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from the Catholic groups. These groups are relatively new, and their emphasis is similar to the traditional Pentecostals, and they call themselves \u2018Neo-Pentecostals\u2019 (1982:151- 152).\u000AHistorically Latin American Protestantism broke all ties with the Catholic Church. In Central America this severing was very strongly delineated from both sides. This is only a separation in terms of beliefs and religious practices, as both Protestants and Catholics live together in every other area of the secular day-to-day life. Smith notes that in Guatemala in the 1970s a good number of Charismatics as groups left the Catholic Church (cited in Silva 1996:74). They went to some Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal churches.15 Cant\u00F3n says that \u2018given the Pentecostal surge that has occurred in Guatemala, these Charismatic Catholics \u201Cpentecostalize\u201D on occasions to the point that they end up abandoning Catholicism and convert to some Pentecostal church, which they find more akin to their thinking\u2019 (1998: 103). The Charismatic Movement is getting stronger in the Catholic Church as well in the 2000s. Some Charismatics groups combine beliefs and praxis of NPCs with key Catholic beliefs such as devotion to the Virgin Mary. Other groups are giving more importance to bible study, the person of Jesus Christ and the presence and gifts of the Holy Spirit.\u000AThe Jesuit Benda\u00F1a recognizes the Charismatic movement within the Catholic Church, and criticizes some features that he says do not adjust to Catholicism (2001: 218- 221). Gifford in his study of Pentecostalism in Ghana prefers to call them Charismatics because he affirms that they are not a part of the traditional Pentecostal denominations (2004: vii, 23). In the present study they are called Neo-Pentecostals because the pastors affirm this and because the word \u2018Charismatic\u2019 is associated with the Catholics in Guatemala. When there is a discussion outside of Guatemalan NEOP both terms will be used in this thesis.\u000A15 Denis Smith notes that \u2018By 1976 a group of important Catholic professionals of the Guatemalan society had expressed their inconformity with the Catholic Church and began exploring for other alternatives\u2019(cited in Silva. c, 1996:74). Although Smith does not specify these \u2018other alternatives\u2019 it is possible to identify them with Pentecostals and some Neo-Pentecostal churches.\u000A 27\u000A