A New Pentecost? by Léon Joseph Cardinal Suenens (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 325 studies published recently concerning the Thomism of lesser known leaders in Italy during the pontificate of Pius IX, especially in the Lateran periodical Aquinas. There is little need to publish all such documents in extenso. However, many students will be grateful for making them so readily available together with a rather complete bibliography of recent work. The trouble with the "Thomism" of so many of these pioneers is that the authenticity of their Thomism has not been sufficiently analyzed. Even the early appeals of Pius IX to the authority of " Scholastic Doctors " was not specifically, much less exclusively, to the authority of St. Thomas. The prodding of many less studied individuals led to the clarification of the precise role of St. Thomas in Catholic theology and, even more, in philosophy . While few, if any, would wish to see a return to the legislated Thomism of the Modernist "period" (whenever that is supposed to have ended), many would wish to see a more accurate understanding of the authentic teaching of St. Thomas in its historical context together with a faithful analytic appreciation of its lasting significance. What is needed today, even after seven hundred years, is further research, both historical and analytical, into the thought of the Common Doctor of the Church. Nothing less than the truth will make us free: veritas in seipsa fortis est et nulla impugnatione convellitur (Contra Gentiles, IV, c. 10). Nothing less than the highest scholarship, the profoundest meditation, and the noblest apostolic zeal can best serve the needs of the Church in the modern day. This volume and many other contributions to the septicentennial celebration in 1974 not only testify to the vitality of contemporary Thomistic studies, but also open new avenues for renewed research in all areas of concern to the Church. Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies Toronto, Canada JAMES A. WEISHEIPL, 0. P. A New Pentecost? By LEON JosEPH CARDINAL SuENENS. Translated by Francis Martin. A Crossroad Book. New York: The Seabury Press, 1974. Pp. 252. $7.95. Many of us grew up in an era when utterances of the ecclesiastical hierarchy could be expected to deal with issues merely in the perspective of their propositional orthodoxy. Such readers will find Cardinal Suenens's A New Pentecost? a leap, in one easy lesson (if, indeed, they have had no others) into a new day. Presenting an orderly reflection on the role of the Holy Spirit in Christian life, the book reviews the multiform phenomena of charismatic happenings in the Church. The years following Vatican II, 826 BOOK REVIEWS Suenens confesses, have been, in large part, a dark night tempting to despair . Now, he declares, "I can see signs telling me that the winter of the post-Council era is evolving into spring." (p. 216) The witness of the Cardinal is singularly affecting. The institutional mind (not, of course, a monopoly of some hierarchs) has ordinarily thought of the charisms which he describes as in some tension with the Institution. The gossip about local prayer groups, new forms of community, and startling occurrences has been cynical and often censorious. We know the " types.'' We know of the excesses of history. We have doctrinal problems in connection with what is reported. We hear of demands for investigation by the hierarchy. Besides, as phenomena that do not pertain to ecclesiastical structure, even the good things are perhaps less meaningful to the larger community. Suenens admits to having held similar suspicions regarding what others were calling a charismatic movement. From the point of view of his earlier misgivings, the author sets out to forestall objections to the new style of Christian living about which he reports . His apologetic is a basic, loosely organized Pneumatology. The Holy Spirit is the bond of unity or the life-breath of the Church. This oneness is experienced not so much by merely " sociological " Christians as by those who are fully engaged in Christian living. The Acts of the Apostles is like a fifth Gospel, in which the Holy Spirit is seen as the life principle of the early Church. Not all charisms are extraordinary; St. Paul speaks of the charism of teaching (Rom. 12.7; 1 Cor. 12...