• “Instruction on Prayers for Healing” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) – Last section, “The ‘charism of healing’ in the present-day contest,” notes that the New Testament makes no mention of a special class of “healers” (those with a special “charism of healing”), and forbids groups organized to pray for healing from attributing a “charism of healing” to any category of participant.
• “Iuvenescit Ecclesia” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter to Bishops on the Relationship between Hierarchical and Charismatic Gifts, June 14, 2016) – instructs new para-church movements to respect the hierachy, stressing “the decisive task of discernment that appertains to the ecclesial authorities” in assessing the authenticity of charisms, and cautions against cases in which there is a “disordered exercise” of those charisms, also stating (in §6) that healing and tongues are “exceptional gifts” (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, §2003).
• Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, November 21, 1964) – states (in §12), that far from being ordinary expectations of the faithful, exceptional gifts “are not to be sought after rashly” by the faithful, “nor is it from them that the fruits of apostolic labours are to be presumptuously expected.”
• Jane Doe (midwestern seminary professor – identity suppressed), “‘Signs and Wonders’ and the Catholic Charismatic Movement (CCM): An Evaluation” (December, 2017 – to appear)
• S. Michael Houdmann, et al., “Why do so many people seek after signs and wonders?” (GotQuestions.org)
• Thomas J Csordas, The Sacred Self: A Cultural Phenomenology of Charismatic Healing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997) – analyses the healing experience, the mind-body relationship, ritual, demonic possession, religious experience, the rhetoric and semiotics of religious language, psychiatry, and mental and physical illness.
• Thomas J. Csordas, Body/Meaning/Healing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002) – explores the common ground between religion and medicine in phenomena described as “religious healing,” comparing charismatic with Navajo and other ritual healing practices.
• John MacArthur, “God’s Purpose for Miracles (Acts 3:1–11)” (Video, Grace to You, August 21, 2014) – Despite cessationist assumptions, raises many very important questions for the evaluation of contemporary claims of healing.*
• John MacArthur, “Does God Promise Health and Wealth?” (Video, December 21, 2015).
• John MacArthur, “Miracles, Healing, and Tongues – part 1” (Video, JohnMacarthurchannel, November 14, 2008).
• Philip Blosser (professor of philosophy at Sacred Heart Major Seminary), “Questions Concerning the Charism of Healing: An Amicus Brief” (Homiletic and Pastoral Review, November 14, 2018), review of Healing: Bringing the Gift of God’s Mercy to the World (Our Sunday Visitor, 2015), by Mary Healy (professor of theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary).
• Edward Pentin, “How an Amazon Pagan Rite Brought 48 Years of Demonic Torment, Until Christ Freed Me,” National Catholic Register (October 18, 2019).
• Benjamin B. Warfield, Counterfeit Miracles (New York, C. Scribner’s, 1918; Grand Rapids, MI: Banner of Truth, 1972) – Cessationist classic with chapters on the “Cessation of the Charismata,” “Patristic & Medieval Marvels,” “Catholic Miracles,” “Irvingite Gifts,” “Faith-Healing,” and “Mind-Cure.” Catholics will rightly reject Warfield’s cessationism and overly skeptical account of post-apostolic miracles, but his treatment of Edward Irving (1792–1834) & Irvingite non-linguistic ‘tongues’ and ‘faith-healings’ is a welcome caution against gullibility in the face of seductive (and potentially diabolical) supernatural claims abroad in contemporary movements.*

* Reader discretion advised: The linked articles above have been selected because of positive insights they contain. Some of them, however, contain various material that certain viewers may find offensive. Some are by traditional Catholics whose perspective on certain issues may offend other Catholics. Others are by Protestants whose erroneous characterizations of Catholic practices may offend many Catholics, and whose ‘Cessationist’ belief that miraculous gifts ceased after the apostolic age will be found objectionable by most Catholics. The inclusion of perspectives of these authors on the charismatic movement should not be construed as support for all their views on other matters. Still other books are by non-academic authors whose focus on personal experiences and speculations may be off-putting to certain readers, just as others are by academic writers whose detached, clinical approaches may be off-putting to other readers. Yet all contain insights worthy of thoughtful consideration. Please consider with due discretion.