LETTERS

A Shining Example
of God's Strength

Elizabeth Lesur

I have not yet finished reading the Eucharistic Devotion issue, but I can't wait to tell you thank you for printing that lovely article on Elisabeth Leseur! I was very encouraged and refreshed by reading her story and seeing so clearly the workings of the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit in that gentle woman's life of following Our Lord. I have already told four people about her, asked for her intercession, and I will get her journal and study this shinning example of God's strength in human weakness, of God's infinite possibilities in human limitations.

Miss Ann E.R. Stitt

Brookline, Massachusetts

Charismatics

May the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus be with you. Congratulations on your fine new magazine: The Catholic Faith, I pray that the Lord Jesus will use it to bless His Church. I was particularly blessed by the recent issue on the Eucharist, as well as being pleasantly surprised to see an article by a former parishioner of mine, Mrs. Barbara Morgan. However, there was one issue that you raised in the "Ask Fr. Hardon" section that I would like to comment on.

In response to the question about the "baptism in the Holy Spirit" you commented that it is not and integral part of either the Sacrament of Baptism or Confirmation, which I would, of course, agree with. St. Thomas Aquinas lists the charismatic gifts as belonging to the order of gratuitous grace, not the sanctifying grace that would come from one of the Sacraments. You also mention that it is neither a Sacrament nor part of the Liturgy, which of course I would also agree with. However, to the question of whether or not it is an authentic Catholic practice, you also respond in the negative. This would seem to clearly run counter to several statements by the hierarchy that acknowledge the appropriateness for Roman Catholics of participation in the Catholic charismatic renewal. I would call your attention, in particular, to the statement by his Holiness Pope Paul VI to the International Leaders Conference in 1975, as well as to the statement by the American Bishops on the Catholic charismatic renewal.

I would respectfully submit that an appropriate clarification of this issue in your magazine is called for. I commend you and your fine magazine to the care of the Mother of God and the protection of St. Michael.

Your brother in the service of Christ the King,

Fr. Ed Fride, Pastor

Christ the King, Ann Arbor, Michigan

P.S. Let me also express my deep appreciation to you for the role you played in the excellent Call to Holiness conference that I was privileged to attend. It was a great blessing to the myself and to the local Church as well.

Dear Father Fride,

I deeply appreciated your comments on my reply to the question of whether the Charismatic practice known as "baptism in the Holy Spirit" is an authentic Catholic practice. Your comment, "To the question of whether or not it [the baptism in the Holy Spirit] is an authentic Catholic practice you... respond in the negative. This would seem to clearly run counter to several statements by the hierarchy that acknowledge the appropriateness for Roman Catholics of participation in the Catholic charismatic renewal. I would call your attention, in particular, to the statement by his Holiness Pope Paul VI to the International Leaders Conference in 1975, as well as to the statement by the American Bishops on the Catholic Charismatic renewal."

If you will re-read what I said referring to the baptism in the Holy Spirit I state, "It is part of a larger claim by some charismatics. They say the Church of the future will be the Church of the Holy Spirit and no longer the Church of the hierarchy and the sacraments instituted by Christ." Notice, I did not say that all charismatics make these claims.

My reservation was especially with those charismatics who have either never been professed Catholics or who have been misled by the ideas of Montanism, or Joachim of Fiore.

That is why I was so happy to read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, that "Discernment ... is always necessary. No charism is exempt from being referred and submitted to the Church's shepherds. Their office [is] not indeed to extinguish the Spirit, but to test all things and hold fast to what is good, so that all the diverse and complimentary charisms work together for the common good" (no. 801).

I am deeply grateful for your detailed appraisal of the charismatic movement and assure you of my continued prayers for you and the members of the Christ the King parish. Thank you also for your generous words about The Catholic Faith magazine.

Ecumenism

I very much appreciated the article, "Imitating Jesus Christ, Incarnate God," by John A. Hardon, S.J. in the March/April edition. He discusses a serious crisis in the Church - "the doubt and denial that Jesus Christ, the Son of Mary, is the Son of the Living God." I agree with his assessment.

But I take issue with a certain practice done by the Catholic Church, which I believe adds to this problem. That is, the practice of interfaith worship services conducted by the Catholic Church wherein Catholic priests, Islamic, Jewish and sometimes Buddhist religious ministers jointly worship in a Catholic Church. The inter-faith service officiants stand together before the people in their vestments, conducting religious ceremony. The very act of a Catholic priest standing equal to the Islamic and Jewish officiants, peer-to-peer, before the people in a Catholic church gives credibility to Islam and Judaism, raising their teachings to be equal to Christianity, and a tacit approval by the Catholic church of their teachings about Jesus.

But, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism deny the deity of Jesus Christ. I believe we are taught to reach out to all non-Christians; invite them into our churches; teach them the gospel message; and love them as Jesus commanded. But it seems to me that a presentation of Islam, Judaism and Christianity, commingled during the service, dilutes the teaching of Jesus and sends out a conflicting message and adds to the problem that Father Hardon is discussing in the article.

We do not need non-Christian ceremony in our Catholic churches. To the contrary, the non-Christian religious celebrants need to hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Robinson Brown

Via the Internet