I would like to know what the CATHOLIC Church teaches on being speaking in tongues. The Protestant Churches I've been to call it "Baptized in the Holy Spirit". I really have no clue how the Catholic Church stands on this. Any information would be really helpful. Thank you for you time and answers.

-- Melanie (design465@hotmail.com), November 04, 2003

Answers

Melanie.

There has been a discussion of this topic going on for some time now, under the thread called "How old is your church?". You can find that thread below, rather than start the discussion all over again. Also, if you go to the "categories" section, at the bottom of the opening page of the forum, and choose the category "prayer and spirituality", you can find several older threads on this topic.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), November 04, 2003.

Melanie, I am just new to these posts. As far as I know, there is no official teaching on speaking in tongues, because it was never a burning issue. Tongues were a strong phenomenon during initial stages of the church. Afterwards, it became less and less form of prayer as the church became more and more institutionalized, sacramentalized, and formula prayers replaced almost every kind of prayer.

It only in the most recent times, since 1920 or so, there was resurgence of the pentecostal phenomenon, taking various forms. It has even become a part of the Catholic Church in form of the Charismatic renewal, which also officially approved by the church.

Charismatic renewal has renewed millions of people, by personal experience of Jesus Christ (or Baptism of the Holy Spirit), with manifestation of various gifts like tongues, prophecy, preaching, teaching, healing, miracles, etc.

I suggest you contact your local charismatic team at your parish or contact someone who is into it.

I am not aware of many internet sites, I have not searched much on that subject, but here is a link on the world's greatest catholic charismatic prayer center in the world, situated in Kerala, India.

http://www.drcm.org/

God bless you on your journey of faith!

God Bless You!!!

-- leslie john (leslie_jn@yahoo.com), November 05, 2003.

I just searched "catholic charismatic renewal" using google and got many and better ones. I hope you will find what you are searching.

e.g. http://ccc.garg.com/

Happy hunting!

-- leslie john (leslie_jn@yahoo.com), November 05, 2003.

The Charismatic movement One of the results of the II Vatican Council, was to acknowledge the Charisms of the Holy Spirit as a very important part of our Christian Life. The Charisms of the Holy Spirit are invaluable in the work of the new Evangelisation of the Church and they provide the faithful with the zeal of the Holy Spirit to praise God, to worship and to live with the great joy of knowing that Jesus is Alive.

Groups of enthusiastic worshippers have gathered since then and have discovered that prayer, praise, worship, and togetherness are truly a renovating force breathed by the Holy Spirit. The Charismatic movement has obtained the approval of the Catholic Church and is flourishing in many parts of the world. Many priests take part in this movement.

One of the negative aspects of the Charismatic movement is the similarity to Pentecostalism, but the true Charismatics remain faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church and must promote the Sacraments, especially Reconciliation.

The movement has encountered a lot of opposition from very Orthodox Catholics who see it as a threat to traditional teachings. However the Church has given it approval provided the movement maintains fidelity to the Church.

On a general audience with Pope John Paul II, March 9, 1994 the Pope spoke about the Charisms of the Holy Spirit:

The Apostolic Exhortation Christi fideles Laici also stressed the "no charism dispenses a person from reference and submission to the Pastors of the Church." These norms of prudence are easily understandable and apply to all, both clerics and lay people.

That having been said, we would like to repeat with the Council and the Exhortation cited above the "charisms should be received in gratitude both on the part of the one who receives them, and also on the part of the entire Church." For these charisms there arises "for each of the faithful the right and duty of exercising them for the good of men and for building up the Church." [Pope John Paul II, General Audience, March 9, 1994]

Slain by the Holy Spirit This is one of the experiences in the Charismatic movement that defy the traditional beliefs of many Catholics. When someone prays over another person, sometimes He or She receives a touch of the Holy Spirit and falls to the ground. The person is filled with great Peace, it is an encounter with God in a very serene atmosphere. Somehow the person is disconnected with reality and enters into a state of joy in the Lord.

Of course we must not believe everything we see, specially when some people fake the experience or when some of the people who pray push the others to the ground. We are not talking about this here.

To be slain in the Spirit is a true experience when the right people are involved and when the Holy Spirit makes His manifestation; the ways of the Lord are above our ways and the wind of the Spirit blows where it pleases [John 3:8]. It is very easy to condemn what we don't know says St. Peter.[2 Peter 2:12]

David and the high priests fell on their faces when they saw an angel standing between earth and Heaven [1 Chronicles 21:16]

Ezequiel came before the Presence of God and He fell upon his face [Ezekiel 1:26-28]

Daniel also had a similar experience, He lost his strength [Daniel 8:17-18]

When St. John the Apostle had his encounter with Our Lord, he fell at His feet, feeling as dead. [Apocalypse 1:17]

Baptism of the Holy Spirit We believe that there is only one Baptism and through it we have received the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

What is called the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is an experience that a baptised person may have if they open their hearts to the influence of the Holy Spirit, it is a very common experience at a Holy Spirit Seminar or at Charismatic prayer groups. It is like an awakening to the reality that we indeed have gifts but that we are supposed to open them and use them.

To have such a "Freeing of the Spirit", the person has to go through the stages of Repentance and belief in the Promises of the Holy Spirit. Then, the imposition of hands [not always necessary] helps to bring about this experience.

This "Fullness of the Spirit" is similar to an experience of the early Church in Corinth as related in the Acts of the Apostles:

[Acts 19:1-6]

1 And it came to pass, while Apollo was at Corinth, that Paul having passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples. 2 And he said to them: Have you received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? But they said to him: We have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy Ghost. 3 And he said: In what then were you baptised? Who said: In John's baptism. 4 Then Paul said: John baptised the people with the baptism of penance, saying: That they should believe in him who was to come after him, that is to say, in Jesus. 5 Having heard these things, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had imposed his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.

Contents

Growth in the Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit fills us with the gifts we need to produce good fruit, to grow in holiness, and to proclaim the Good News of our Salvation [Colossians 1:10].

We must submit our lives to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, He is the Advocate, the Paraclete, the Spirit of Peace, Love and Joy. In Him we can rest and be fed. He is our teacher, He will always tell us what is right and what is wrong, because He speaks through our conscience. We must remain obedient to the teachings of the Church and open ourselves to the direction of the Holy Spirit. God is with us, but we must come to Him. The Holy Scriptures say that we will be taught by God [Isaiah 54:13], we have received the teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ Who has sent His Holy Spirit to guide us.

As a baby depends on its mother, we must also depend on God, St. Peter invites us to drink that spiritual milk [1 Peter 2:2] that will make us grow in the knowledge of Our Lord.

The Holy Spirit does His work silently as a gentle breeze, all we have to do is to believe and to submit ourselves to His direction.

[1 Corinthians 3:6] I have planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the growth.

Prayer meetings The Lord says that where there are two or more gathered in His name, He is in their midst. We come together to pray in the name of Jesus and for His greater Glory.

I don't recommend any prayer meetings where the Rosary is omitted, in fact we must emulate the apostles who were together in prayer with the mother of God when the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost.

If you can not invite into your life the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, then there must be something wrong with you. Mary is the Mother of the Son of God, and She is also our Mother. As mother of the children of God, She has received the task of caring for us.

Through her intercession the Holy Spirit descended to the apostles on the day of Pentecost, and it is also through her intercession that the Grace of the Holy Spirit descends to us in a very powerful way.

With the company of the Blessed Mother of God we can safely proceed to conduct a Charismatic prayer meeting where there will not be deception by the enemy.

The prayer meeting may last several hours depending on the enthusiasm of those involved and on the length of the healing ministry at the end. Sometimes it concludes with a healing mass.

Parts of a typical Charismatic prayer meeting The Holy Rosary Normally we pray five decades of the Rosary daily, but when a great fervour is reached, the prayer of the Holy Rosary goes through the entire life of Our Lord and Our Lady which is contained in the fifteen decades of the Rosary.

Before the recitation of the Rosary, we should always list all the intentions that we are praying for. We should pray at the end for the intentions of the Holy Father.

Praise and worship This section is destined for singing songs of Praise and Worship to the Lord, St. Augustine says that when we sing our prayers, we pray twice over. This creates an atmosphere of Joy in preparation for the rest of the meeting. A section of the group takes care of preparing the songs, this is called the music ministry, some members can use their musical talents, in any case everyone is invited to sing joyfully.

Praise can be done also by reading Psalms and other parts of the Bible or by sharing spontaneous prayers, praising in tongues, etc.

Deliverance It is important to command all evil spirits in the name of Jesus to leave the place and the people in the prayer meeting.

Repentance The group must pray for repentance, usually there are leaders who say the prayers, they can be taken from prayer books but it is spiritually healthy to allow the Holy Spirit to grant them spontaneously.

Calling of the Holy Spirit This is a time to invoke the Holy Spirit, usually singing a "Come Holy Spirit song". After that, there should be a period of praising in tongues if the gift is present, otherwise any ejaculations of praise are sufficient, such as: " I love you Jesus, I praise you Jesus, come Lord my God, I worship you Lord, Come Holy Spirit, come Fire of Divine Love. Come Spirit of Peace and Wisdom, fill our hearts. Thank you Jesus, we praise you Jesus, we love you Jesus. Amen. Alleluia.

After that there should be a moment of silence in which everyone will open themselves to the action of the Holy Spirit.

Sharing It is most important for us to cultivate this intimacy among brothers and sisters in Christ which let us know how the Lord has affected the lives of others.

By sharing our experiences we bind ourselves in communion with one another, we convey the faith we have, we grow as we learn of the growth of others and we learn about the things that we must pray for. We also become bold witness of the great things that the Lord has done for us. Our Lady shared the great things the Lord had done for her [Luke 1:49].

Petitions Since we feel the Presence of the Lord in our prayer group, it is very important that we express our petitions with thanksgiving to God for the Graces we receive. Members of the prayer meeting are encouraged to speak and to make their petitions known so that we can all pray to the Lord for the same intentions, although these intentions can be expressed in silence too.

-- joel delphine (joel_delphine@yahoo.com), March 23, 2004.

See this thread.

-- Emily (jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), March 23, 2004.

-see also here for thorough discussion:

How old is your church?

Additionally, I add this caveat regarding practice:

1 Corinthians 14:27-28

27 "If anyone speaks in a tongue, let it be two or at most three, and each in turn, and one should interpret.

28 But if there is no interpreter, the person should keep silent in the church and speak to himself and to God."

-- Daniel Hawkenberry (dlm@catholic.org), October 12, 2004.