Simon_Templar you surprise me. I am not faulting you, but you really surprise me. I thought you had a different idea of the Charismatic Renewal.
As you well know, I am working toward my 50th year in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. You should also know that my eyes are solidly fixed on Jesus, at least I would think you would. I would also guess that you know that I am a deeply committed and mature Christian. I am not an isolated case in the Catholic Church.
We are active in the northern part of inland California. Some folks refer to it as the northern Sacramento Valley although we are truly about half way between Sacramento and the Oregon border. We have Charismatic 1st Friday Masses every month and we have been doing this for about 7 years ... yes, every month. We have had 7 or 8 of the local priests in our area rotating doing these Masses. We also have a Charismatic Prayer Meeting all the other Fridays. We have folks from all these various parishes who attend and support us. We have done Parish Missions, Life in the Spirit Seminars, had prayer booths at Parish Festivals and even at the City Hall during the National day of Prayer. We are very active.
All I can say, if a Parish doesn't have a Prayer Group, then it is your duty, (not you Simon_Templar....I mean the Charismatic Catholics in a parish) to get out there and start one. If you don't, who will? huh? I had to get lung cancer and be healed to know that is what God asks of us. You be obedient to the Holy Spirit and He will open doors.
Simon_Temlar, I would say if our "interior voice" produces Fruit it is indeed the Holy Spirit. All good things come from God.
Dove,
I suppose I should have been more clear. I assumed that most people know I'm charismatic and was raised in a charismatic church.
I was not intending to generalize about the entire charismatic renewal, especially in the Catholic Church since I have no direct experience of really knowledge of its history.
However, it is my experience in the charismatic groups that I grew up in, as well as others I have seen/observed, that when they fail, the root issues are what I stated in my first post.
I have seen time and time again groups start out with a bang and either fall apart because people are convinced that God told them completely different things and they end up fighting and denouncing each other, or because the initial excitement eventually fades and all the people move on to the next new 'revival', convinced that some how the first group 'stifled the Spirit' or 'became stale' because the initial rush experience wasn't there anymore.
I've also seen some groups go off the deep end because the leadership believed that God revealed things to them which were completely false and off the wall.
I agree with you that if the interior leading, or "interior voice" produces good fruit it is of God. However, one of the problems in the charismatic movement, that I encounter over and over again is people who listen to whatever their inner voice tells them without caution and without discernment, assuming it to be God.
After 30 years in the Charismatic movement, I have to say that it is the exception for me to see someone who truly exhibits the fruit of the Spirit at a level that stands out from even my nominal, or non-christian aquaintences.
Consequently, I have come to the conclusion that most of the people I have known can't really tell the difference between God's interior leading and their own heart telling them what they want to hear.
I didn't mean to imply at all that these problems invalidate the charismatic renewal. I assumed since we are posting on a charismatic forum that it would be understood that I believe in and agree with the charismatic renewal.
I meant my comments to be taken in the context of, "I think these are some of the main problems that can arise among charismatics and are often at the root of the charismatic groups that fail."
I believe very much that the internal aspect of the Faith which is often central to real charismatic experience, including the internal dialogue and internal leading of the Spirit is absolutely essential. I think its almost impossible to have an intimate relationship with God without having that on some level at least.
However, it is also an area where many people are lead astray, including many many charismatics because they don't use sound judgement and they abandon the objective external guidlines of doctrine etc. in favor of the internal voice.
I apologize if it seemed like I was condemning the entire charismatic renewal. I was intending only to discuss what I think is at the root of most of the failures and abuses that do occur.
