Charismatic movement marks 40 years of ministry

By J.D. Long-García, The Catholic Sun
March 1, 2007

A lot of Catholics can’t separate their faith from a life-changing encounter they once had with the Holy Spirit.

In large part that’s due to something that happened to a group of students more than 40 years ago at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

That’s when the Catholic Charismatic Renewal was born, spreading to more than 230 countries. Members of the group say it began with an “outpouring of the Holy Spirit.”

More than 350 Catholics celebrated the 40-year anniversary Feb. 17-18 at Phoenix Preparatory Academy.

The Phoenix celebration coincided with the national celebration that same weekend in Detroit. More than 3,000 attended the event.

“With the Holy Spirit, life is completely different,” said Fr. Andres Arango, pastor of St. Jerome Parish, a local leader of the Charismatic Renewal Ministry.

Fr. Arango joined other priests and Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted to celebrate a Spanish-language Mass. The congregation held their hands high as they sang during the Mass. Some even danced.

“The charismatic Catholic lives in joy because he knows that God’s love is always with us,” Fr. Arango said in his homily.

“¡Viva la Eucaristía!” he said, exalting the Lord, “the Bread of Life.”

The congregation burst into applause, something common at charismatic gatherings.

“The charismatic Catholic has taken on the responsibility of showing the world that God exists, that the Holy Spirit exists and that the Holy Spirit renews,” Fr. Arango said.

“This mission isn’t finished today, but continues throughout life,” he added.

Fr. Arango explained that if Catholic renewal is to continue, charismatic Catholics need to work at it.

The movement needs to grow in fidelity to God and the Church and members need to better understand the doctrine of the Church, the priest said.

“Some people say we’re Protestants,” said Andres Felipe Arango, a layperson who gave a lecture on the history of Catholic renewal.

“Those people don’t know what it means to be protestant,” he added, clarifying that the charismatic movement doesn’t come from Protestants, but from the Holy Spirit.

Arango said that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for everyone, not only for saints. The gifts “are tools through which the Lord can bear fruit.”

Arango explained that the movement would not have been possible if not for the Second Vatican Council.

“In 1967, the council was still like warm, freshly baked bread,” he said, alluding to a Columbian expression. “Some see the renewal as a response to the John XXIII’s desire to renovate the Church.”

The students in Pennsylvania received “an outpouring of the Spirit” during a retreat on the first four chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. One night of the retreat, they all spontaneously went to eucharistic adoration, Arango recounted.

Then they began praying over each other. The students and professors began praying in tongues, Arango said.

“They left that place and started healing others. They started preaching with the power of the Holy Spirit,” he said.

Other students started a group of prayer in 1970 at the Gregorian University in Rome. In 1975, Pope Paul VI asked the Catholic Charismatic Renewal to have its annual retreat at the Vatican.

The ministry began in Phoenix more than 25 years ago, said Delia Moreno, who got involved with the movement at All Saints Newman Center in Tempe.

She said the movement has had its problems, but she’s confident that it will continue growing.