Hello, I just joined. I was baptized as a Roman Catholic. For many years now I have attended charismatic-pentecostal churches. I have developed an interest in Catholicism, the saints, history of the church and would like to have discussion and fellowship with Roman Catholics especially charismatic Catholics. I have been very interested in the saints, St Francis, Saint Jean Vianney and miraculous phenomena occuring in the Catholic Church. I am 73 and seeking a deeper relationship with the Lord God. I do have uncertainty about some Catholic dogma and it’s basis, purgatory, veneration of the saints, the immaculate conception. If this forum is strictly for Catholics perhaps my participation is inappropriate.
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Welcome! Though I am not a charismatic myself, I do have relatives who are into the Charismatic renewal. Some wonderful individuals at our former Parish are too (and they are some of the most saintly individuals I know, so there is that : )
Thank you Cade One. I am very interested in the lives of the saints. I am currently reading The Cure D’Ars St Jean- Marie-Baptiste Vianney by Abbe Francis Trochu. I am drawn to reading about the monastics and their mystical experiences.
If there are any Charismatic Catholics reading this thread and interested in discussion let me know.
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Hi. Great you are thinking about Catholicism. 
I would like to pick up on one part of your introduction and which is this: “…and would like to have discussion and fellowship with Roman Catholics [ especially charismatic Catholics ]”.
May I ask why especially ‘charismatic Catholics’, as a choice amongst others.
Here are some comments on charismatics from Father Richard Simon’s “Reverend Know-It-All” blog (I don’t think he writes this blog any more):
I am a founding member of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, which we used to call the Pentecostal Movement, and love nothing more than good old religious emotion. But, I’ve found that when people value religious experience more than they value God, they are in trouble. They think they are worshiping God, but they are worshiping their own experiences.
In his first letter to the Corinthians (12:7-11), St. Paul tells us that “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each for the good of all. To one is given the word of wisdom … to another the word of knowledge … to another faith … to another gifts of healing … the working of miracles … prophecy … discerning of spirits … tongues and interpretation of tongues.”….
[In 1900 a group of Pentecostals] experienced what they believed to be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They claimed to have received a “baptism in the Holy Spirit” evidenced by the gift of tongues (baptism is simply the Greek word for “immersion,” and tongues here refers to a kind of ecstatic speech). This “Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues” became the required norm for the Pentecostal churches. If you had not spoken in tongues, you did not “have the Holy Spirit.” …
The classical Protestant churches [taught] dispensationalism, saying that … miracles were no longer necessary for the life of the Church.…
[In 1967 I] made contact with … Pentecostal prayer meetings. When I came home from school, an 18-year-old who already knew that he knew it all, I told my parents that I had experienced a Baptism in the Holy Spirit and that you could have a personal relationship with Christ, that God spoke prophetically in our times and that He worked miracles and healed the sick. They said, “We are Catholics and we’ve always believed these things and are glad that you finally agree with us.” That took all the wind out of my sails, and I realized that I was still a Catholic and always would be.
Pentecost is not a theology or an organization. It is an experience. …
It is part me and part God, unlike Christ, who was completely God and completely man. It needs authority.…
There are a lot of showy nondenominational churches that are all about making people feel good. There are a lot of Catholic prayer group leaders who try to get people excited like in times past.…
Pentecostalism is really about quiet. Profound and expectant quiet. Pentecost was one afternoon of supernatural ministry that changed the world. It was preceded by nine days of expectant waiting.
Sacraments are external and objective. The manifestations of the Holy Spirit are not. They are internal and subjective. They are a reaction of our humanity to the experience of God’s amazing love and grace..…
the “manifestations” of the Holy Spirit … are not necessarily signs of a person’s sanctity …
The Christian life and the indwelling of the Spirit of God are to be judged not by whether you fall over, or can heal the sick, but by a life of genuine love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.… I want to arrive at the point of holiness and humility that it is mostly God and not mostly me!
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Hello Literalman, I am seeking to know more about Catholicism, which is why I joined this forum. I am interested in looking at the evidence. Clearly something real is going on in Catholicism. Protestant evangelical Christianity largely ignores supernatural occurrences in Catholicism. For example, the levitations of Joseph of Cupertino which has substantial verification.
I have always had difficulty with blind faith without evidence. Faith is fundamental to Christianity. However you can have faith in Mormon theology or Islam and be led dramatically astray. I am not basing my faith simply on emotional experience.
I grew up as a Roman Catholic. It seemed that mass was highly formal and ritualistic. I went through the motions but there was no depth. For a time I was close to being an atheist. Since there was no God morality was a social invention that varied among cultures. One had to create personal meaning in a meaningless universe.
Clearly there is a deeper, mystical side to Roman Catholicism and I want to know more about it and look at the evidence.
For people reading this, the Charismatic Renewal is a bit like Traditional Catholicism in that neither of those terms mean anything but the title of movements consisting of Catholics who want to branch out from mainstream teachings and which basically points to separation. Same with Modernism, which is merely the teaching of non-Catholics. The Charismatic Renewal is of denominational church origin and many Catholics as myself don’t support those who head that movement in the understanding that those who do should have been expelled from their positions as ministers. Sorry, I don’t dress up conversations where there isn’t one. God’s own know His voice.
This problem all the rage in a percentage of the Church has links to Ireland and also getting talked up by certain professors in Italy, and which comes down to rationalism mixed with hysteria. A sign of this is that those of the so-called Charismatic Renewal take issue with Dogma.
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You might be interested in this man’s journey. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcPGvRWyIRZ/?igsi=NGE4YnExN3l4Mzd0
Spoken by the Spirit by Ralph W Harris (Gospel Publishing House,1973) cites dozens of documented cases of persons who spoke in a language they were unfamiliar with but were understood by a person who spoke the language.
It was not my intention initially to discuss Charismatic Christianity in particular. However we can if you like. I am also interested in Catholicism.
I don’t know what would classify a person as charismatic, but it interests me greatly.
I received the Holy Spirit in 2016, have had many visions and dreams, heard the audible voice of God so does that make me charismatic? I honestly don’t know.
I haven’t spoken in tounges however, maybe in the future God will give me that gift.
Pentecostals and Charismatic Christians regard speaking in tongues as the initial evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. They use various scriptures such as the second chapter of Acts, Acts 10:44-46 and Acts 19: 6 which correlate speaking in tongues with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Pentecostalism has its origins on January 1,1901 when there was a manifestation of speaking in Tongues in Topeka, Kansas. There was a major early manifestation of speaking in tongues at Azusa Street in Los Angeles, California starting in 1906 and Pentecostalism then spread world wide.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual empowerment to do the work of the Lord. There are 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in 1Corrinthians:12: 4-10: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, healing, the working of miracles, prophecy,discerning of spirits, diverse kinds of tongues and the interpretation of tongues. A person Baptized in the Holy Spirit may evidence any number of these gifts.
Although I have met individuals who clearly seem to manifest the gifts of the Holy Spirit I am not fully convinced that everyone who clams to speak in tongues really has that gifting as probably anyone can fabricate an unknown language. Also throughout history there appear to be individuals who show evidence of having gifts of the Holy Spirit who apparently never spoke in tongues. I am also convinced that people do validly speak in tongues today.
However these are just some of my thoughts on the subject and I could be off the mark in part. I would like to have input from a Catholic Charismatic if there are any around on this forum
I am also interested in the Catholic saints and the various gifts manifested by persons such as Padre Pio, the stigmata, bilocation, etc. There is much suspicion between Catholics and Charismatics and considerable variation among Protestants as to beliefs.
Dainty 26 tell me more about your dreams and visions and having heard the voice of God.l
Take care to not throw pearls.
…
And you really don’t want to venture down the Charismatic Catholic route.
Get a spiritual director (preferably a very Catholic one and not one of those offering spiritual ‘guidance’). A priest might offer this as a side-line duty.
Speaking in tongues is not a life lived. St. Paul said that it is not virtuous, in-of-itself. No merit.
With spiritual direction you can be helped in finding a path for walking and which along the way God would lead you and take care of what you have to do and towards which you could use what God gives and which you would find out over the course or if you know already then you could use. Obvious gifts or more subtle ones.
You are an owl.
I said that for effect by placing it onto its own line. Ignore the symbology for a moment. I saw a documentary where an owl needed to fly but was being mobbed by crows and would eventually be consumed by an eagle unless taking off safely and out of harm’s way. So, owl, do you want to take off safely?
If you do, then avoid the so-called Charismatic Renewal avenue as you will meet just those who seek enthusiasm. I have spent years not only reading up on this but engaged with people on the topic and I can say with certainty that every one of them is very ill. It was confirmation-bias, however, as I knew already. They are like surfers chasing the next wave.
You need to protect your faith and make absolutely sure you are being given strictly Catholic direction…from…God. Not a rationalist or modernist or traditionalist or protestant influenced something or nothing. Remember the part in Scripture where it says about the seed being taken away, stolen, ambushed. You are the proprietor of your faith. Just make sure it is God at the rudder.
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…Essentially, owl, you want to be a saint! Don’t you.
Go and be a saint, then. Just don’t trip yourself up, right at the beginning.
I am also mindful of the primacy of the fruit of the Spirit, especially love, although the gifts of the Spirit may be more flamboyant. I am not here to sow division but to seek the truth. I am very much attracted to the monastics.
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“The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service and the fruit of service is peace.” (St. Theresa of Calcutta).
You sound sincere and have obviously dug deep at the beginning of your search into Catholicism. If you have desire for the mystery of the faith, and which is what you would really be seeking, than sign-chasing, then monasticism would be a huge leap in the right direction.