Today, we delved right back into getting to know the Catholic church. This has been really helpful for me, especially since I have been reading Karkkainens book for this class, An Introduction to Ecclesiology. I am getting reinforcement on ideas and beliefs of churches from both settings. Today, I was interested specifically in how much the Catholic church has grown in Central and South America. It is interesting to see how things have grown, especially since Vatican II in reference to how the Catholic church is actually becoming much more charismatic. The Catholic church seems to be a bit threatened by the growth of the Pentecostalism movements within South America, and so they are working on reforming a good portion of their theology to make it match the growth of Pentecostalism. Should that be the case? Should we loose what defines us to make us more likeable? Is the spirit moving in that transition?
When we were in Brazil, we heard a lot about the Catholic Church’s hostility towards the Pentecostal (and evangelical) church. We were told they are very threatened by their growth and “stealing sheep”. There were acts of refusal for permits for Christian broadcasting, church building permits, and even sabotage.