Catholic pentecostalism

239 Pages·1978·9.925 MB·English

by  René Laurentin

CATHOLIC PENTECOSTALISM
Anybody with the gift of tongues
speaks to God,
but not to other people;
because nobody understands him
(St. Paul, i Co. 14:2)
CATHOLIC
PENTECOSTALISM
René Laurentin
TRANSLATED
BY
MATTHEW J. O’CONNELL
Doubleday & Company, Inc.
Garden City, New York
^77
Original edition:
Pentecotisme chez les Catholiques: Risques et Avenir,
© Editions Beauchesne, 1974.
Excerpts from The Jerusalem Bible,
copyright © 1966
by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday & Company, Inc.
Used by permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Laurentin, Rene.
Catholic Pentecostalism.
Translation Pentecotisme chez les catholiques.
Bibliography: p. 204
1. Pentecostalism—Catholic Church. I. Title.
BX2350.57.L3613 282
ISBN: 0-385-12129-6
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 76-18358
Translation Copyright © 1977 by Doubleday & Company, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition
GiFT -HP*!
c.^
Contents
INTRODUCTION 7
Chapter 1 The Birth of Catholic Pentecostalism 11
Chapter 2 From Pentecostalism to Neo-Pentecostalism 18
Chapter 3 “Baptism in the Spirit” and “Charisms” 2Ö
Chapter 4 Speaking in Tongues 58
Chapter 5 Healings IOO
Chapter 6 The Charismatic Movement in Church
History 132
Chapter 7 Sources and Meaning: An Explanation M7
Chapter 8 Dangers 163
Chapter 9 Importance and Future of the
Charismatic Renewal 178
Chapter 10 Mary, Model of the Charismatic 192
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 201
BIBLIOGRAPHY ON CATHOLIC NEO-PENTECOSTALISM 204
NOTES 223
4 6 2 2 4
O Holy Spirit . . . who art present in the Church
and dost infallibly guide it,
pour forth, we pray, the fullness of Thy gifts
upon the Ecumenical Council. . . .
Renew Thy wonders in this our day
as by a new Pentecost.1
Pope John xxm
Jesus is preparing for his Church
great things
that we cannot even imagine.
Perhaps you will see the beginnings of it all.
The Holy Spirit is invisibly at work.
We must have unconditional confidence
in the work of the Holy Spirit.2
Jacques Maritain
The fresh breath of the Spirit. . .
has come to awaken
latent energies
within the Church,
to stir up dormant charisms,
and to infuse
a sense of vitality and joy . . .
which makes the Church youthful. . .
in every age.3
Pope Paul vi
Introduction
“They speak in other tongues.”1 They go in for “healing.” They
are followers, more or less, of the “pentecostal sects.” Such are some
of the most common impressions abroad of the Catholic Neo-Pen-
tecostal movement, which is called “The Charismatic Renewal” in
the United States and “Renewal in the Spirit” or “Spiritual Re­
newal” in France. The most accurate names for the movement have
come in for criticism and therefore been more or less abandoned.
The result? A confusion that is all the greater, since “charismatic
group” today can refer to people of quite varying allegiances.
We must try to dissipate the confusion and focus clearly on one
important point: After less than ten years, Catholic pentecostalists
number a half million in about a hundred countries. You hear of the
gathering near where you live—in the Montparnasse chapel, in the
crypt of Saint-Sulpice, or in a neighbor’s house in Paris or else­
where in the country. Somewhat uneasy about approaching a group
of initiates and wondering whether you may be getting involved in
unusual rites, you go to observe them. You find no reticence, a
warm welcome, no prejudice shown, no questions asked.
Chairs are set up in concentric circles, the innermost having about
a dozen chairs and stools. After the greeting, the meeting gets under
way, not following a preconceived plan or externally imposed di­
rection, but depending for its course on what the members contrib­
ute. Scripture readings, brief exhortations or teachings, and witness-
ings alternate with singing and spontaneous prayer. All express
themselves freely, whether individually or in groups, in words or in
4 6 224
8 Introduction
song, and yet no one ever interrupts anyone else—not even in.
France! At times all speak or sing at once, each with his own
rhythm and in his own tongue, but this happens by common con­
sent. The harmony that marks these improvisations is surprising. Is
it a grace flowing from the receptiveness of each person to the
others? Or from the presence of the Spirit to whom each member
of the group is attending? At times, the group you visit may be one
that has established a community in which everything is shared:
money, housing, projects.
The more penetrating studies conducted by psychologists, theolo­
gians, pastors of various confessions, and bishops (especially by sev­
eral national episcopal conferences) have concluded with positive
judgments on the movement, even though those conducting the
studies may often have begun with a strong bias against it. I was
struck by the favorable, even enthusiastic reaction of a physician­
psychoanalyst who asked if he might accompany me to a meeting.
And yet those who look at the movement from outside feel appre­
hensive and even fearful about it. Theirs is the reaction people often
have to novelties that promise to be permanent and threaten to
cause changes in their Eves.
At the same time, these negative judgments can be quite contrary
to one another. The traditionalists fear destructive innovations, the
establishment of a charismatic hierarchy, new “ecumenical confu­
sions,” and the manipulation of these naive groups by political
leftists. The progressives, on the contrary, fear that the mysticism
of the charismatics may lead to a dispersal of forces, or enable con­
servative clerics to gain control again, or even become the Trojan
horse of traditionalism.
Integrists see the movement as the means of Anglo-Saxon Protes­
tant infiltration. But American Protestant circles see it rather as a
marginal manifestation of the counterculture: “Just another ‘revival’
in a long series, all of them ephemeral because based on collective
emotion. Another example of sentimental womanish mysticism.”2 In
such a judgment we can see the usual armory of epithets being
brought to bear: fundamentalism, illuminism, emotionalism, elitism,
etc.
Does the movement with its impressive growth have a purely
psychological explanation? Is it from God? From the devil? All
three hypotheses have been defended.
Introduction 9
Is it a new delusion, or the new Pentecost that John XXIII antici­
pated at the beginning of the Council?
This book has been written to answer these questions.
But why still another book? The writer must admit right off that
it satisfies a long-frustrated urge of his. After the Council, when I
was looking about for “signs of the times,” I became interested in
Catholic Pentecostalism as early as 1967, the very year of its birth.
On August 8 of that year, I spoke with Father Edward O’Connor of
Notre Dame, one of the founders of the movement, at the Mari-
ological Congress in Lisbon, and he told me: “I see in this move­
ment the future of the Church.”
He had me believing him. But then he became so discreet as to
say nothing more about the movement. I asked for further informa­
tion, but he simply sent me his article on the subject, published in
the fall of 1967, with a covering note: “I let you have this provided
you do not say anything about it in print.” The reason for his
reserve was that if news about the movement spread too soon, it
might militate against the slow germination of an experience that is
so difficult for the outsider to appreciate. The result was that I
remained quiet and kept my eye on what was happening.
I came into direct contact with the movement again and took
part in charismatic gatherings on my journeys to the United States
(1970) and England (1971) as well as in France itself. Once the
whole business became public knowledge, I published two articles
on it in Le Figaro (January 21 and February 18, 1974). Letters to
me raised a lot of questions, especially since a third article was not
published and the first two had appeared only in abridged form. In
June 1974, I felt I had to return to the fountainhead of the move­
ment and so I attended the international conference at Notre Dame,
at which thirty thousand charismatics gathered (June 14-16). From
there I went to visit charismatic communities at Ann Arbor, New
Orleans, Houston, and in Canada.
As I went about seeking information, I was also engaged in theo­
logical reflection on the Holy Spirit in preparation for an (un­
published) course at Quebec (July 1974). In the course I tried to
show the convergence of three approaches to the Spirit: that of
dogma, that of symbolism (especially biblical symbolism), and that
of practice (from the Pauline Church of Corinth down to contem­
porary movements). The theme was a new one, and quite fascinat­
ing, since with few exceptions (and even these were less serene than
io Introduction
they appeared on the surface) the movements centering on the
Spirit had never been placid affairs. They have always found it dif­
ficult to strike a balance between radicalism and dullness, rebellion
and the status quo.
I intend this book as a contribution from a theologian and histo­
rian who is also a professional religious journalist. I want to bring
together the many scattered items of information and to deal with
them historically and doctrinally, while also being open to the in­
terdisciplinary contributions of the human sciences (sociology, psy­
chology, linguistics). My aim is to discover the meaning and direc­
tion of the movement.
Previous studies have usually been written inside and for the
movement itself. The present book presents the viewpoint of a par­
ticipating observer (in this matter, participation is a prerequisite for
understanding), while keeping the distance needed for objective in­
vestigation.
Where did the Catholic Neo-Pentecostal movement come from?
What do Church authorities think of it? (Chapters i and 2).
Which is more fundamental: baptism in the Spirit or experience
of the charisms? (Chapter 3).
What of the two most striking charisms: speaking in tongues
(Chapter 4) and healings (Chapter 5)?
What are the historical antecedents of the new movement?
(Chapter 6).
How explain the movement? (Chapter 7).
What are the risks it runs? (Chapter 8).
In what direction is it moving? (Chapter 9).
These are the questions that need answering.