A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

The Charismatic Movement
The Catholic Church recommended that each diocese
establish a liaison with the Charismatic movement in its
jurisdiction. To some extent, then, depending on the diocese,
the Charismatic Renewal was incorporated into the
structure of the Catholic Church.
Influential Catholic Charismatics were Kilian
McDonnell (born 1921), Benedictine monk, theologian,
and ecumenical leader; Francis MacNutt (born 1925),
Dominican priest and healing preacher who later withdrew
from the priesthood and married; Peter Hocken
(born 1932), Anglican convert to Catholicism, historian,
theologian, and ecumenist; and John Bertolucci (born
1937), priest and evangelist.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Catholic Charismatic
movement declined somewhat. Many people participated
in prayer groups for a few years but then dropped out.
There was a decline both in the number of prayer groups
and in the number of participants.
In contrast to Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy
took a strong stand against the Charismatic movement.
Despite this opposition, there are small Charismatic
groups within the Orthodox churches.
Further Developments
As we have just seen, from 1960 to 1967 the
Charismatic movement spread to all major branches of
Christendom. This dramatic growth led to the development
of a number of distinctly Charismatic institutions,
including the following:
• Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), founded
by M. G. “Pat” Robertson (born 1930). The son of a U.S.
senator, Robertson was a Southern Baptist minister who
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