The movements grow

There are 38,000 churches in England and Wales: of the 1000 new churches built over the last seven years, half belong to the pentecostal and half to the charismatic movement. That’s what emerges from a research survey conducted by “Christian Research”, according to which the more traditional denominations, Methodism and the Church of England, are declining, in contrast to these more recent movements born in the early 20th century. And Catholic churches? They are established wherever a strong movement of immigration from Poland, Croatia and the Philippines is registered. We asked Monsignor ANDREW FALEY , assistant general secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, with responsibility for ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, to comment on the “Christian Research” survey. What relations are there between the Catholic Church and the pentecostal movement in England? “I think that the pentecostal and charismatic movements can contribute a lot to the Catholic Church. It’s a pity there’s no channel of official dialogue with this denomination like the one the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity has begun with the Church of England, through the ARCIC Commission, or with the Orthodox Churches and United Reformed Churches. The greatest difficulty of dialogue with the pentecostals is having a single interlocutor in a movement divided into many minor churches”. What are the essential differences from the Catholic Church and what are the problems that most cause you concern? “The Catholic Church finds itself in difficulty when the work of evangelization of these movements becomes too invasive, when they make offers of money or jobs to people as incentives to join the pentecostal movement. The pentecostal spirituality is different from that of the Catholic Church: it places greater emphasis on the individual relation of the believer with God and attaches lesser important to the community than does the Catholic tradition”. The Catholic Church in Europe cannot fail to welcome the new Catholic churches of immigrant communities. But, from your experience, have you discerned some possible risks in this new “trend”? “Some immigrant communities that arrive here in England together with their priests have difficulty in making reference to the Catholic bishop of the area in which they are resident and tend to give rise to a self-sufficient community, independent of the diocese. But the authority of the local bishop over every new Catholic community, and over the liturgy it uses, is of crucial importance. In some isolated zones of north-eastern England, where it’s difficult to find a Catholic church, the immigrants seek contacts instead with the Anglican denomination. This Church, to which some 90% of the English population belongs, has blanket coverage over the territory. I think this is a concrete example of ecumenism which we welcome”. Rowan Williams to visit the Pope in the autumn The archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams will visit Benedict XVI in the autumn. “My visit [to the Vatican] is an opportunity to continue that rich tradition of visits between Canterbury and Rome, to reflect on the achievements of the last 40 years and on the future of those relations”, declared the archbishop in a statement issued in London. The occasion for the audience in the Vatican is represented by the 40th anniversary of the “historic” meeting between Archbishop Michael Ramsey and Paul VI in the Vatican in 1966. That meeting was sealed by a joint Declaration, added Williams, in which Rome and Canterbury expressed their intent to engage in “a serious dialogue which, founded on the Gospel and on the ancient common traditions, may lead to that unity in truth for which Christ prayed”.