^ That is one of the huge problems I have had with the charismatic movement -- in the Catholic Church or any other church. Too often they throw out the ritual for all the "feel good" types of things.
Many older Christians (not just Catholics) have a problem with the movement because it always anticipates praying and God answering that prayer word for word. If you aren't getting that answer, you must be praying wrong or aren't "right" with God. If you are sick, it's hard to understand why your prayers aren't be answered and someone else's are getting rich with their prayer.
The emphasis on the spirit and not on anything else throws them off balance much like a drug addict. If they aren't getting their "fix" of the spirit, they usually become disenfranchised and move onto something else. You have to have the spirit but you also have to have depth that carries you through the many other times.
As I said in an earlier post, too many Catholics (at least those that are baptized as infants not those that are properly catechised) have no understanding of the ritual and therefore lack the spirit. They are as off balanced with thinking sitting in a pew will get them to heaven. I had one priest liken it to "you can sit in a garage and wish you were a car all day and all night -- it's not going to happen. Doing the same in church is no different!"
The church I go to balances both very well. Perhaps it is the priest who has a deep and rich understanding (he speaks to the heart and the brain), it may be the relationship to the cardinal and diocese in Washington DC but while worship is lively, it is also beautiful and solemn. The people are friendly and yet very much in awe of what is transpiring.
This is the post I actually came here to respond to, so I've saved it for last.
Somewhere in Michigan I ran into a R. Catholic church that had gone Charismatic. I has a chance to talk to one of the lay leaders, a leader before the Charismatic change, not always happy with it, but still serving.
He told me their priest had said the Charismatics had saved the liturgy. It had gotten dull, dragging instead of lifting, in spite of all the priest could do. But then a couple of the Charismatics started seeing all the elements of the liturgy as what they were: windows on the eternal, each step offering a glimpse into the eternal status of the Christian before God. Over a few months, not only did the Charismatic bunch get excited about it and bring the liturgy alive, they dug into libraries and discovered older parts of the liturgy, and wanted them included. Their enthusiasm caught the whole congregation. Liturgical items that hadn't been used in decades were dragged out, cleaned, repaired, patched, polished..
I saw a Lutheran church where the effect was the same: a deeper appreciation of the liturgy. Where the priest/pastor used to go through the Eucharistic liturgy in a monotone, quickly, thanks to their pressure, and then infectious enthusiasm, he not just chanted but sang it, rich and full of life. Kneelers came back into use, along with incense, processional, and more.
Since Martin Luther has managed to wiggle into this discussion, I'll point out that what those two churches showed is what Luther considered evidence of the true Holy Spirit: not throwing away the past, not turning away from the outward forms, but embracing them and filling them with the meaning they were meant to have.
Now I have to wonder what it would have been like to have attended one of those. Would I have recognized who I was sooner? And... how would the real me have been received?
