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June 3, 2021Just a week ago we celebrated the Feast of Pentecost. The coming of the Holy Spirit on Mary Most Holy and the Apostles. This is, in a way, the feast of the founding of the Church. The feast that marks the beginning of Christianity and the apostolic mission to win the whole world for Christ.
This also is a special holiday for the largest ecclesial movement in the Church in the United States, the Charismatic Renewal Movement in the Holy Spirit. Influential, in a particular way, among Hispanic Catholics. The Charismatic Renewal is the flagship movement of the past few decades among Hispanic Catholics in the United States.
An ecclesial movement is an association of lay faithful that are structured under a plan of ministry, formation and leadership within a particular Church. They have a special charism or mission within the Church. They also usually develop their own spirituality. Many of them emerged especially in the 20th century, and flourished even more during the papacy of Saint John Paul II, who openly promoted and sparked many movements in the years of his pontificate. He did it especially through his call to young people to not fear committing themselves to the gospel, giving their life to Christ and promoting a new evangelization.
The movement that is historically the most influential in the North American Church, however, is another movement of Hispanic origin, the Movement of Cursillos of Christianity (Cursillos). The Cursillo had its peak and greatest growth several decades ago. In fact, it was two members of the Cursillo movement who ended up founding what we now call the Charismatic Renewal in the Holy Spirit. Most of today´s movements and retreat apostolates were born from the original Cursillo movement.
It all started at an annual Cursillo conference in 1966, where the need for renewal in the Church was discussed. Two of the participants, young professors from the School of Theology of Duquesne University in Pennsylvania, decided to further explore the Pentecostal renewal movements and how these could be lived within the framework of the Catholic Church. After some readings where they learned about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and attending Pentecostal prayer groups, they decided to organize a retreat, from Feb. 17-19, 1967, at the retreat house "The Ark and the Dove."
The retreat is considered the founding moment of the Movement of the Charismatic Renewal in the Holy Spirit within the Catholic Church. After that first retreat with 30 participants in 1967, annual conferences were held, and by 1977, attendance already had exceeded 37,000.
I am writing about the Charismatic Renewal today because they are the most important Catholic movement in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Not only because of its many members and its dynamism, but because the majority of ministers and servers in parishes today, especially among Hispanics, belong to this movement. The Hispanic Catholic community would not be the same in Oklahoma without the presence and ministry of the Charismatic Renewal Movement in the Holy Spirit.
Of the 40 parishes and missions in the archdiocese that offer Masses in Spanish, 17 of them have a Charismatic Renewal prayer group. The Charismatic Renewal is a clear blessing for the Oklahoma Church. Or as Pope Francis told them when he met them in 2019: “The Charismatic Renewal is a current of grace for the Church. … Baptism in the Holy Spirit, the unity of the Body of Christ and service to the poor are the necessary witness for the evangelization of the world, to which we are all called by our baptism. ... The Charismatic Renewal has developed in the Church by the will of God and is an opportunity for the Church.”
My invitation today is for you to come to know more about this movement. If you've met it before and were not interested, take another look. Perhaps the Lord is calling you through a Charismatic Renewal prayer group.