ECCLESIAL MOVEMENTS
AND COMMUNITIES
Origins, Significance and Issues
Brendan Leahy
The birth, development,
and importance of the ecclesial movements
PAPERBACK; 200 PAGES; 2011
ISBN: 978-1-56548-396-5
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About this Book
People on the lookout for the trends in the Catholic Church will be very happy
to discover Brendan Leahy’s Ecclesial Movements and Communities. The
birth and development of the ecclesial movements has been a topic of much
discussion over the past 50 years. Leahy presents the movements as examples
of the Church’s charismatic dimension, a principle which Pope John Paul
II described as ‘co-essential’ with the hierarchical-institutional
dimension. His overview of their rise and development captures the unique
qualities of Charismatic Renewal, Communion and Liberation, Cursillo, Focolare,
L’Arche, Legion of Mary, the Neocatechumenal Way, Regnum Christi, Sant’Egidio,
and others.
Leahy offers
an insightful overview of the rise and spread of the movements and describes
several ways of seeing what it is that makes them ‘co-essential’
in the Church. Capturing the ecclesial maturity that exists in many of the
movements today, he addresses many specific questions, like:
• how the movements express and/or renew charisms
• how the movements fit in the context of Apostolic Succession (including
the role of priests)
• movements and the parish
• canonical challenges
Some Reviews:
The Holy Spirit is sort of the Harry Houdini of divinity, forever busting
loose in seemingly impossible ways. In the Catholic Church, the “new
movements” are the most remarkable recent example – an unplanned
and dynamic form of life that’s erupted in an age when secularization,
scandal, and the weight of history is often a recipe for decline. Fr. Brendan
Leahy provides a concise yet theologically profound reading of this great
escape act by the Spirit, one that’s especially commendable for being
neither cynical nor overly romantic.
John L. Allen Jr.
Senior Correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and author of The
Future Church (Doubleday, 2009)
This is a well
researched and written examination of bodies within the Church which are regarded
by many with suspicion - often based on ignorance.
GoodBookStall review
This publication
by Brendan Leahy is an excellent introduction to the rise and functioning
of these new communities, particularly in the Catholic Church. The work does
not provide any detailed treatment of any one community, but rather offers
a more global and general overview of the phenomenon, from both a practical
and theological standpoint … The work is the result of serious research,
thoroughly understood and presented with clarity. The new ecclesial communities
are viewed from many perspectives – theological, historical and pastoral
– and a crisp articulation is provided of their place in the Church
at the present time. [It also has] a fine bibliography and extensive index.
Anthony Draper
All Hallows College, Dublin in The Furrow
This modest book
is clear, helpful, and informative, offering a useful survey of the rise of
a variety of new ecclesial movements … Part One traces their development
since the second half of the last century, both in relation to Vatican II,
and particularly in the past twenty-five years. Part Two relates them to the
Council’s injunctions, to its rediscovery of charisms in the church,
to the Papacy itself, to evangelization, and to Mary the mother of Jesus.
It becomes very clear then, on what basis Rome endorses or criticizes the
movements … Part Three raises further controversial questions. Leahy
deals with a range of objections in a brief and reasoned fashion … The
book concludes with a helpful bibliography which includes a lot of articles
otherwise rather difficult to find. This is a good reference book and helpful
for anyone attempting to understand the purpose and thrust of Pope Benedict’s
‘New Evangelization’.
Anthony J. Gittins, CSSp in Catholic Library World
The value of
Brendan Leahy’s Ecclesial Movements and Communities is that it surveys
the major theological and ecclesiological questions raised by the movements
without getting lost in the fog of their idiosyncrasies … Leahy doesn’t
begin by presuming the movements are in need of justification or defense.
Instead, his point of departure is the firm belief that they represent the
latest instance of Catholicism’s capacity to generate new life just
when the Church appears to be running out of gas … Ecclesial Movements
and Communities hits the ‘reset button’ on perceptions. Leahy
does not take his cues on the movements from pop culture, the tribal politics
of our time, or the complaints of embittered ex-members. Instead, he applies
the frame of Catholic teaching and tradition, and in that light he sees the
movements not primarily as a puzzle needing to be solved, but rather as a
gift to be welcomed. That shift in perspective does not answer all the questions
one might ask, but it does seem like the basis of eventually getting the answers
right
John Allen, Jr. in First Things
About the author
Brendan Leahy
Brendan Leahy is Bishop of Limerick, Ireland. Formerly professor of Systematic
Theology at the Pontifical University of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth,
he is a von Balthasar scholar and an ecumenist and has authored articles and
books on interreligious dialogue, issues facing the Church in the 21st century,
the life and teachings of Pope John Paul II, renewal in the Church, charisms,
and the priesthood.
Brendan Leahy delivers the homily at Carlow Cathedral to open the Year of
Faith (Oct 2012)
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