Inspiration for Leaders

What the Lord is doing for and through the CCR
Reflections of a Pioneer
By Steve Clarke

When the Catholic Charismatic Renewal began in 1967, our response was simply: the Lord is doing something. One participant even said “so it [Christianity] is real after all!” There was an excitement that something new was happening, a new work of the Lord. Several times we were given the passage in Isaiah 43:19-21 that begins, Behold I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

In 2007, the Renewal is no longer a new thing. We have long ago seen it develop into a movement, acquire a name, and be located as one of many movements for spiritual renewal. That fact has provoked us to ask many times through the years, what is the Lord doing for and through the CCR? Anniversaries especially occasion the question.

Firstly, the Renewal has been a great success in reaching countless individuals and renewing their Christian life. If we can believe some sociological studies, the numbers reach into the millions. Even if most of these people do not continue in charismatic groups and many do not end up living at a much higher Christian level, the benefit has been great, and this continues today.

Secondly, the Renewal has given birth to many programs, groups, outreaches and communities that have strengthened and revitalized the life and mission of the Church. Often the extent of this is more significant than most people realize, because many of them perhaps most of them, do not identify themselves publicly as charismatic.

I was a speaker at a charismatic conference about five years ago. It was only moderately attended, not like the large conferences held in the same place thirty years ago. The host city is home to one of the largest and most successful evangelistic outreaches in the country, which introduces a large number of young people to ‘charismatic experience' every year. From helping the outreach I know the people involved, and none of those who work with the outreach attended the conference, much less the people they had reached, for one simple reason: they do not identify with the CR and do not describe themselves as a charismatic group, even though they are. They are an evangelistic outreach that takes charismatic renewal for granted as part of Church life.

When the CR began, we mainly focused on introducing people to the baptism in the Spirit and the spiritual gifts. Gradually it became clear to us that the work of the Holy Spirit was supposed to be broader, to affect everything. If it did not enable us to live our daily Christian lives in a spiritualised way and engage in the mission of the Church by the power of the Spirit, it was not achieving the purpose for which God intended it. The natural outcome of the charismatic impetus was the formation of communities and outreaches whose focus was Christian life and mission, the renewal of the Church. This too continues today.

We are, however, in the midst of a time of very significant change and development in human history and in the Church. Every year brings technological advances that change the way we live our lives. This is also a time of great Christian vitality, but sociological surveys and our own experience tell us that it is a time of serious decline in the practice of the faith and in basic morality among Catholics in many parts of the world.

The Renewal came into existence for a time like this. We were born in the ‘60s at the very time when the crisis in Western culture was beginning. We began our contribution to the spiritual renewal of the Church in the depths of the post-conciliar crisis. We have seen the desert bloom. We, of all people, should have hope.

When the Renewal began, we did not decide to start a movement. We simply responded to something God was doing. We cannot forget that he is doing it still. In our Sword of the Spirit communities, one of the most impressive things that is happening is the movement among the young people. When I attend the prayer meetings at youth events, I am often struck by how similar the presence and spiritual action of God is to the way it was in prayer meetings in the early days. At times it seems almost palpable.

At one of these events, I came across a young man to whom I knew the Lord was speaking. I said to him, “God is speaking to you about your life, isn't he?” He said, “Yes, he told me he wanted me to do more than experience him personally, but also to give my whole life for him.”

We cannot forget that the CCR is first and foremost something God was doing, and that God continues to do today. We continue to need to respond to him in expectant faith.

Extract from ICCRS newsletter