I have a strong sense that as a Church we are living in exciting, challenging and changing times. This is in turn reflected in the Charismatic Renewal. The Biblical backdrop to which I keep returning and which I have previously written about in Goodnews, is the transition that the Israelites made from being a people who were formed and trained in the wilderness to being a people who were called and commissioned to cross the river Jordan and to take the land. This new phase of life would require a new style of leadership. The pioneering days of Moses were now at an end and there was a new stage of transition and a new task to embrace.

As a Church we are now experiencing the new style of leadership of Benedict XVI. Like Joshua he worked very closely with his predecessor John Paul II. However, unlike Joshua, he is not a young man. Nevertheless, his pastoral style of leadership has come as a surprise to many people who had him labelled as “God’s rottweiler”. We must remember to pray frequently for the Holy Father that the Lord will continue to give him all the gifts that are needed to lead our Church through this particular phase in its history.

New aspects of Mission

Many of the new movements and communities in the Church are also facing a time of change and transition as they move from the pioneering stage of their founders to the next phase of development. This will have new leadership and new aspects of mission. A couple of years ago when the founder of the Taiz? community, Brother Roger was murdered the community had not only to cope with the shock that surrounded his death but also rather abruptly to appoint his successor. As you have read in this edition of Goodnews, the Focolare movement are, in very different circumstances, now having to adapt to life without their founder Chiara Lubich. In a very real sense nothing will be quite the same again as it is the end of an era but also the beginning of what I am sure will prove to be an exciting new time for them.

In the Charismatic Renewal we obviously have no earthly founder. However I sense that we too are in a time of transition. Many of those who were first impacted by the Renewal had been born into a pre Vatican II Church. They experienced the new breath of the Spirit as bringing a great freedom and liberation to them personally but also to many others in the Church. This must have been similar to the liberation that the Israelites felt when they crossed the Red Sea and were set free from slavery in Egypt. As time went on inevitably some of that initial group of Charismatics fell away as they experienced hardships or perhaps they became disappointed at the lack of Renewal within the Church as a whole.

Some of the early pioneers of Renewal have now gone to their heavenly reward. This Pentecost I was in Brussels where the first International Charismatic Renewal office was established at the instigation of Cardinal Suenens. In Belgium, there are two Renewal movements the French speaking and the Flemish. Politically and culturally there are all sorts of sensitivities to take into consideration. However, for the last couple of years the two have made the bold but challenging step to hold a joint Pentecost celebration. In the midst of the celebration, I couldn’t help recalling the rich legacy that has been handed down to us by pioneers like Cardinal Suenens. In our own Isles we have so many people of the Moses generation to thank God for - names that come to my mind include, Bishop Langton Fox, and Fr Ian Petit,

Shaping the future in new ways

Today in the Charismatic Renewal there are subsequent generations of people who do not have the same experience as the initial pioneers. The successive generations are able to buy into the received wisdom and inspiration of the initiators but they will shape the future in new ways as the Spirit leads them. Today’s climate both in the Church and in the World is very different from that of 40 years ago.

Therefore new impulses of the Spirit are needed in order for us to rise to the present challenges. The pioneers in the Renewal, like the disciples in the Upper room, were empowered and motivated by experiential faith that set them free from fear and slavery. The subsequent wave of the Spirit is that of empowerment for evangelisation. In the Church today there is a strong emphasis on the call to New Evangelisation. There is also a strong recognition that the movements and new communities have got a lot of strength to bring to this mission. In CCR the Lord is at work empowering and commissioning the newer generations and raising them up as mission explorers.

Recently there was a very significant gathering of 140 invited leaders from 46 countries, held in Rome. The event was co-sponsored by ICCRS (International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services) and the ‘Catholic Fraternity’ (which is made up of Covenant Communities and fellowships within the Renewal) and it was organised in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for the Laity. The overall aim of the Colloquium was to reflect on the doctrine and the use of the Charisms in the Church from the perspective of the experience of the Charismatic Renewal.

At the opening Mass Cardinal Rylko the President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, said that ‘we need to be attuned and attentive to the Charismatic gifts in our age. They are signs of hope for this 3rd millennium’. He emphasised the need for courage and boldness in the power of the Spirit. We were encouraged to be open to the charisms so that we can be more effective witnesses in this age when we are confronted by apostasy and relativism. He said ‘every believer not only has the right, but also the duty to exercise the gifts – be they ordinary or extraordinary. Then, within the Church, pastors are to judge and examine, but they must not extinguish the gifts’. The Colloquium consisted of lectures and roundtable discussions that were largely delivered by pioneers in the Renewal. These included Fr Bob Faricy S.J, Professor Francis McNutt and Fr. Francis Martin who gave a Biblical overview of the charisms. In his final summary Fr Francis reminded us that we are powerless to transform society or penetrate the culture without the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

From a historical perspective, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa spoke about the 7 fold gifts in Isaiah 11:2 and the charisms in 1 Cor 12: 7-11. He noted that as the Church became more institutionalised the 7 fold gifts were emphasised more fully and the extraordinary charisms were partially lost to the majority. However, he stressed that the charisms were never totally lost and signs and wonders were manifest throughout the centuries in holy men and women. Archbishop Alberto Taveira (Brazil) helped to reflect upon the specific gift of the CCR to the Church. He said that we have a mission to be ‘Apostles of the Baptism in the Spirit’. Professor Mary Healy from the U.S.A. noted that Vatican II had laid the theological foundations for the resurgence of the charisms. Then followed the ‘surprise’ of the Spirit with the birth of CCR. It was as if the CCR was a realisation of Vatican II theology” she said. The Church has always recognised charisms (See Catechism section 799) but in practice ascribed a very limited role to them. Therefore, Lumen Gentium 12 (Vatican II) was a breakthrough in the Church’s understanding, as no longer were charisms seen to be so extraordinary or rare.

Historic moment in the Church

In the course of the Colloquium, I had the sense that we were living a historic moment in the history of the Church. A good number of the participants were ‘founding fathers and mothers’ of the Renewal. Regrettably, there will not be many more opportunities for this group to come together. However, It seemed appropriate to hold this colloquium just after our 40th anniversary. As the Church has rediscovered the charismatic dimension and is giving it a greater emphasis, it is highly appropriate that we in the CCR, with the initial pioneers reflect upon our rich legacy. We then need to be open to the continual unfolding of the Lord’s vision as new generations of charismatics take up their mantle and respond to the call of the Spirit today.