Conclusion: The Fulfillment of All Desire

Chapter Ten

In this book, I have attempted to provide an adequate historical and theological overview of the re-emergence of the Phrygian Heresy in the Catholic Church. Doubtless, there is much more that could be said. My presentation of the Renewal has been, at times, very severe, and I am certain that partisans of the movement will have been offended by various statements and conclusions. However, I must hold fast to what I have written because, as God is my witness, I have done so with the sole intention of telling the truth according to the facts of history and the teachings of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

Most importantly, however, I have written this book with the desire that those good people who have invested themselves in the Renewal will recognize the errors of the movement, and fulfill their desires to be truly united with Christ the way that the saints and so many of our ancestors were. I believe that most Catholics who seek out the spirituality of the Renewal do so with good intentions, and they believe they find spiritual consolation or solace in the practices of Pentecostalism. However, as has been shown, whatever those consolations may be, they are not consistent with true Catholic doctrine and theology.

Like all Catholics of good will, those who seemingly find a home in the Renewal are looking for God and trying to find the peace of soul they desire so badly. “For You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You,” says Saint Augustine.

But, there is no rest to be found in the Renewal because there is no stability. The Renewal is based on experience and consolation, so after that initial emotional outburst or seeming influx of grace that many speak of, there is a need to continually chase after more and more consolation. It is impossible to recreate that first harrowing experience of being “Baptized in the Spirit,” accompanied by weeping and feelings of elation, so Charismatics must find other ways to fuel that fire.

This is why the Renewal is filled with endless conferences, events, and revivals. This is why Charismatics are often obsessed with reading new supposed messages from Heaven or hearing “anointed” preachers’ prophecies about this or that moment of grace or chastisement to come. They need signs and wonders that they can feel with their touch and see with their eyes. “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign” (Matthew 16:4).

Charismatics need new experiences and new feelings of God’s grace in their lives, or they feel abandoned. Sadly, I have seen this occur in so many in my personal life. The type of spirituality that develops from the Renewal milieu is manic and chaotic, with so many practitioners struggling to “feel” God the way they thought they once did when they were first introduced to the movement. In addition, because the spiritual guidance given to Charismatics is often so flawed, they live in a constant state of “discernment” about what is and what is not the will of God. “Is God telling me to buy this dog? Or, maybe the Lord is telling me I should get two dogs, or maybe a cat…”

By adopting the errors of Pentecostalism, Charismatics have made themselves the creators of their own spiritual tradition, and are left groping in the darkness of an unknown spiritual world without the wisdom of so many centuries of saints and theologians. It is a desperate place to be in, and it must be utterly exhausting.

Well, there is a solution to this spiritual mania and chaos, and there is a hero from the twentieth century who, I believe, was raised up by God to fight the Phrygian Heresy.