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The
Call of Charismatic Renewal|
The university campus was still very much a building site and students were housed on and off the campus. In total, there were some 600 students of whom perhaps 100 were Catholics. The university was only three years old and the students were special. They had chosen to come to a new university in its first years. It was an exciting time just after the student demonstrations and strikes in France in 1968. The "Revolution" was just around the comer, but in fact it never happened. Great things happening in universities in the United States Struggling to find a role for myself in this new and unique situation, I began to read reports of great things happening in universities in the United States, notably Notre Dame and Duquesne. There, lecture halls were filled by students praising the Lord and praying in tongues. Could this be the solution to my identity crisis and the answer to my need for a job description? Around this time I was invited to bring a group from the university to a prayer group in the local Marist convent. The prayers were led by two priests and a laywoman, all of whom seemed to know what they were doing. My first impression was not totally positive. It all seemed a bit threatening. Spontaneous, loud, shared prayer was a new experience for most of us. Despite all that, we continued to attend the prayer group, which grew and prospered. That summer I was supplying in a parish in San Jose in what was then the Archdiocese of San Francisco. A parishioner invited me to a "Charismatic Clinic" - the title itself was off-putting. It turned out to be an ecumenical Charismatic conference. A Franciscan priest and a Southern Baptist husband and wife prayed over me for baptism in the Spirit. At the time, I had no particular feelings of any drastic nature. At another session, I was given several Scripture texts - Isaiah 54:2; 1 Chronicles 4.10; Malachai 3.10 and Daniel 10.19. The first was the most meaningful for me. It reads "Enlarge the place of your tent find let the curtains of your habitation be stretched out; hold not back, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes." (Isaiah 54:2) I was working in an ecumenical chaplaincy and was faced with the question, "how can I co-operate with these other chaplains without compromising my Catholic identity?" This text gave me an answer. Viewing the "tent" as a symbol of the Church, like the Tent of Meeting in the Old Testament, if I was going to widen my view of the Church to accept other Christians, I could only do this by driving down into my own Catholic roots. This was, for me, a liberating discovery. Christians can only reach out to one another from the security of their own tradition. Exciting time in the life of the Scottish Church Meanwhile back in Scotland, the Charismatic Renewal was beginning to take root and spread. For the next ten years or so, I became very involved in this Renewal at a national level. It was an exciting time in the life of the Scottish Church. From small beginnings our national conferences grew until we could fill large public halls in Glasgow and Edinburgh. People were discovering the power of the Scripture and the gift of prayer. They learned the skills of witnessing publicly to their Faith. They received and used the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Parish prayer groups were springing up all over the country and dioceses began to have their own diocesan leaders' groups. An important element in this development was the involvement of priests. Scottish priests began to attend special conferences organised for the clergy, particularly in England. Around this time, several dioceses in Scotland began their own pastoral renewal plans. Many of those who had been involved in Charismatic Renewal became active in the diocesan schemes. The skills they had acquired in Charismatic Renewal prepared them for service in this new dimension of Church renewal. Prayer groups began to dwindle and even cease to exist; but their influence continued. The Charismatic Renewal continues in Scotland, but on a much reduced scale. I am sure that this will be its role in the future, a future that will depend on the co-operation and active involvement of priests. Their support, leadership and teaching will be important in sustaining and promoting this living witness to the work of the Holy Spirit within the Church. A notable contribution of Renewal to the Church has been in the area of music. Many of the popular hymns of today originated in the prayer groups of thirty years ago. It has to be admitted, though, that not all of them were of first class musical or literary merit. The liturgies at Charismatic celebrations, however, are always lively and inclusive. The Word of God is proclaimed with conviction. The prayers of the faithful are indeed offered by the faithful. Communion under both kinds has become the norm rather than the exception. So in many ways. Charismatic Renewal has played its part in liturgical renewal. Rediscovery of the giftedness of the people of God Has Charismatic Renewal got a future? That depends on our understanding of that name. The Second Vatican Council recognised the special gifts of the Holy Spirit given to the Church. Quoting 1 Corinthians 12:7 The Fathers of the Council said, "These charismatic gifts, whether they be the most outstanding or the more simple and widely diffused, are to be received with thanksgiving and consolation, for they are exceedingly useful for the needs of the Church." What the Church rediscovered in the 1960's and
1970's was the giftedness of the people of God. The astonishing signs
that accompanied that discovery were perhaps necessary to awaken us
to that reality. If the signs are less obvious today, it is not because
the giftedness has disappeared, but rather it has become accepted as
normality. The role of organised Charismatic Renewal will be to keep
that awareness always before the eyes of the People of God and serve
as an encouragement to pray for and to exercise the gifts with which
the Holy Spirit has endowed the Church.
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