Can anyone give any insight or information on this movement? I don't know much about it and always associated it with evangelical Protestant denominations. How does the church view this? Thanks for any thoughts.
Hi Charity. Mark Mallett wrote a very interesting and informative series on this topic on his blog site. It's in several parts entitled "Charismatic?". If you type 'mark mallett charismatic' into google search it will come up for you. Well worth a read.
Thanks for the site mention- I'm in the process of reading now- I heard a commercial on Relevant Radio mentioning this Renewal and had no idea what it was. Probably not my cup of tea but worth a read.
I would try it Charity and if you don't like it drop it. Its not for everyone , but if you do like it you wil lfind it wonderful . I think its soething you either love or hate. I have a fond memory of when I was 19 attending my first meeting in a large mansion. A small group of women gathered round me and placed their hands on my head praying over me as I knelt on the floor. After a while they asked me if I felt anything ahppening to me? I answered , 'Yes , I'm getting a red face!' Much embarrassed giggling and that was that. But it was interesting. But I kind of felt like a square peg in a round hole , I think maybe because none of us in our family were brought up to wear our hearts on our sleeves.
I've had mixed experiences. One group of Catholic women I knew from a Rosary prayer group started to attend every Catholic charismatic event they could get to. One or two of them decided that the Church wasn't charismatic enough for them and started attending Pentecostal events and saying that we shouldn't be praying to Our Lady and the saints and trying to recruit other members of the group to their view. I decided then to back away. Having said that, my brother and I were prayed over by a small charismatic prayer group in Dublin (who had formed from meeting in Medjugorje) and the event was very enlightening. We were told to picture Jesus and describe Him and his expression. We were both given a very accurate 'picture' of our spiritual states. The leader told me very happily that Jesus was going to cure me of my pride. I asked how and he smilingly told me that he didn't know but it was going to be very painful ! (I had the pain as prophesied and plenty of it and am, I hope, a little less self-reliant and self-satisfied than I used to be!) I also attended a Charismatic Mass celebrated by Fr. Rookey which was very spiritually rewarding. (It is recommended that you hold and gaze at a crucifix while saying Fr. Rookey's daily prayer which is very powerful)
