"This authentic desire to situate yourselves in the Church is the authentic sign of the action of the Holy Spirit ... How could this 'spiritual renewal' not be a chance for the Church and the world?" - Pope Paul VI, addressing the International Conference on the Catholic Charismatic Renewal on May 19, 1975
"I am convinced that this movement is a very important component of the entire renewal of the Church." - St. John Paul II the Great, addressing a group of international leaders of the Renewal on December 11, 1979
It is interesting to note that the Dusquene Weekend, the retreat where the Catholic Charismatic Renewal began, started on February 17, 1967, and this date has a connection to the story of the Great Flood. The Catholic Charismatic Renewal and the Great Flood were God's responses to crises where He intervened with renewal, and both started on the 17th day of the second month of their calendars. Genesis 7:11 says, "... in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month: on that day all the fountains of the great abyss burst forth, and the floodgates of the sky were opened."
In 1967 and the years around it, there was a strong cultural shift especially in the United States away from God and towards hedonism and a newfound acceptance in society for sin, which was similar to the world Noah lived in. The Bible describes the world of Noah's time in Genesis 6:5 saying, "When the LORD saw how great the wickedness of human beings was on earth, and how every desire that their heart conceived was always nothing but evil the LORD regretted making human beings on the earth, and his heart was grieved." The modern world, like the ancient world, was walking away from God, and in both situations God wanted to call people back to Himself.
Psalm 104:30 asks God to, "Send forth your spirit, they are created and you renew the face of the earth." In the Old Testament God gave us glimpses of what Christ would do in the New Testament. God's answer to the world of Noah's time was to renew the face of the earth through the Great Flood. That was a renewal that came from new life after the flood brought physical death. With the coming of Christ, He established a new way, where a spiritual death happens to our old self and to sin, before a person is reborn spiritually through baptism to new life in Christ. Romans 6:8 says, "If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him" and Romans 6:11 says, "Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus."
In the 20th century again, God's response to a society walking away from Him was to send the Holy Spirit. The participants at the Dusquene Weekend retreat show what happens to individuals when the Holy Spirit comes to renew them: repentance is followed by renewal and then outreach. This has always happened in the life of a Christian experiencing conversion, and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal saw it happen in a particularly intense way. Just as how Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit in John 16:8 saying, "And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin," on February 17, 1967 at the Dusquene Weekend retreat, the participants individually repented of their sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the next day, on February 18, 1967, they received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal spread near and far.
As the Renewal spread, people turned back to God. People realized God is real and active in our lives, and that and that the Bible is not irrelevant or a simplistic story, but speaks to our everyday lives and studying it is a lifetime pursuit. People were healed. People learned to pray. In prayer, people discovered or were renewed in their vocations, including to the priesthood or religious life. Lay people, as well as priests and religious, came together in communities and prayer groups, strengthening them to live counter-culturally, being "in the world but not of the world." The bishops of the United States described the Renewal's effects, saying, "It witnesses to elements of the Good News which are central, not optional: the covenant love of the Father, the Lordship of Jesus, the power of the Spirit, sacramental and community life, prayer, charisms, and the necessity of evangelization."
"I am convinced that this movement is a very important component of the entire renewal of the Church." - St. John Paul II the Great, addressing a group of international leaders of the Renewal on December 11, 1979
It is interesting to note that the Dusquene Weekend, the retreat where the Catholic Charismatic Renewal began, started on February 17, 1967, and this date has a connection to the story of the Great Flood. The Catholic Charismatic Renewal and the Great Flood were God's responses to crises where He intervened with renewal, and both started on the 17th day of the second month of their calendars. Genesis 7:11 says, "... in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month: on that day all the fountains of the great abyss burst forth, and the floodgates of the sky were opened."
In 1967 and the years around it, there was a strong cultural shift especially in the United States away from God and towards hedonism and a newfound acceptance in society for sin, which was similar to the world Noah lived in. The Bible describes the world of Noah's time in Genesis 6:5 saying, "When the LORD saw how great the wickedness of human beings was on earth, and how every desire that their heart conceived was always nothing but evil the LORD regretted making human beings on the earth, and his heart was grieved." The modern world, like the ancient world, was walking away from God, and in both situations God wanted to call people back to Himself.
Psalm 104:30 asks God to, "Send forth your spirit, they are created and you renew the face of the earth." In the Old Testament God gave us glimpses of what Christ would do in the New Testament. God's answer to the world of Noah's time was to renew the face of the earth through the Great Flood. That was a renewal that came from new life after the flood brought physical death. With the coming of Christ, He established a new way, where a spiritual death happens to our old self and to sin, before a person is reborn spiritually through baptism to new life in Christ. Romans 6:8 says, "If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him" and Romans 6:11 says, "Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus."
In the 20th century again, God's response to a society walking away from Him was to send the Holy Spirit. The participants at the Dusquene Weekend retreat show what happens to individuals when the Holy Spirit comes to renew them: repentance is followed by renewal and then outreach. This has always happened in the life of a Christian experiencing conversion, and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal saw it happen in a particularly intense way. Just as how Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit in John 16:8 saying, "And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin," on February 17, 1967 at the Dusquene Weekend retreat, the participants individually repented of their sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the next day, on February 18, 1967, they received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal spread near and far.
As the Renewal spread, people turned back to God. People realized God is real and active in our lives, and that and that the Bible is not irrelevant or a simplistic story, but speaks to our everyday lives and studying it is a lifetime pursuit. People were healed. People learned to pray. In prayer, people discovered or were renewed in their vocations, including to the priesthood or religious life. Lay people, as well as priests and religious, came together in communities and prayer groups, strengthening them to live counter-culturally, being "in the world but not of the world." The bishops of the United States described the Renewal's effects, saying, "It witnesses to elements of the Good News which are central, not optional: the covenant love of the Father, the Lordship of Jesus, the power of the Spirit, sacramental and community life, prayer, charisms, and the necessity of evangelization."