Religion: The Pentecostal Tide

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such spiritual gifts as the ability to "prophesy" (not predicting events, but uttering spiritual messages from God), the power to heal, and, perhaps most controversial of all, the ability to speak in "tongues," known technically as glossolalia. The weird sounds of glossolalia, a primitive kind of communication, either spoken or sung and without any apparent meaning, disturb Christians outside the movement. Among Charismatics, though, glossolalia has two functions—private devotion and public prayer or prophecy.

Catholic Pentecostalism is notably less emotional than the classical Protestant form. There is less reliance on the literal interpretation of biblical prophecies, less emphasis on the imminence of a Second Coming. Catholic Pentecostals also insist that they are completely loyal to the church, but they consider a continuing renewal essential.

The movement won powerful new support at the Notre Dame conference.

It came from Leo-Jozef Cardinal Suenens, the Primate of Belgium and one of the most progressive voices in the church's hierarchy. It was his personal intervention on the floor of Vatican II that helped sway council opinion to the view that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not exclusively experiences of ancient Christianity but a continuing force in the modern church as well. Suenens was greatly impressed by the fervor of the Pentecostal phenomenon during a tour of the U.S. last year, and returned this spring for a visit to U.S. Charismatic centers. Though he is still a staunch champion of "co-responsibility" of the bishops with the Pope, Suenens now emphasizes that structural reforms must be accompanied by spiritual renewal. "The gifts of the spirit are given especially to build up the Christian community," he told the stadium crowd at Notre Dame. "After Vatican II we had to make a series of reforms, and we must continue to do so. But it is not enough to change the body. We need to change the soul to renew the church and the face of the earth."

Is Suenens himself a Charismatic?

He has said that he is "personally involved" in the movement, but when TIME asked him specifically whether he had received the Holy Spirit Baptism at a Charismatic prayer meeting, he declined to answer, saying that his private spiritual life was "too delicate."

Still, the cardinal's support was unequivocal. He conceded that there could be excess among the Pentecostals, noting that "when you light a lamp in the darkness, you will draw some mosquitoes." But he praised the leaders for their "sound theology, common sense and wisdom." Indeed, he said, the Pentecostal renewal is "not a movement. It is a current of grace ... growing fast everywhere in the world. I feel it coming, and I see it coming." And to the stadium crowd: "You are in such a special way the people of God."