Do Charismatic Healings Promote the New Evangelization? Part II

ABSTRACT:This article examines Mary Healy’s thesis that charismatic healings are an essential part of evangelization, on the same level as preaching and sacramental ministry. Her proposal lacks a secure biblical basis and entails some mistaken dogmatic presuppositions. She interprets the charism of healing as a stable power bestowed with baptism whereby believers can heal by command, not just by petition and expects miraculous healings to become ordinary in Church life. She mistakenly identifies God’s nature with healing and interprets Jesus’ mission as oriented as much to healing bodies as to saving souls. While the Catholic Charismatic Renewal remains orthodox, one should be aware of tensions between its emphasis on immediate experience of the “Spirit” and the normal sacramental mediation of salvation. An objective apologetics which explains the positive dimension of suffering in Catholicism would be more effective in evangelization.