Kiko Argüello and the Neocatechumenal Way: defenders of the family - but at what cost to Catholic doctrine?

{For the background to this post see our article: Rome's immense pro-family rally - a victory for marriage and for children in the face of secular and Bishops' hostility}

Kiko’s sombrero casts its shade on the demonstration in Rome of June 20th

 Corrispondenza Romana,
Roberto de Mattei

June 22nd 2015

The success of the demonstration against the ideology of Gender, on June 20th in Rome, was such that it almost overshadowed the echo of the media on Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si, presented two days before in the Vatican.  The two events, which coincided, gave the opportunity to the sociologist Marco Marzano, of the university of Bergamo, to address “the challenge between two churches” : the first: applauded the Pope’s encyclical dedicated to social and ecological issues with a massive standing ovation; the second: took to the squares in Rome, to defend the traditional family  and  to reject equality between genders and any concession to the rights of homosexual couples”. (“Il Fatto Quotidiano” June 21st 2015).

The hysterical mafia

Italian daily La Repubblica published a report of further leaks of confidential documents of His Holiness sent to the paper - this time, three documents, one a letter sent by Card. Burke on the approval of the Neocatechumenal liturgy, and two personal notes signed by the Pope's private secretary, Mons. Gänswein. This time, the leaks were sent with a strange threatening cover letter (see our note below). 

The following is the main excerpt of the article:

Is there a way of putting "The Way" back into the box?

The field of liturgical experimentation has not ceased to amaze faithful Catholics since the days of the fateful Council, but few have been as bold, as consistent and as resilient as those novelties promoted by the Neocatechumenal Way.

Earlier this year, as it is well remembered, the Holy See granted approval to certain symbolic events that mark the various "steps" in the "path" presented by that movement as (as its name indicates) a new sort of catechumenate. At the time, we made quite clear that, regardless of what the curial document said, the approval would be understood by the Church at large, and by the Neocatechumenal Way in particular, as a wholesale allowance of all its bizarre liturgical practices.

Kiko Argüello, the founder of the movement, made his opinion quite clear at the time, and also recently in his yearly Lent Announcement:

“This year, with great surprise, following the approval of the Catechetical Directory, also the celebrations were approved."

As a former member of the "Way" says in a letter to Messa in Latino published today, Argüello clearly does not distinguish between the non-liturgical and the liturgical ceremonies; for the "Way", the Vatican seal of approval covered it all. This is, of course, what we had said at the time (Jan. 20, 2012 - The New Liturgical Way) and what Argüello himself said three days later (Jan. 23, 2012).

As another sign that the "Way" and its leaders consider their liturgical rites fully approved is the report by Sandro Magister, also published today, that Pope Benedict XVI wants their liturgical mess sorted out because he was also a victim of those who push for the Way inside the Vatican halls, particularly its strongest Spanish supporter(s). This would not have happened if some decision makers in the Apostolic Palace had been reading Rorate in the weeks and days prior to the great meeting with the Kikos, on Jan. 20...

What had happened was that the pontifical council for the laity headed by Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko had prepared the text for a degree of blanket approval of all the liturgical and extra-liturgical celebrations of the Neocatechumenal Way, to be made public the January 20 on the occasion of a meeting scheduled between the pope and the Way.

The decree was redacted according to the guidelines of the congregation for divine worship, headed by Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera. The founders and leaders of the Way, Francisco "Kiko" Argüello and Carmen Hernández, were told about it and joyfully told their followers about the imminent approval.

All unbeknownst to the pope.

Benedict XVI found out about the text of the decree a few days before the meeting on January 20.

He found it illogical and mistaken. He ordered that it be scrapped and rewritten according to his guidelines.

In fact, the decree that was made public on January 20 limited itself to approving the extra-liturgical ceremonies that mark the catechetical stages of the Way.

In his speech, the pope stressed that only these had been authorized. While with regard to the Mass, he gave the Neocatechumenals a genuine lecture – almost an ultimatum – on how to celebrate it in full fidelity to the liturgical norms and in practical communion with the Church.

During those same days, Benedict XVI received in audience the archbishop of Berlin, Rainer Maria Woelki, a trusted confrere whom he would soon make a cardinal. Among other things, Woelki talked to him about the difficulties that the Neocatechumenals were creating in his diocese with their separate Masses on Saturday evening, officiated by about thirty member priests.

The pope asked Woelki to give him a survey of the matter in writing. On January 31, Woelki sent him a letter with more detailed information.

A few days later, on February 11, the pope forwarded a copy of this letter to the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, together with a request to examine as soon as possible this question that "concerns not only the archdiocese of Berlin."

The examining commission headed by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith would have to include, according to the pope's guidelines, two other Vatican dicasteries: the congregation for divine worship and the discipline of the sacraments, and the pontifical council for the laity.

And so it was. On March 26, in the Palazzo del Sant'Uffizio, under the presidency of the secretary of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, a Jesuit, a meeting for an initial examination of the question was held with the secretaries of the other two dicasteries – for divine worship Archbishop Augustine J. Di Noia, a Dominican, and for the laity Bishop Josef Clemens – and with four experts designated by them. An absent fifth expert, Dom Cassiano Folsom, prior of the monastery of Saint Benedict in Norcia, sent his assessment in writing.

All of the judgments expressed were critical of the Masses of the Neocatechumenals. Also very severe was the one that the congregation for the doctrine of the faith had asked, before the meeting, of the theologian and newly created cardinal Karl J. Becker, Jesuit, professor emeritus at the Pontifical Gregorian University and an adviser to the dicastery.

The dossier provided for the meeting by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith included the pope's letter of February 11, Cardinal Woelki's letter to the pope in the original German and in English, the assessment of Cardinal Becker, and a guide for the discussion that explicitly brought into question the conformity to the liturgical teaching and practice of the Catholic Church of article 13 § 2 of the statutes of the Neocatechumenals, the one in which they justify their separate Masses on Saturday evening.

In reality, the danger feared by Benedict XVI and by many bishops – as demonstrated by the many complaints that have been made to the Vatican – is that the particular ways in which the Neocatechumenal communities all over the world celebrate their Masses may introduce into the Latin liturgy a new de facto "rite" artificially composed by the founders of the Way, foreign to the liturgical tradition, full of doctrinal ambiguities and a source of division in the community of the faithful.

To the commission he had set up, the pope entrusted the task of verifying the validity of these fears. In view of decisions to be made.

The judgments elaborated by the commission will be examined in an upcoming plenary meeting of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, on a Wednesday – a "feria quarta" – in the second half of April.

Are the traditional Eastern liturgies an obstacle to the "New Evangelization"?

Earlier this week, Zenit published an interview with a young Italian priest trained by the Neocatechumenal Way and now incardinated in the Coptic Catholic Church in Egypt. (A PRIEST IN EGYPT -  Father Orazio Patrone Gives an Outsider's View of Christian Life.) Reproduced below are his comments regarding the Coptic liturgy and penitential tradition, comments that echo many of the perjorative statements routinely made by liturgical progressivists against the Traditional Roman liturgy, and significant in the light of the Neocatechumenal Way's growing influence and involvement in the Eastern Catholic Churches. 

In connection with this, our readers might remember that the Patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church in Egypt, Antonios Cardinal Naguib, was the relator for the 2010 Synod of Bishops on the Middle East, which called for a major reform of the Eastern liturgies (see this as well). Emphases mine.

ZENIT: How are intense times, such as Lent and Easter, lived?  

Father Patrone: The season of Lent is lived very intensely, with strict fasting, lived devotionally more than as an occasion of preparation for Easter. Perhaps this is dictated also by the strong influence of the Muslim month of Ramadan. As well, the sacrificial aspect of Good Friday is stressed more than the fundamental importance of the Easter Resurrection. In fact, the funeral of the Lord is celebrated with a very long liturgy as was the custom of the pre-conciliar Latin Churches. Its importance is seen in the fact that participation in worship on Good Friday is almost double that of what it is on Easter Sunday.  

ZENIT: What do you intend to do for the Year of Faith and the New Evangelization?  

Father Patrone: The Church in Egypt is very tied to her traditions, especially those in the liturgy, and has difficulty in entering the dynamism of the New Evangelization desired by Vatican II. On the other hand, there are attempts and openings especially by the Catholic side, which is attentive to and relatively involved in what happens in the West. This is demonstrated, among other things, by the opening, though slow, to charisms that emerged after the Council. In parishes there are now groups such as the Focolares and the Neo-Catechumenal Way, and other movements born in Egypt with the intention of a renewal in the sense of a New Evangelization.

There is scarcely any clear reference here (and in the rest of the article) to the fact that the Coptic Christian people have given a magnificent witness of suffering and martyrdom at the hands of Muslims for nearly 1,400 years, a feat that could scarcely have been possible without that people's demanding liturgical tradition and its long fasts. (One reference each to "sporadic" persecution and to "social" discrimination, and a couple of references to "fundamentalism", simply don't cut it.)

Egypt is also home to Byzantine and Armenian-Rite communities. 

From his own mouth: how the founder of the Neocatechumenal Way interpreted the January 20 "approval"

Exactly as our blog predicted a few days ago: the NCW will interpret the January 20 decree of the Pontifical Council of the Laity regarding their catechetical celebrations as a blanket approval of their doctrinal teachings and liturgical practices. (See Neocatechumenal Rite approved? Let's call it the New Liturgical Way.)

By the way, our East Asian and Eastern Orthodox readers might be interested in what Kiko Argüello says near the end of the interview. 

Emphases mine. 

From Zenit:

FOUNDER'S THANKSGIVING 

Kiko Argüello Shares Impressions of Papal Audience 

By Salvatore Cernuzio  

ROME, JAN. 20, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Joy is still sparkling in Kiko Argüello's eyes a few moments after the Neocatechumenal Way founder leaves this morning's audience with Benedict XVI. With good reason: After a decade and a half of study, the Vatican announced today that the celebrations used by the Way along the journey of Christian initiation have the Church's approval. After speaking with Argüello shortly before the audience, ZENIT caught up with him again right afterward.  

ZENIT: Kiko, let's start with a simple question: how did the meeting this morning go?  

Argüello: Fantastic! It was really wonderful that the celebrations that mark all the stages of Christian gestation that the Way has created, have been confirmed. We were waiting for this moment, and finally the Church has confirmed the Neocatechumenal Way as a Christian initiation, in its doctrine, liturgy and its stages. (In the original Italian: Aspettavamo questo momento, e finalmente la Chiesa ha confermato il Cammino Neocatecumenale come iniziazione cristiana, nella sua dottrina, nelle liturgie e nelle tappe -- Augustinus) What is important, above all, is the fact that the Pope has reiterated that the communities can celebrate the Sunday Mass as a community. It is a sociological fact of immense importance, which means that the small community is the salvation for the New Evangelization. The Eucharist, in fact, creates and forms the Christian community, it makes it stable, unites it. 

ZENIT: And with regard to the missio ad gentes (the family groups sent on mission by the Pope)? 

Argüello: The missio ad gentes is also a small community in the midst of persons who are completely pagan or far away from the Church. What we see is that these people are attracted to the "small community" represented by the mission families; they are surprised by the love they show to others and among one another. They agree to be catechized in their homes and become, thus, a small community themselves. 

ZENIT: What richness does all this bring to the Church? 

Argüello: We can say that we are writing a new page in history: the new evangelization, in the midst of an epochal crisis affecting all of society, called secularization. A lot of people, we don't know why, "harass" the churches; in some countries, especially European ones, they have arrived at the point of selling or closing them. For this reason, I am happy and surprised when, with these missions ad gentes, in fact, there are people who say "thank you, because otherwise I'd never have entered a church" or give thanks for the "the love and acceptance" they breathe in the houses of these brothers who welcome them. In fact, there are many people who come to catechesis, and who don't want to go away: eleven o'clock at night and they still haven't left. This happens because the people in our society feel very lonely ... 

ZENIT: By now it's been 40 years that the Neocatechumenal Way has continued to bear fruit; just think of the large number of vocations. What do you think of these gifts that the Lord is giving the Way and above all to the Church? 

Argüello: What do I think? ... that the Lord is very good to us. I really thank God, because although we had and we have many difficulties and sufferings, he has has never abandoned us, but always supported and sustained us. The meeting today is a testimony of that. 

ZENIT: In what direction is the Way moving now? 

Argüello: Toward the start-up of a new evangelization all over the world. We are looking toward new horizons; for example, even the Orthodox Church has lately shown interest in our journey of faith. Above all, I believe, however, that we must prepare for China, Vietnam, throughout Asia in short, and in fact we have several families ready to go on mission into the Eastern part of the world.

ZENIT: And besides that, five new seminaries have been created to prepare young people to leave for China? 

Argüello: Exactly! We asked for 20,000 young people who feel called to become priests and evangelize in China, and 5,000 stood up. 

Now these boys will be screened, trained, we have to see who will complete their studies and so on. In short, China, Asia! 

ZENIT: Finally, Kiko, is there anything you would like to say to all those who are part of the Neocatechumenal Way, but also to all Christians? 

Argüello: Yes, I want to express a simple wish for them: to find Christ and find, therefore, the true life that leads to eternal life. I hope that all can really meet with Jesus Christ, because he gives you his nature and his eternal life and changes your existence completely, he helps you and prepares you. [Translation by Peter Waymel]

Neocatechumenal Rite approved? Let us call it the New Liturgical Way

Pope Benedict XVI, in his meeting this morning with thousands of members of the Neocatechumenal Way, made public the decree of approval of the liturgical particularities of that group:

A moment ago, the Decree was read with the approval of the celebrations present in the "Catechetical Directory of the Neocatechumenal Way", which are not strictly liturgical, but are part of the itinerary of growth in the faith. It is another element that shows to you how the Church follows you with attention in a pacient discernment, that she understands your richness, but also takes care for communion and harmony in the whole Corpus Ecclesiae.

The Pope then made references to his views on the liturgy as part of the life of the Church:

The celebration in the small communities, regulated by the Liturgical Books, that are to be followed faithfully, and with the specificities approved in the Statutes of the Way, has the goal of helping those who walk on the neocatechumenal itinerary realize the grace of being inserted in the salvific mystery of Christ, who makes possible a Christian testimony capable of also assuming signs of radicalness.

 A "Third Form" of the Roman Rite?

[Update 1400 GMT] The Vatican Information Service [VIS] has the main text of the approval decree:

APPROVAL FOR CELEBRATIONS OF NEO-CATECHUMENAL WAY

VATICAN CITY, 20 JAN 2012 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council for the Laity today published a decree approving the celebrations contained in the Catechetical Directory of the Neo-Catechumenal Way. The decree is dated 8 January, Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and bears the signatures of Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko and Bishop Josef Clemens, respectively president and secretary of the council.

The text published today reads: "By a decree of 11 May 2008 the Pontifical Council for the Laity gave definitive approval to the Statutes of the Neo-Catechumenal Way. Subsequently, following due consultation with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, by a decree of 26 December 2010, the council gave approval to the publication of the Catechetical Directory as a valid and binding instrument for the catechesis of the Neo-Catechumenal Way.

"Now, pursuant to articles 131 and 133 paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Apostolic Constitution 'Pastor Bonus' on the Roman Curia, the Pontifical Council forthe Laity, having received the 'nulla osta' of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, grants approval to those celebrations contained in the Catechetical Directory of the Neo-Catechumenal Way which are not, by their nature, already regulated by the liturgical books of the Church".

Editorial Note [1500 GMT]: Some have wished to say that it is not exactly an approval, that it is not an actual liturgical rite, that only the several "phases" or "steps" of the "Way" itself have been approved - which is true, even though the Holy Father himself also mentions the "specificities" of the liturgical rites when in "small groups", with papal praise and confirmation of the full 2008 approval of the liturgical practices foreseen in the Statutes. Fine, let us not call it a new liturgical rite, then - but only a "New Liturgical Way"...

What we think, what we consider right, even what is in mere speeches... all this is irrelevant: as in all post-Conciliar radical experiments, they merely wanted a seal of approval, even if the approval is not, in law, complete and wide; and, with this seal of approval, first in 2008, now supremely approved in all details in 2012, everything is possible for the Way. The Neocatechumenal Way is at last out of the box; who will put them back inside?

Bugnini and the Neocatechumenal Way

Will the show go on? And this time, with Vatican 'approval'?

Sandro Magister's latest column ("'Placet' or 'Non placet?' The wager of Carmen and Kiko") has the following regarding the links between this group and Annibale Bugnini:

In the liturgical field, more than Kiko, it has been the co-founder Carmen Hernández who has shaped the Neocatechumenal "rite." 

During the years of Vatican Council II and immediately afterward, when he (sic) still wore the religious habit of the Misioneras de Cristo Jesús and was studying to obtain his (sic) degree in theology, Carmen became an enthusiast of liturgical renewal. His (sic) teachers and inspiration were the liturgist Pedro Farnés Scherer in Spain and Fr. Luigi della Torre in Rome, also a prominent liturgist, pastor of the Church of the Nativity on Via Gallia, which was one of the movement's first locations in Rome, and Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, at the time the powerful secretary of the Vatican congregation for divine worship and the main architect of the postconciliar liturgical reform. 

It was precisely Bugnini, at the beginning of the 1970's, who congratulated himself over the way in which the first communities founded by Kiko and Carmen celebrated the Mass. He wrote about it in "Notitiæ," the official magazine of the congregation for divine worship. And it was again him, together with the co-founders, who decided to call the newborn movement "Neocatechumenal Way." 

From visiting with these liturgists and from loosely reworking their ideas, Kiko and Carmen drew their own personal conception of the Catholic liturgy, which they put into practice in the Masses of their communities.

Let us pray.

[New Catholic: See our last post on the date of approval. It is considered certain that it will take place when the Pope meets the Way on Jan. 20.]

How the Neocatechumenal Way defended their liturgy in 2004

Ultima Cena [The Last Supper], a painting by Kiko Argüello, founder of the Neocatechumenal Way

(For further reading: the 2006 Rorate article on the Neocatechumenate's defiant response to papal commands to drop most of their liturgical peculiarities.)

Towards the end of 2004, a priest of the Neocatechumenal Way, Don Piergiovanni Devoto, published a book entitled: "The Neocatechumenate: A Christian Initiation for Adults". It was printed by the Chirico publishing house in Naples and utilized then-unpublished texts by the Neocatechumenal Way's founders (Francisco "Kiko" Argüello and Carmen Hernández). Sandro Magister, in a column published on January 24, 2005 has the following description of, and excerpts from, the book (emphases mine):

Reform of the Reform: is the Kiko Rite approval coming up?

[Image: the Holy Father receives the leaders of the Way, Kiko Argüello, Carmen Hernández - in privilegio delle sweats-, and Fr.Mario Pezzi - Nov. 13, 2010]

All signs seem to indicate that the curious (this is a generous word) liturgical peculiarities (including some specific rites) of the Neocatechumenal Way have received thumbs-up from the pertinent Roman dicasteries, and that the leaders of the "Kikos" will be received by His Holiness on January 20, 2012, for the special approval of all their rites. [Rumor also confirmed by Spanish blogger Francisco de la Cigoña.]

It's wartime.Archbishop of Tokyo: "It is necessary for the Wayto suspend its activities in Japan"

A message from the Archbishop of Tokyo regarding the Neocatechumenal Way (Feb. 2, 2011):

The Neocatechumenal Way in Japan

By Archbishop Peter Takeo Okada of Tokyo

Over about the past 20 years, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan (CBCJ) has expended great time and energy on problems concerning the Neocatechumenal Way (which I refer to hereafter as simply ‘the Way’). To our extreme disappointment, these efforts have not improved the situation.

Of the passion and good intentions of the people of the Way, I have not the slightest doubt. Nevertheless, the Way’s activities over the past 30 years can in no way be called a success. The fact is that the character and conduct of the Way have not adapted well to the Church or society of Japan.

It is perhaps necessary for the Way in Japan to suspend its activities for a period of consideration and reflection which could pave the way for dialog with the Church in Japan.

Japanese bishop maintains suspension of NCW activities in his diocese

UCAN has published the text of a pastoral letter published on January 20, 2011 by Msgr. Osamu Mizobe SDB, Bishop of Takamatsu, Japan, in which he declares that the activities of the NCW will remain suspended in his diocese. Said diocese is the smallest in Japan (with 5,000 faithful) as well as the home of the NCW's Japanese seminary.

In his letter, Msgr. Mizobe supplies some interesting details of the talks between the Curia and the Japanese bishops regarding the NCW, and asserts that pending the arrival of a special envoy from the Vatican (the second since 2003), the Holy See has agreed to allow the individual bishops to act towards the NCW as they see fit. He also refers to the following actions taken by various bishops towards the NCW in the years past: the suspension of the NCW in the Diocese of Clifton (in 1997), the letter written to the NCW by the Catholic bishops of the Holy Land in 2007, and last year's imposition of a moratorium (not just an inspection, as Msgr. Mizobe says) on NCW catechesis in the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan in the Philippines.

Sandro Magister's latest article on the Neocatechumenal Way

Sandro Magister has discussed the NCW in several articles on Chiesa (scroll down this webpage to see these articles), the latest of which is In Japan, Kiko's Way Doesn't Fly. In addition to describing the confrontation between the Japanese hierarchy and The Way and the Vatican's intervention on behalf of the latter, Magister's latest article also touches on the continuing doctrinal and liturgical concerns with the NCW:

Benedict XVI: Neocatechumenal Way is "a particular gift aroused by the Holy Spirit"

Emphases mine. By the way, I don't think any bishop will dare ban the NCW from his diocese after this speech. CAP.

From ZENIT:

Benedict XVI's Address to Neocatechumenal Way

"Feel Beside You the Living Presence of the Risen Lord"

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 17, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered today in Italian upon receiving in audience members of the Neocatechumenal Way.

* * *

Dear Friends!

I am happy to receive you and to give you my cordial welcome. I greet in particular Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernández, initiators of the Neocatechumenal Way, and Father Mario Pezzi, thanking them for their words of greeting and presentation which they addressed to me. With heartfelt affection I greet all of you here present: priests, seminarians, families and members of the Way.

I thank the Lord because he gives us the opportunity of this meeting, in which you renew your bond with the Successor of Peter, taking up the mandate that the Risen Christ gave to his disciples: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation" (Mark 16:15).

For more than 40 years the Neocatechumenal Way has been contributing to revive and consolidate Christian initiation in the dioceses and parishes, fostering a gradual and radical rediscovery of the riches of baptism, helping to the divine life, the heavenly life that the Lord inaugurated with his Incarnation, coming in our midst, being born as one of us. This gift of God for his Church is placed "at the service of the bishop as one of the ways of the diocesan accomplishment of Christian initiation and of permanent education in the faith" (Statute, art. 1 paragraph 2). Such service, as my predecessor the Servant of God Paul VI reminded you in the first meeting he had with you in 1974, "will be able to renew, in today's Christian community, those effects of maturity and deepening which in the early Church were realized in the period of preparation for Baptism" (Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, XII [1974], 406).

Accomplished profitably in the last few years has been the process of writing of the statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way that, after a period of validity "ad experimentum," was approved definitively in June 2008. (I've seen some articles in the Internet claiming that the 2008 approval was also granted "ad experimentum", and only until 2015. Looks like that claim is false. CAP) Another significant step carried out in these days, with the approval of the competent dicasteries of the Holy See, is the Catechetical Directory of the Neocatechumenal Way. With these ecclesiastical seals, the Lord confirms today and entrusts to you again this precious instrument that is the Way, so that you can, in filial obedience to the Holy See and to the pastors of the Church, contribute, with new impetus and ardor, to the radical and joyful rediscovery of the gift of baptism and to offer your original contribution to the cause of the New Evangelization. The Church has recognized in the Neocatechumenal Way a particular gift aroused by the Holy Spirit: as such, it tends naturally to insert itself in the great harmony of the ecclesial body. In this light, I exhort you to seek always a profound communion with the pastors and with all the components of the particular Churches and the very different ecclesial contexts in which you are called to operate. The fraternal communion between the disciples of Jesus is, in fact, the first and greatest testimony to the name of Jesus Christ.

Another boost for the Neocatechumenal Way

(NOTE: A few have criticized the decision to post something from Rocco Palmo's blog. Now, the article below is quite fair and succinct in summarizing the situation of the NCW vis-a-vis the Vatican and the Japanese hierarchy, so much so that I felt  that I could post it rather than  reinvent the wheel and make a less comprehensive report. In addition, Rorate has long cited articles and reports from sources that are much further away from Traditional Catholicism than "Whispers" is. I am fairly certain that most of the people reading this blog know the difference between citing a source and endorsing said source's editorial stance. Those who don't know the difference have no business surfing the Internet at all. CAP.)


From Whispers in the Loggia (underlining mine):

Against the backdrop of a highly-public brawl with the Japanese bishops -- who tried to ban them from the country but were overruled by the Holy See in recent weeks -- in another rare coup, the Neocatechumenal Way is set to hold a prominent Vatican celebration led by the Pope himself.

Shown above flanking B16 at a recent private audience, the "initiators" of the oft-controversial million-member movement -- Kiko Arguello, Carmen Hernandez and Italian Fr Mario Pezzi -- will lead a Monday crowd of Neocats gathered in the Paul VI Audience Hall as, continuing a tradition begun by the soon to be Blessed John Paul II, the pontiff commissions 230 new missionary families for the Way before they're sent to some 46 countries. The audience will also commemorate the CDF's recent approval of a Catechetical Directory for the movement, which is intended to provide "security for [the Way's] implementation... offering also [a] doctrinal guarantee" of its purity in teaching "to all the shepherds of the church."

Now present in 105 countries, the Way's governing statutes were given final approval by Rome in 2008. Beyond its lay mission-work, the movement boasts over 70 Redemptorist Mater seminaries worldwide, five of them in the US.

Viewed by its critics as a "sect" (or even a "cult") for its tendency to form a "totally separate" life from the local churches in which it exists -- not to mention its unconventional liturgies and highly-regimented subgroups (where placement is contingent on one's advancement in the Way's methods) -- the group's most prominent clash with a local hierarchy has come over the last several years in Japan, where a former president of the nation's bishops once slammed the Spanish-born movement's presence there for, he said, having "caused sharp, painful division and strife within the church."

After the Japanese prelates first voiced their concerns over the Way's m.o., in 2006 Rome approved the closing of the country's Redemptorist Mater seminary. More recently, when the bishops pushed for a full ban of the Way for five years, they were publicly rebuffed by a message from the Secretariat of State, which instead called for a dialogue to begin immediately, mediated by a delegate yet to be named. In response, a leading Japanese prelate said this week that "in those places touched by the Neocatechumenal Way, there has been rampant confusion, conflict, division, and chaos" and that the bishops "could not ignore the damage."

At a 2006 commissioning of Neocat families, the Pope lauded the Spanish-born movement for birthing "a true 'springtime of hope' for the diocesan community of Rome and for the universal church."


However, the same text likewise gave voice to the criticism of the movement. "Your apostolic action, already very praiseworthy, will be all the more effective to the extent that you strive to constantly cultivate that yearning for unity which Jesus communicated to the Twelve during the Last Supper," Benedict said.

"Before the Passion our Redeemer prayed intensely that his disciples all would be one so that the world would be impelled to believe in him, because this unity can come only by the power of God. It is this unity, a gift of the Holy Spirit and a ceaseless quest of believers, which makes each community a living structure that is well integrated into the Mystical Body of Christ.

"The unity of the Lord's disciples," Benedict said, "is part of the very essence of the church and is an indispensable condition for its evangelizing action to be both fruitful and credible."

Even for the tough-talk, however, it bears noting that only one other "new movement" has received a similar outpouring of public en masse Pope-Time: Benedict's beloved Comunione e Liberazione -- whose founder he famously eulogized, and whose weekly "School of Community" is held in the papal apartment.


Following Monday's event, the founders will hold a press conference. From there, Arguello is expected to lead a catechesis for 200,000 young adults during August's World Youth Day in Madrid.

A fresh triumph for the Neocatechumenal Way?

[Image: the Pope receives the leaders of the Way, Kiko Argüello, Carmen Hernández - in privilegio delle sweats-, and Fr.Mario Pezzi - Nov. 13, 2010 - NC]

For more on the background to this story, see this, this, and this.

The article relies entirely on the NCW's reporting. Hence the question mark at the end of the title of this post. CAP.

From ZENIT:

Neocatechumenal Way Will Not Be Suspended in Japan

Secretariat of State Sends Letter to Movement

MADRID, Spain, JAN. 7, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The Neocatechumenal Way will not be suspended in Japan for five years, as was previously announced by the country's episcopal conference, reports the lay movement.

According to a spokesman of movement, Alvaro de Juana, this decision was communicated recently in writing by the Vatican Secretariat of State to the Neocatechumenal Way founders: Kiko Arguello, Carmen Hernandez and Mario Pezzi.

De Juana informed ZENIT that the letter came after Benedict XVI presided at a Dec. 13 meeting with a representation of several Japanese bishops, among them the president of the episcopal conference, Archbishop Leo Ikenaga of Osaka, to address some aspects of the Neocatechumenal Way in Japan.

A few weeks earlier, the Japanese episcopal conference announced that it would suspend the activities of the movement in Japan for five years.

De Juana explained that "the Holy See has made a series of decisions," which were revealed in Cardinal Bertone's letter.

"The first indicates that the suspension of the Neocatechumenal Way in Japan for five years -- as attempted by the country's Episcopal Conference -- is not admissible," he said.

On the other hand, the spokesman added, it specified that "the dialogue between the bishops of Japan and the Neocatechumenal Way must be taken up again as soon as possible with the help of a competent delegate who loves the Way and respects the problems of the bishops."

"Finally, if necessary, the latter must give concrete indications to the Way for each of its own dioceses, avoiding pronouncements of the episcopal conference," explained De Juana. (!!! -- CAP)

"The Holy See points out in addition that the Secretariat of State will be in charge of giving the necessary instructions and will address, in contact with the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the questions referring to the presence of the Way in said country," concluded the spokesman.

The Neocatechumenal Way began in Spain in 1964, initiated by painter Argüello, a convert from atheistic existentialism, and Hernández, a missionary. They worked among prostitutes, gypsies and ex-convicts in a novel approach to the evangelization of the "fallen away."

Archbishop Casimiro Morcillo of Madrid was the first prelate to support the movement, on his return from the Second Vatican Council. The first communities were born in the parishes of Zamora, Madrid and Rome. Today they are active in some 5,000 parishes worldwide.