Whereas the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Word has been a central theme in Evangelical theology, especially since the rise of the charismatic movement, neither the Holy Spirit nor the Word of God were central themes in post-Reformation Catholic theology prior to the renewal currents of the 20th century.
However, this theological neglect should not be taken as an absence, because first and most importantly, the Holy Spirit and the Word were always more present in the official liturgies of the Catholic Church than they had been in the theology.
The Creed, generally the Nicene Creed, was recited every Sunday and major feast, and the annual feast of Pentecost was always a reminder of the role and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Then though the liturgy of the Western Church was in Latin through the centuries, the neglect of the Word, particularly through the period of the Counter-Reformation, when Catholics at best downplayed everything that the Protestants up-played, never led to its suppression or omission from the celebration of the Eucharist.
Published also in: Ecumenical Trends 39/11 (Dec. 2010), page 9 – 14 |