Protests as Cardinal Njue bans Charismatic group

A wave of discontent is sweeping the Nairobi Catholic community after John Cardinal Njue suspended the activities of a faith-healing group and ordered it investigated.

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a global movement within the Catholic Church, whose members believe in faith-healing and speak in tongues.

Its supporters say it seeks to foster awareness of the gift of God’s Spirit and to help believers develop “a deeper personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”

According to the Catholic news agency, CISA, Cardinal Njue announced his decision on February 20, during a meeting with 200 officials of the movement from the Nairobi Archdiocese.

The movement had spread to about half of the archdiocese’s 100 parishes. Former Archbishop of Nairobi, Raphael Ndingi mwana ‘a Nzeki had assigned it a chaplain.

Fr. John Muindi, the chaplain, said: “His Eminence said they (members of the movement) should no longer have any public activities.”

Cardinal Njue reportedly told officials of the movement that he was suspending their activities for a short time to investigate it.

Sad situation

When contacted on Tuesday by CISA, the Cardinal’s office said only he could comment and he was out of the office.

A Catholic Charismatic Renewal official described the ban as “a sad situation” and “a one-man decision.” He said members of the movement did not want to disobey the Cardinal but they had become impatient as the ban entered its fourth month.

A long-time member described the ban as “present-day persecution of those who want to worship God differently.”

The movement is thought to have been born out of a retreat at an American Catholic university run by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit in February 1967.

Many of the students at the retreat claimed to have been “baptised in the Holy Spirit.” The movement began to spread and by the 1990s had a membership of over 100 million Catholics worldwide.