The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a movement within the Catholic church which adopts certain practices and beliefs most famously associated with Pentecostalism. This includes various emotionally charged prayer practices used by Pentecostals such as speaking in tongues. Some supporters within this movement see the movement based on the belief that certain charisms (a greek word for gifts) such as the ability to speak in tongues and to heal (which all Christians believe existed in some way in the early church as described in the bible) still should exist and be practiced today.

Origins

The cross-over of Pentecostal practices into Roman Catholicism seems to have first appeared in certain Catholic universities of the United States, such as Notre Dame. Professors at these universities began to have private prayer meetings with other lay people where charismatic style prayer was practiced.

The movement was given a major endorsement by Cardinal Suenens, a leading liberal cardinal in the Catholic church.

The movement became popular within the Filipino and Hispanic communities of the United States. Some critics have suggested that the movement is really a new folk religion.

Reaction from the Church hierarchy

Reaction to the movement by the church hierarchy has been wildly mixed. Some had initially supported it as being a harbinger of ecumenism (a unity among the religions). It was thought that these practices would draw the Catholic and Protestant churches together. This support has been tempered however more recently, as it is thought that fundamentalist tendencies amongst the charismatics would eventually hurt the cause of ecumenism between Catholics and non-Catholics.

In the United States, the decline of church attendance among Catholics and the rise in popularity of the charismatic movement have caused bishops to take special attention and care to this community, which might be the major constituent in many of their parishes.

Relation to other charismatic movements

The relationship between the Catholic charismatic movement and other charismatic movements is complex. In the first place, most observers agree that the Catholic charismatic movement was inspired by other charismatic movements such as Pentecostalism. Yet some within the modern Catholic charismatic movement would deny any links to Protestantism, claiming for example that the particular ways of prayer and other liturgical practices developed naturally.

Although sharing in many of the prayer practices of non-Catholic charismatics, most modern Catholic charismatics place great emphasis – even by Catholic standards – on the Virgin Mary, an attitude that Protestants do not share.