Criticism
There has been criticism of various aspects of the People of Praise. Some of this criticism asserts that the group has tended to focus its energy on the strength of its leaders and the weaknesses of its non-leaders. Dr. Adrian Reimers, currently a professor of philosophy at Notre Dame and a charter member who left the group in 1985, has criticized the group on a number of different levels. Dr. Reimers states that the People of Praise has set up a parallel structure to the Catholic Church by its claim that (among other things) its leaders ("Coordinators") exercised divine authority to which members should submit their spiritual and moral lives. Dr. Reimers also claims that in the People of Praise, "a heightened fear of the devil or evil spirits can be used to (a) put pressure on wavering members to stay in the group, (b) elevate the importance of the group and its leaders, and (c) enhance the leaders' control of the membership by reinforcing the notion that Satan can even work through good people and only the leaders can discern his designs, and (d) undermine members' confidence in their own judgement, especially about spiritual development." Dr. Reimers alleges that these characteristics have caused much psychological distress and has spiritually misled current and former members.
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—Richard Holt Hutton (1826–1897)
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