Catholic Charismatic Renewal

Domain XIII · Contemplative & religious disciplines · 1967

What it is

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a movement, not a therapy. Its own doctrinal commission describes it as having no members: it is "a current of new life that is prior to all organization", lived in parish prayer groups, larger covenant communities with formal commitments, and national and…

Format

• Prayer groups. Local, often parish-based weekly gatherings of praise, Scripture, testimony and prayer ministry, under the local bishop's authority.
• Covenant communities. Communities whose members make a formal commitment and whose leaders may set formation patterns. Some, such as People of Praise (founded in South Bend in 1971 out of the charismatic movement) and the Community of the Beatitudes (France, 1973), have been the subject of church…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Version followed: the Catholic Charismatic Renewal as its Vatican-instituted international service CHARIS (Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service) and its Doctrinal Commission publish it; the ICCRS Doctrinal Commission Guidelines on Prayers for Healing (revised 5th English edition 2012, read in the authorised Dutch translation of 2015), which apply the 2000 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• see 4.15.
• clients treating the therapist as a spiritual authority; therapist imposing views either way.
• clergy offering reassurance that feeds OCD; leaders seeking information to discipline the client.
• self-blame; minimisation pressured by loyalty; re-traumatisation through media. Never name or identify survivors.
• stopping treatment; delayed diagnosis; spiritual shame. Working signs: treatment continues and self-blame softens.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.