"I Know the plans I have for you ..."
All
over the world people have grown in faith through the Catholic Charismatic
Renewal. It can accurately be described as a catalyst of new faith.
For some it's been the means of their first encounter with the person
of Jesus Christ, and for others the renewal of a weak or ineffective
Christian faith. No grass-roots movement in the Church has ever travelled
so far, as fast, or as powerfully as the Charismatic Renewal. From
small beginnings among a handful of college students, the fire of
the Holy Spirit swept through the Church, so that after only a few
years the Catholic Charismatic Renewal was to be found in almost every
country, touching and changing the lives of almost a hundred million
in the life of the Church. But it was and remains unlike any other
movement in the life of the Church, for there is no inspired human
founder and no common programme of initiation or formation. It is
simply, powerfully and uniquely a sovereign work of God through his
Holy Spirit, whereby he touches the lives of men and women in many
different settings and circumstances, bringing new faith and setting
them on fire with a love and zeal to serve him and his people. In
the words of Cardinal Suenens 'It's a movement of the Spirit offered
to the entire Church and destined to rejuvenate every facet of the
Church's life."
So as I look back, I see all the wonderful things the
Lord has done through the Charismatic Renewal, and I'm so grateful
for the transformed lives and the amazing new ministries I see around
me. Of course I'm aware of the times God seemed not to act when I
thought he would, and of my own mistakes, failures and disappointments.
I see the hopes that grew and then withered and died, the people I
trusted but who turned out to be only human after all, and the little
fruit I sometimes saw when I had believed for so much. But all in
all, the journey thus far has been exciting, challenging and wonderful,
so I'm looking ahead with confidence and eager expectation, anxious
to see what the Lord will do next. As we give thanks for the past
and look to the future, it's a good time to remind ourselves of some
of the things God has been doing in recent years through the Charismatic
Renewal, so that we may learn from them and check our bearings as
we set sail into the new millennium.
Lessons from the past
As we entered the 1980's, the Charismatic Renewal in England was characterised
by a proliferation of prayer groups all over the country, regular
Days of Renewal, conferences and week-ends, and by a sense that the
Church was certain to see the blessings the Renewal was bringing into
the lives of so many people. The Life in the Spirit seminars were
regularly run in parishes, and the big national and international
conferences attracted thousands of people. At the international level
a conscious decision taken to move closer to the heart of the Church,
was symbolised by the move of the international office from Brussels
to Rome. Although the local hierarchy remain cautious, many Bishops'
Conferences were starting to say positive things about the fruit of
the Charismatic Renewal and new services and ministries were springing
up. A phrase often heard was that the Renewal was now "deeper",
and much of the Pentecostal American style that had accompanied its
arrival in England had been abandoned in favour of a more British
approach. At the same time the ecumenical links were weaker, because
there was a much greater emphasis on the integration of the Renewal
into mainstream Catholic faith and practice.
By the beginning of the 1990's there were signs that
things were changing, and people began to say that the Renewal had
"peaked". Certainly the numbers at prayer groups and Days
of Renewal were down, and many were trying contemplative prayer or
joining Marian and other devotional groups. But there had also been
a growth in number of communities and in the young people who being
evangelised and called into a charismatic spiritual life. Much more
was being done for families, and there was a growing emphasis on teaching
and training, particularly for leaders. The International Council
(ICCRS) received formal Vatican recognition and statues from the Pontifical
Council for the Laity, and the Fraternity of Catholic Covenant Communities
had also been established. People in Charismatic Renewal were taking
the Decade of Evangelisation seriously, and new conferences and training
weekends were appearing. So although the numbers were down, many who
no longer came to prayer groups and Days of Renewal were now active
in their parishes and other areas of church life in a variety of services
and ministries. But as the nineties drew to a close, there was sense
of loss of vision, and a lack of clear direction among many who had
been involved since the seventies and eighties. The numbers attending
prayer groups continued to decline, and many Days of Renewal no longer
existed. So what are we to make of these trends, and where is Charismatic
Renewal now heading? In many parts oft world - Asia, Africa, Latin
America - the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is growing rapidly and
having a considerable influence on the spiritual life of the Church
whereas in most of the western world, including England, there are
few signs of numerical growth. Is this a cause for concern?
A low profile
In England, the NSC has never attempted to build the Charismatic Renewal
into a single unified movement, seeking to develop its own character
and organisation and to feed itself, thus becoming bigger and stronger
in its own right. We have avoided unnecessary structures, and made
no attempt to impose a strong central authority, dictating what formation
programmes are to be followed and which ministries and services are
approved and which are not. We have not worried about the future,
but have tried to be faithful to what the Lord asks in the present.
We have encouraged and supported individuals, ministries, communities,
and groups, which seemed to be touched by the Holy Spirit, giving
them freedom under the proper Church authorities to follow their visions.
This has resulted in ministries, communities, mission teams, regional
conferences, and many other services coming into being, which acknowledge
their charismatic roots but may not always be charismatic in the service
they offer. Many of our leaders and groups keep a low profile, avoiding
publicity and exaggerated claims for their ministries, but nevertheless
provide valuable services to the Church. The great majority of those
touched by the grace of the Charismatic Renewal and baptised in the
Holy Spirit, are quietly but powerfully serving in their parishes
and local communities, doing many of the spiritual tasks needed by
the local churches. They may draw strength from prayer groups and
communities, or they may have found their fellowship elsewhere and
have little regular contact with the visible forms of the Charismatic
Renewal. For me this has never been a cause of concern, for I believe
our task is a very clear one.
Baptism in the Spirit - our gift to the Church
I see baptism in the Holy Spirit as our gift to the Church, and our
responsibility is to proclaim and minister this grace. From that moment
on, the Lord has his plans and purposes for each of us - our task
is to follow him wherever he leads us. I have not wanted to risk limiting
the Holy Spirit by creating structures that require tremendous energy
and resources to maintain them. Structures create a feeling of stability,
so without them we may be unsure about the road ahead, worried that
our prayer group no longer meets, or feel like the two disciples on
the road to Emmaus that our hopes have come to nothing. But the Lord
is always doing new things - we must be willing to move on and free
to commit ourselves to following wherever he leads. "I know
the plans I have in mind for you" says the Lord, "plans
for peace, not disaster, reserving a future full of hope for you"
(Jer.29:11). The Charismatic Renewal still has so much to bring
to the Church, and although the message may be the same, the packaging
is changing. I see new networks of relationships being built with
other movements and communities in the Church, a renewed commitment
to working with our Protestant and Pentecostal brothers and sisters,
and a growing understanding among the hierarchy that we have important
things to contribute to the mission of the Church. I don't know what
new challenges are facing us, but I do know that the Church and the
world still need our message of new life in the Holy Spirit, and that
as we commit ourselves to the task, the Lord will give us the tools
and gifts we need to carry it out.
"See, I am doing a new deed"
The fact that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow doesn't
mean he wants us to be. The spiritual life is a journey of faith,
and that means we must be willing to keep moving forward. There's
no standing still in the Christian life - we either move on and face
the challenges and changes that this will involve, or we pitch camp
and settle down to a slow but inevitable spiritual decline. To look
back and learn the lessons of the past is wise, but to try to live
in the past is to risk death in a prison of our own choosing. We must
always be on the look-out for the new things God is doing: "See,
I am doing a new deed, even now it comes to light; can you not see
it?" says the Lord in Isaiah 43:19. Sadly it's all too easy
to be so involved with the past that we don't see the new things God
is doing, and so fall by the wayside. We may look back in thanksgiving
for more than thirty years of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, remembering
people, places, and the wonderful things that the Lord did for us,
but our focus must be on the future.
We're living in days of incredible change, driven by
the most amazing advances in communication and information technology.
Terrifying as this may be, we can't turn the clock back - we must
learn not only to live with constant change but to benefit from it.
So let's celebrate our history, learn its lessons, then fix our eyes
and hearts on the challenges of the new millennium. After all, that's
where we're going to spend the rest of our earthly lives
