The charismatic renewal movement is less visible than it was – but that’s because Baptism in the Spirit has become increasingly integrated into the life of the institutional Church

On the feast of Pentecost, 1998, Pope John Paul II told the 400,000 members of the lay ecclesial movements and communities gathered in St Peter’s Square that they were “an answer stirred up by the Holy Spirit to answer this dramatic challenge at the end of the millennium”. The charismatic and institutional dimensions of the Church were “co-essential”, he said, as he called on the whole Church: “Be open and docile to the gifts of the Spirit! Accept with gratitude and obedience the charisms that the Spirit never ceases to bestow. Do not forget that each charism is given for the common good, that is, for the benefit of the whole Church.”

Given that on the ground there are sometimes tensions between the parish/diocesan structures and the work of new movements, the Pope called on those present to “a new level of ecclesial maturity” and to bring their gifts and charisms to the heart of the Church, rather than concentrating on building up their own movements.

The event barely created a ripple in the Catholic press in the UK. The journal Inside the Vatican, however, commented: “What happened in May in Rome was so important we believe future historians of the Church will have to distinguish between ‘before’ and ‘after’ Pentecost 1998.” The Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) in the UK was to some extent ahead of the curve. In 1996, it decided that instead of concentrating on building up its structures and the movement itself, it would seek new vehicles to bring the graces of charismatic renewal to the wider Church without the “charismatic” label or requiring people to “join” anything.