Carisma e instituição: relações de poder na Renovação Carismática Católica do Brasil.

Abstract

This study presents an internal analysis of the Catholic Pentecostalism in Brazil, that is, an analysis of its power relations with the Catholic hierarchy and, by extension, with the Theology of Liberation. The main difficulty found in this work was in terms of how revealing and interpreting the intricate universe of power relations existing in the movement. Our findings are based on the assumption that the Charismatic Renewal has developed a kind of subtle autonomy that gave it dynamism and the ability to expand, because of the introduction of non-traditional religious elements as well the development of power mechanisms and practices that oppose to the primacy of the Catholic Church hierarchy. These religious elements are the charismatic gifts that represent a possibility of contact with God without the intermediation of priests. The Charismatic autonomy represents a contestation to the structure of power in the Church. The said autonomy contests both the conservative and the progressive clergy. The Charismatic Renewal has never obtained a hegemonic adhesion of the Brazilian Catholic hierarchy, although it has received, from the beginning, the formal support from the Vatican. The classification of the movement as "neoconservative" is directly related to the Catholicism of the CEBs and is, therefore, an interpretation of researchers that are identified with the so-called progressive wing of the Brazilian Catholic Church. This same view considers charismaticism as a reaction to the protestant Pentecostalism and the Theology of Liberation. Such classification is inadequate and cannot be justified when compared to facts. As for the institutional relationship between the Charismatic Renewal and the National Conference of Bishops in Brazil, it has always been marked by tensions that are directly related to the autonomy of the movement. It took CNBB (National Conference of Bishops in Brazil) more than twenty years to give their formal opinion about RCC (Catholic Charismatic Renewal), because of other priorities concerning the projects of the Progressive Church. When, at last, the Conference of Bishops published the Document 53. critics claimed that the document showed text inconsistency and had a disciplinary approach, basically. This Document clearly reflects the level of power relations existing between the two segments of the church.