an influx of the Holy Spirit,” the statement says. “They generally term this experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit and say it usually results in the receiving of such spiritual gifts as prayer in tongues, prophecy and healing.”

“...We should be grateful to God for pouring out in our time those gifts and graces with which he blessed the Church at its very beginning,” the statement continued, noting that spiritual gifts were among those present in the early Church as described in Scripture.

The bishops’ statement also encourages bishops and priests in the United States to adopt “a welcoming attitude” toward the charismatic renewal, whether or not they are personally active in charismatic prayer groups or participants in events sponsored by the charismatic renewal. Repeating words of Pope John Paul II on the charismatic renewal in May, 1981, the bishops said that the priest’s “welcoming attitude” is based on the desire he shares with every Christian by baptism to grow in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.”

Auxiliary Bishop Joseph McKinney, chairman of the bishops’ committee which drew up the statement, said the 1984 “Pastoral Statement on the Catholic Charismatic Renewal” is a much more nuanced and positive statement on the renewal movement than those made earlier by U.S. bishops. It updates a statement made by the U.S. bishops in 1975.

Ironically, it was in the United States that the Catholic charismatic renewal movement first took root in the late 1960s and early 1970s, then spreading to other countries. But reaction by the bishops was more positive outside the United States at first, Bishop McKinney said.

“It’s been a slight source of embarrassment that the Holy Fathers (Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II) and bishops in other parts of the world have spoken more positively than we have,” said Bishop McKinney.

The auxiliary bishop of Grand Rapids, Mich., Bishop McKinney was interviewed at the annual meeting of U.S. bishops in Washington, D.C. last November. The first copies of the pastoral statements were being made available at that time.

Among a number of observations about the charismatic renewal, the statement makes a distinction between the central elements and “optional expression.” Central to authentic renewal, it says, are “the covenant love of the Father, the Lordship of Jesus, the power of the Spirit, sacramental and community life, prayer, chrisms and the necessity evangelization.” Some of the historic forms of the charismatic renewal, which are not central, are “prayer groups, covenant communities, publications, conferences and seminars.”

Distinctive elements of the renewal movement include that “it has been largely led, taught, discerned and participated in by lay people” in the Church; that it sees the spiritual gifts as being gifts not for individuals, but for the Body of Christ; and that it has grasped the communal dimension of the Gospel message and expressed it in the formation of prayer groups and covenant communities.

The statement also addresses some of the criticisms of the charismatic renewal and areas of pastoral guidance, but emphasizes the need for good leadership, sensitive pastoral care and an invitation to close relationships with the rest of the church.

Addressing a criticism that “fundamentalism” or “a false literalism in interpreting the Bible” is found among some people involved in the charismatic renewal, the statement notes that fundamentalism is also found among the general Catholic population and says that “not everything which is called fundamentalism merits that label.”

“Those who believe that Christ really worked miracles, performed exorcisms, and was himself raised from the dead are not guilty of fundamentalism. Nor is the taking the scriptural message seriously fundamentalism,” the statement said. However, it also emphasizes the intertwining of Scripture, sacred tradition and the teaching authority of the Church to correctly interpret the word of God.

The statement also encourages those involved in the charismatic renewal to participate in the Church’s mission to serve the poor and “to learn from those who emphasize the need to transform the world through the pursuit of justice and peace.”

To restrict Christianity to the purely spiritual and “religious” is to truncate the Gospel, the statement said.

However, Bishop McKinney said that this was not a criticism of the renewal or a suggestion that it has slighted the service to the poor. Rather, he said, it was a reminder that such service “is a good thing.”

“I believe the renewal is blessing the church because it gives the public witness to the fact that Jesus has singled out praise to the Father as the first commandment,” Bishop McKinney said, adding that leaders in the renewal movement have had to resist efforts to draw the focus inappropriately away from “the centrality of the first commandment.”