CHARISMATIC CONTRIBUTION

In the endless search for new and better ways to keep the faith alive, charismata produced an explosion of new movements and communities. Most of these movements are based on charismata, but there are others; both new and established movements resurfacing with intensified vigor in reaction to charismata. One way or another, the Charismatic Renewal produced a vast array of movements either to propagate charismata or to react against it.

These movements have the tendency to segregate and to focus on the movement instead on the home parish. While they seek to occupy and to dominate every visible ministry, all the while making use of every available resource, their loyalty remains first and foremost with the movement. The parish provides them with a platform to proselytize and to recruit new members. I watch them in my own parish promoting their movement at every chance they get. They hold up their experience as models to emulate, so the result is a type of elitism of “us” and “them”. These people may be with us in body, but their first priority is the movement and not the home Church.