A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

A History of Christian Doctrine
community in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which established a
network of communities under its leadership called the
Sword of the Spirit; People of Praise community in South
Bend, Indiana; and Mother of God community in
Gaithersburg, Maryland. While they were not restricted to
Catholics, most of their members were Catholic
Charismatics.
For the most part, the Catholic Charismatic movement
took the form of prayer groups within parishes,
instead of taking over entire parishes or splitting away to
form independent churches. Most Catholic Charismatics
continued to attend traditional mass and participate in
parish life, but they also attended Charismatic prayer
groups where they could speak in tongues and worship
spontaneously. In1986, there were an estimated six thousand
Catholic Charismatic prayer groups in the United
States.
The Roman Catholic Church’s response was to accept
the Catholic Charismatic Renewal as long the participants
remained in the church and continued to acknowledge
church authority and doctrine. Indeed, on this basis both
Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II endorsed the movement.
In 1975, Pope Paul VI appointed Léon-Joseph
Cardinal Suenens (born 1904), an archbishop in Belgium,
to a special position as overseer of the Catholic
Charismatic Renewal. Cardinal Suenens had been one of
the leaders of the Second Vatican Council, and he began
to participate openly in the Charismatic movement in
1973. As a result of this recognition, Catholic Charismatics
have had a significant influence in the church. One
of them, Raniero Cantalamessa, was appointed as special
preacher to the Vatican.
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