The academic historiography of Catholic Charismatic Renewal has not properly taken into account the development of the early organizational structures of the movement and the reaction of the ecclesiastical authorities toward it. Although popular ‘insider’ historical works offer insights, these can be considered as primary sources rather than historiographical material. Also, US historians have paid little attention to the origin of the Catholic charismatic movement, and their research has been focused chiefly on its impact on American Catholic laity. Certainly the development of lay spirituality and lay interaction with social structures in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s forms an essential background to the rise of a charismatic spirituality among Catholics, but a much wider range of factors was involved. The origins of the CCR can be traced to Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA), in 1967, when two Catholics were baptized in the Holy Spirit. The movement soon spread to the University of Notre Dame (South Bend, IN), Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI), and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI). The early institutional forms of the CCR played a key role in defining the initial patterns of its leadership and organization, which eventually influenced the renewal in the rest of the world. The research indeed sheds light on the North American part of the story, recognizing how deep it was this impact in the initial development of the movement. Very soon the CCR spread to Europe. The relationships between North American, European charismatic leaders, and other international leaders showed the importance of the charismatic movement in understanding the transformation of Catholicism over the last few decades around the world. In fact, this phenomenon is part of a wider process of charismatization/pentecostalization of Christianity as a whole. CAT-CAM involved the study of an important Christian religious phenomenon such as the Catholic charismatic that is extremely valuable in better understanding present global changes in terms of religion and faith, and that could have a profound impact on the perception of the European identity.
