Dear Fr Benard, I enjoy reading your articles and I want you to know that I think what you do is truly amazing. So, I thought I would come to you for help.  A few years ago, my mom was the kind of person who only went to church on Sundays and fell asleep during the sermon. Then last year, she went to a Thanh Linh retreat where people spoke in tongues and everyone would faint and people were crying. It was nothing like I've ever seen before. While I was there, I thought it was very refreshing and I felt closer to God. But then, the day when we got back to our home town, my mom started speaking in tongues (tieng la) and no one would understand her. Every time she walked inside the house, she bowed to the statues and started speaking in tongues. This became constant to where we would have to tell her to speak in Vietnamese to understand her. She then became violent and started yelling at my father and me, commanding us to kneel and pray and to honor Jesus and Mary. She said we should be afraid of the Holy Ghost. This made me very sad, this person, my mother, is not whom I was used to. We eventually had to call an ambulance  because we were scared she was becoming mental. She went to the hospital and nothing was wrong with her. They sedated her, and in a couple of days she became better. Today, she calls that a blessing, and still goes to the retreats  that make people pay $50-$100. She prays for 2 hours at night, and wakes up at 3 in the morning to pray until she goes to work. This scares me, she hasn’t changed back to the way she was. Everything she says refers back to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, or what not. Not that I am not a devoted Catholic, I am. I love Jesus. But sometime I doubt my religion, because why would Jesus let this happen? And at these retreats, are you supposed to faint? So I see my mom and aunt did that, and it was like, they're not for real, are they? Because at Mass they fainted, the priest gave them a weird look, like, what were they doing? So my questions are, is it wrong for me to have doubted my religion? Are these Thanh Linh people actually Catholic, or do they just try to scam people to make money? Is my mom going through a midlife crisis or has she actually changed as a Catholic?  I’m really worried every time they go to another retreat. I never wish to see my mother like that again. I told them this every time before they went and all they told me was "Don't be afraid, you should never be afraid of Jesus".  And now, my mom has become vegan and does not take Vitamins. I try to tell her that  she's not getting the right amount of nutrients and that it could hurt her, especially since she had heart disease. But all she said was "Jesus will take care of me". Does she not care about me and my brothers and sisters and my dad, that she doesn’t even try to live? Please try to help me. This has been stressing me out for a year now. I shouldn’t have to deal with this at my age.  In need of answers, Anonymous   Hello Anonymous, I am sorry that you have to face such a difficulty at your young age. However, you are not alone. There are many young people like you, who have a good common sense, facing parents or family members or friends who are caught up radically in Phong Trao Thanh Linh or the Charismatic Renewal movement. Is it wrong to doubt your religion? Doubt is a warning sign telling you that you don't have enough data to support what you believe to be true, because either your belief is false or you need more knowledge of your faith. It is not wrong to have doubt, but it is wrong to reject the truth. It is our responsibility to seek after the truth when in doubt. The Catholic faith is the true faith. However, there are people who claim to be Catholic but they do not embrace the teaching of the Catholic Church. Those can be on either extremes: liberal and conservative. "Noi tieng la" or speaking in tongue is never endorsed by the teaching of the Catholic Church. St. Paul in the first letter to the Corinthians addressed this problem because it caused scandal and division, just like today, in your family and in many others. St. Paul recognized "speaking in tongue" to be among the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:4-11). However this gift is controversial. The true gift of the Holy Spirit must come from the Holy Spirit himself. "Speaking in tongue" can come from the person himself or herself who fabricates the appearance of gifts without any involvement of the Holy Spirit; or it can come from the devil who loves to deceive people into pride and self-rightousness. Very often fabrication leads to deception by the devil because the devil is the father of deception. How can we tell the difference? In the gospel Jesus said: You can tell the nature of a tree by looking at its fruit. The gifts of the Holy Spirit goes with the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:19-23) You might ask if the Charismatic Renewal movement is not such a good thing for the Church, then why the Church does not stop it? Away from the speaking in tongue and healing stuff, Charismatic Renewal movement has helped to energize Catholics with songs, prayers and evangelization that is to bring God to others. In general it has brought good influence to the Church. The danger lies in radical members of the movement including priests. They do not follow closely the Church's teaching on the sacraments, grace and accurate understanding of the Bible. They led astray many faithful who focus on sentimentalism, the good feeling, not on what the Church teaches. What can you say to your mother? First you have to pray for her. She may be deceived in good faith. Whenever you have a chance, say to her: "I love you. I am worried about you. Please take care of your self for our sake."  God Fr Benard This article was published on Trai Tim Duc Me  May 2009 Issue page 48