Invitation and, though the lh is not mentioned explicitly here nor as a requirement, the

sharing in the Spirit experience was named, and it implicitly carries with it the act of the

LH.

Like the Grand Rapids community, the baptism in the Spirit became viewed and

taught as a more than just an initiatory experience. Ghezzi uses the word to explain the

development of the Ann Arbor community:

As the community matured, it learned that being baptized in the Holy Spirit meant being initiated into a deep union both with God and with other men. It also began to understand that there was much more to Christian initiation than praying for the baptism in the Holy Spirit…What God has done has been to renew the whole process of Christian initiation, so that when people become members of the Ann Arbor community they effectively put their lives in the hands of the living God.²⁵⁹

The sense that this community was becoming something much more than just a group of

people who liked to get together to read the bible, pray together in a certain way, and talk

about their faith lives was far removed at this point. The notion of being formally

accepted into the “core” group was firmly established and standardized. Ghezzi states

258. Ibid., 181.

259. Ibid., 182.

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that they developed what were called “Living Life in the Spirit Seminars,” and these had come to be a series of six one-hour sessions, in use since 1969. On the fourth meeting of the series, “the team prays with laying on of hands for all those in the group who are ready to seek and receive the fullness of the Spirit.”²⁶⁰ The LH was now a fully recognized rite in a self-acknowledged initiation process. Furthermore, the group played a major role in determining when and if an aspirant was “ready” to seek and receive the Spirit. The CCM at this point is clear that it does not give or control the Spirit, but the outright declaration, though always expressed in the language of being led by the Spirit, that the “team” was playing a role in growing the body of Christ meant that the LH, now essentially a pathway, had come to mean much more than the traditional Catholic sacramental had meant in other contexts.

There are many other aspects of these first charismatic communities that invite deeper study, but all of this charismatic community life was understood plainly as a renewal, maturing or growing of the body of Christ.²⁶¹ The role the LH served in the establishment of a distinctly Catholic charismatic culture was not clearly defined by the movement theologically, but its prominence in initiation in some communities made it appear to be mandatory. Years before Suenens would remark about the Spirit as a current,

260. Ibid., 183.

260. The Ann Arbor community developed sub-communities, nine by 1970. They consisted of members of the Monday night prayer group who lived near each other. There were even members who committed to living groups; there were four in 1970. All the sub-communities and living groups prayed together, studied Scripture, encouraged each other in the faith, and engaged in many outward social and evangelistic activities. The living groups focused on even more specific purposes: One group of men, for instance, was engaged mostly in evangelism on campus and around town. Some even developed a type of charism: A living group of men agreed to love each other “radically” by forgiving, exhorting, encouraging, and instructing each other. The Ann Arbor community as a whole was exceptionally active in the charismatic renewal. They did much of the teaching at the annual national conferences and travelled around the country to teach. Ghezzi claims there were “hundreds of sister communities” to the three he was describing, from Canada to Florida. Ibid., 183-86. The Word of God Community is the result of these first charismatic communities and exists today in Ann Arbor doing essentially what the first communities did, and lists five pillars to their vision: ecumenical, charismatic, missionary, Christian, community. See http://thewordofgodcommunity.org/ .

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the LH had already been designated as the flood gates. Where the first Catholic Pentecostals were seeking to share their Spirit experience with others through the LH, the charismatic communities mediated access to a Christian community life and a Spirit experience with the same hands. A hasty indictment of the movement as micromanaging a religious experience overlooks the undeniable visible changes witnessed in people’s lives, indeed transformation in some cases, because they received the LH in a context of prayer and community, surrender and reaching out. The question of the authenticity of the claims made by those baptized in the Spirit is best judged on a case-by-case basis, person to witness. The question of the social status and theological significance of the LH for the community and the movement is what requires deeper introspection.

The status of the LH in community life is inadequately addressed after the first two years, and the treatments given it by O’Connor and the Ranaghans are largely insufficiently answered by the movement given its key role in determining inclusion and standing. The language of initiation is unambiguous. The LH as a social currency meted out demands a justification of its theological resourcefulness. If the LH can be given a theological explanation that maintains its status as a sacramental, but which also carries the heavy weight with which these types of Spirit-led communities came to place on it, the voice of a serious interlocutor must be accessed.

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CHAPTER 4

RENEWAL AND THE SPIRIT:

THE CHARISM OF THE LAYING ON OF HANDS

The ritual and communal nature of the LH as used in the beginning of the CCM indicates an elevated status. The movement steadily maintains that the baptism in the Spirit can be achieved without the LH, but their meetings and even the spontaneous manifestations of charismatic spiritual activity in people is almost always finds someone imposing hands in the moment, in some cases when unsolicited. Their account of it as a sacramental or prayer in action subtly downplays its seemingly central role to their earnest sharing of their faith. The LH as they used it can be explained theologically in respect to a Spirit-centered understanding of the Church as detailed by Heribert Mühlen. For Mühlen, the Church is related to Christ in the Spirit, which may help the CCM develop a theological basis for its ritual of the LH accompanied by prayer.

Heribert Mühlen

“As I looked into the charismatic renewal I was amazed to see many of my theological observations about the Holy Spirit happening in the daily lives of people. I was overjoyed.”²⁶² Mühlen first came to hear about the charismatic renewal from an unnamed Taiwanese priest visiting Germany in January of 1971. The priest told Mühlen,

²⁶² “An Interview with Fr. Heribert Mühlen: Theologian of the Holy Spirit,” New Covenant 4, no. 1 (1974): 3-6.

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that while he had the Holy Spirit in his books, he wanted to talk to Mühlen about what

was going on in the world. After their conversation, the priest “flabbergasted” Mühlen

with a simple request: “Now, let’s pray.” As it was not a common thing for theologians to

pray with people with whom they were having a discussion on theology, according to

Mühlen, he explained how this simple act stirred in him a desire he had felt for 15 years

to help the entire church be more open to the work of the Spirit. But his first direct

contact was with Protestant Pentecostals at a session of the Vatican-Pentecostal dialogues