| The Importance of both the Charismatic &
Institutional Dimensions of the Church
Fr Chris Thomas from the Emmaus Family of Prayer looks at the importance of the Institutional and Charismatic dimensions of the Church working in harmony.
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Throughout history there has been a tension between the charismatic and the institutional sides of the Church. Back in the 1970s when the Charismatic Renewal first hit the Catholic Church in England some people were frightened that there was going to be a huge schism, and so were against what they saw as something divisive and exclusive. Others were so overjoyed at what they’d discovered that they rejected the institution as almost an irrelevance. I can remember one group that I was involved with causing a great deal of pain when they split down the middle. Some remained as Catholics and others opened a new church with a building right opposite the Catholic church that they used to worship in. It is obvious that those who split from the Church hadn’t recognised that the Spirit can and does speak through the institution. Nor had they understood that the Church in its teaching actually promotes and encourages the charisms as an integral part of Church life. Remember too that Jesus promised to be with the Church always until the end of time. The institution may not always be as quick as we want it to be but it is foolishness not to recognise the presence of the Spirit working in and through the institution as well as the charismatic element of the Church. This charismatic element would include all grassroots manifestations of the Holy Spirit including the peace and justice dimension of the Church too. Tension between two elements nothing new The tension that sometimes exists between the charismatic and institutional dimensions of the Church is nothing new. It’s an experience that the people of Israel had since its earliest times. During the period of the judges, Israel had followed various charismatic leaders but by the 10th century BC they had become a fairly large and settled nation. They realised they needed to be more organised if they were to keep their unity. The people started to ask the prophet Samuel to create a monarchy in Israel. Saul is made king but Samuel reminds the people that even though they have a King both he and the people still have to listen to the Lord. It’s a warning that we can all take heed of. As the institution becomes stronger there is a tendency to stop trusting in God’s power and to start trusting in the institution’s power. Our tendency to place our trust simply in the institution never leads to growth. It can be an easy option because in blindly following you never have to listen and discern. One of the afflictions in the Church is that we seem to invest an awful lot of time, energy and money into systems, as though they are our salvation, and not an awful lot of time in listening to God. Temptation to rely on structures Yet the truth is that only God can save and not our systems or our structures. It’s only by listening to God that we’ll really begin to see the Gospel come alive in the hearts of the people. The temptation is always to believe in our own power and our own ability to put together a structure that will save and not to trust in the Lord. That’s what happened to Saul. He wasn’t content with being king. He wanted to play God and becomes unfaithful to the Lord’s ways. He’s beset by his own anxieties and swayed by the people around him. Because of that he loses the Spirit he had been anointed with and Samuel goes and finds another king. He chooses David, the youngest son of Jesse whom he anoints on the spot as king. David is a wonderful model for the Church. He loved the Lord. Remember how he danced before him and played his music. As king he represents the institutional element of the Church, its power and authority, but he also listens to the charismatic element, which is represented by the prophet Nathan. Because of that coming together of the charismatic and the institutional, the people of Israel flourish and grow. Vatican II documents life giving The truth is that the Church in its fullest expression is both institutional and charismatic. It can never be one or another. The two parts should work in harmony with one another. Of course they often do as is apparent when you read the wonderful life-giving teaching that emerged from the Second Vatican Council and in lots of documents since and before then. How can we doubt the presence of the Spirit? In that coming together of the charismatic and institutional, there is an explosion of power, the kind of power that is available when the institution stops relying on its structures and the people stop relying on themselves and everyone relies on the Lord and seeks the collective truth. It’s the kind of power that transforms hearts and minds and opens people up to the Living Lord. It’s that kind of power that will enable the Church to be prophet and herald and servant and real community while being both authentically charismatic and institutional. Let’s always be open to both the institutional and the charismatic elements of the Church and let’s live in that creative tension that exists between the two. Recommended books Great Themes of Scripture: Old Testament by Richard Rohr and Joseph Martos Our Faith Story by A Patrick Purnell: Lighted Windows by Margaret Silf A popular guide through the Old Testament by Mary Reed Newland The Faith of Israel by H H Rowly.
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