THE CHARISMATIC MAN

CARDINAL Suenens is not a man to hedge
his words. When I asked him for his views on
the Charismatic Renewal, he said: "I think it is the biggest phenomenon in the Catholic Church since Vatican II, and I hope it will stay and grow deeper and deeper in the life of the Church."
It was, he said, a renewal of what we already believed about the Hoiy Spirit at work in the Church, a renewed faith in His presence in all the dimensions of His actions which brought about many wonderful things.
"It is a new rediscovery of Jesus as a living person today, with all the consequences of that. Instead of making of Christianity an ideology, an abstraction, it is really an encounter, an experience in depth with Christ and the Holy Spirit."
The main characteristic of the Renewal, he thought, was a sense of personal relationship with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, a personal awareness of His presence today in the Gospel and in the sacramental life of the Church.
"If Jesus is my-Saviour, I have to follow him and adapt my life to him and open myself to the Holy Spirit.
'The Catholic Charismatic Renewal, now taking place in more than 60 countries, could renew the sacramental life of the Church," -he said. There
could be a new way ot seeing baptism, confirmation, penance and matrimony, a renewed liturgy with more spontaneity in it, but at the same time respecting the
traditions of the Church.
All the positive sides of the Renewal, he added, were stressed by Pope Paul when he addressed more than 10,000 people at Inter national Catholic Charismatic Congress in Rome during Pentecost. "He told them always to keep in mind what St Paul said about being rooted in faith and love. This meeting was one of the most significant events that has taken place in the Church during the last 10 years. "It was a warming to the Charismatic Renewal by Pope Paul and not as some of the news media have suggested, a warning.
"The people who came from all over thevvorld to attend do not want a deinstitutionalised, churchless Christianity, and their presence in Rome during Holy Year, demonstrated their fidelity to the Church."
If one has Jesus and the Gospel, why does one need the Church. I asked him. "Because" the Cardinal said "it is the Church which brought us Jesus and the Gospel. It is the Church alone which can give us the right interpretation of Jesus and the Gospel and you cannot disconnect what God has united."
At the moment the Bishops were looking at this Renewal cautiously, he said.
"They are not yet warm to it in the Curial Offices in Rome. but I believe the Holy Spirit has a very special mission to build a bridge between conservatives and progressives.
"Praying together brings people nearer to each other. I don't say they change their minds or points of view on the level of ideas, but they change their hearts, and this is very important."
Cardinal Suenens was praised by the Pope for a document which he, with a team of theologians, wrote in Malines, Belgium last year, entitled Theological and Pastoral Orientations on the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
Asked what he saw as his role in the Charismatic Renewal, he said: "Helping it to become fully integrated in the doctrinal and sacramental life of the Church.
"There is no such thing as a Charismatic Church or an Institutional Church. There is only one Church but with a double dimension, and I see my role as bringing the two together."
Talking about the Ecumenical Movement, the Cardinal said: "The Catholic Charismatic Renewal can bring about an ecumenism in a very deep way between all the Christian Churches. If we pray together in depth, then we will begin to find each other."
But he warned: "There is always the danger that ecumenical prayer groups will try to find their unity on the lowest common denomination. Catholics must always be themselves, keep their own identity and respect the identity of others."
The Cardinal is a precise man. The term Baptism in the Holy Spirit is one that he does not like. "I prefer to say an infusion of the Holy Spirit.
"Baptism in the Holy Spirit can create the impression we were not baptised in the Holy Spirit before. In the sacrament of Baptism we are baptised in water and the Holy Spirit. Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a renewed awareness of this and a new influx of the Holy Spirit into our soul.
"These gifts of the Holy Spirit speaking in tongues, healing and prophecy — can be manifested in every Christian, but they are dependent on an expectant, profound faith."
I asked him if he envisaged a third Vatican Council in the foreseeable future. "We have to digest Vatican II first," he said. "I think the principles are there in Vatican II and if they were applied fully, then I don't see the need for a third Vatican Council.
"We have the Synod of Bishops every three years. I don't think it is working well, but that can be corrected if we rethink the mechanics. My dream is for Jerusalem II."
The Cardinal does not have any plans to write another book at the moment. "Once I am retired, I will write about my memories of Vatican II," he said.
"I wrote Coresponsibility in the Church in 1968, and at the moment I am planning to write and present, in collaboration with an inter national team of theologians, 15 booklets dealing with different aspects of the Charismatic Renewal."
His own book, A New Pentecost?, gives a good summing-up to the man and his aspirations. He writes: "1 am a man of hope because I believe that God is born anew each morning. We must therefore be ready to expect the unexpected from God. God is here, near us, unforeseeable and loving. "To hope is a duty, not a luxury. To hope is not to dream, but to turn dreams into reality. Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true."