Leahy presents the movements as examples of the Church's charismatic dimension, a principle which Pope John Paul II described as 'co-essential' with the hierarchical-institutional dimension.
'The Holy Spirit is sort of the Harry Houdini of divinity, forever busting loose in seemingly impossible ways. In the Catholic Church, the 'new movements' are the most remarkable recent example -- an unplanned and dynamic form of life that's erupted in an age when secularization, scandal, and the weight of history is often a recipe for decline. Fr. Brendan Leahy provides a concise yet theologically profound reading of this great escape act by the Spirit, one that's especially commendable for being neither cynical nor overly romantic.' --John L. Allen Jr., author of The Future Church