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 Logo of the Neocatechumenal Way | |
| Abbreviation | NCW |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1964 |
| Founders | Kiko Argüello andCarmen Hernández |
| Type | Program[1][2][3][4][5][disputed –discuss] |
| Headquarters | Madrid,Rome |
| Website | neocatechumenaleiter |
TheNeocatechumenal Way, also known as theNeocatechumenate, orNCW is a program in theCatholic Church.[6] It is inspired by thecatechumenate of the early Catholic Church whereconverts frompaganism were prepared forbaptism through a process of faith formation.[7] This post-baptismal formation helps deepen the faith for adults that have already been baptized, and provides basic instruction to those that are far from the Church.[8] This itinerary of formation adapts the rites of theRite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) for those that have already been baptized, without repeating the sacrament of baptism.[9]
The Neocatechumenate began inMadrid in 1964 byKiko Argüello andCarmen Hernández.[10] It is implemented in small,parish-based communities of up to 50 people. In 2007 there were around 20,000 such communities throughout the world, with an estimated one million Catholics following the itinerary.[11] The Neocatechumenal Way has always placed a strong emphasis onNew Evangelization, administering over 100missionary diocesan seminaries, as well as sendingfamilies in mission around the world, to be a Catholic presence insecularized places.
In the early 1960s,Francisco "Kiko" Argüello moved to the shanty town of 'Palomeras Altas' inVallecas,Madrid, and gathered a community ofRomani people and marginalised poor.[12] He was soon joined byCarmen Hernández, who linked the community to the theological and liturgical zeitgeist surrounding theSecond Vatican Council, and won the support of the archbishop of MadridCasimiro Morcillo González [es], who had been arelator during sessions of the Council.[13][14]
Gradually, the community's approach was codified in a "catechetical synthesis" referred to as the "tripod," "Word of God-Liturgy-Community", with the stated aim of seeking to lead people tofraternal communion and maturefaith.[citation needed]
The movement spread through theArchdiocese of Madrid and to other Spanishdioceses. In 1968, it began to spread beyond Spain when Argüello and Hernández arrived inRome and settled in the Borghetto Latino.[citation needed]
The community of Neocatechumens was led by the "International Responsible Team of the Way": Argüello, Hernández, and Fr.Mario Pezzi, a priest of theDiocese of Rome, until Hernández's death, in 2016. Under the terms of the 2007 statute, the three members of this leadership team will remain in place for life, after which an electoral college of senior neocatechumenal catechists will elect a new team which, with the approval of thePontifical Council for the Laity, will have a mandate to lead the Way for a period of seven years until new elections are held.[15] The Neocatechumenal Way announced on 13 February 2018 that María Ascensión Romero had been chosen to join the leadership team.[16]
"They contribute by forming the first neocatechumenal communities of a parish, and are supposed to maintain regular contact with the Bishops of the diocese in which they work; the itinerant teams preserve a constant link with the responsibles of the Neocatechumenal Way, visiting periodically the communities they catechized and taking care of the development of the Neocatechumenal Way in the territory assigned to them, being fully faithful to thecharism given to the initiators and obedient to the localOrdinary."[17]
The Neocatechumenal Way as it has been approved by the Holy See is a "Post baptismal catechumenate at the service of theBishops as a form of diocesan implementation of Christian initiation and of ongoing education in faith, in accordance with the indications of the Second Vatican Council and theMagisterium of the Church”.[18] From the initial catechesis, it typically takes several years and passing through stages of faith formation in the local communities, until a member reaches the "renewal of the baptismal vows."[citation needed]
It is implemented in dioceses under the jurisdiction of the bishop and the guidance of the Responsible Team of the Way “according to the lines proposed by its initiators”.[19][20]
After two years in the Neocatechumenal Way, followers will be invited to attend the First Scrutiny.[21] In the Second Scrutiny the great phases of the history of salvation: Abraham, Exodus, Desert, Promised Land, etc., and a time is given to them so that they may prove to themselves the sincerity of their intention to follow Jesus Christ. The local ordinary presides over the rites of the Neocatechumenal Way in person or through a delegate.[22]
Responding tosecularization, the Neocatechumenal Way has implemented "families in mission" – families serving to establish the presence of the Catholic Church in countries where there is none (this is referred to asImplantatio Ecclesiae) or to strengthen the presence of Catholic communities in particularly difficult areas.[23]
On 12 January 2006, about 200 families met with PopeBenedict XVI, asking for a missionary mandate before beginning their mission toFrance,Belgium,Germany andChina – bringing the number of families in mission to more than five-hundred.[24]
In March 2008 the Way met with ninecardinals and 160 Europeanbishops at theDomus Galilaeae International Center on theMount of Beatitudes inGalilee.Christoph Cardinal Schönborn said that during "the last 40 years Europe has said ‘no’ to its future three times: in 1968 when it rejected 'Humanae Vitae'; then, 20 years later, with the legalization ofabortion; and today withhomosexual marriages." He called the Neocatechumenal Way an "answer of theHoly Spirit to this situation." A joint declaration from the bishops said, "Here we have an important proposal, the proposal of the Neocatechumenal Way, which is to renew the life of the family."[25]
On 10 January 2009, Benedict XVI met with over 10,000 people for a celebration marking the 40th anniversary of the Neocatechumenal Way in Rome. From this celebration several whole communities were sent on mission, along with itinerant catechists, mission families, and theMissio Ad Gentes (a newer form of mission that sends three to five families to a particular area at the request of the bishop).[26]
In March 2019, the Neocatechumenal Way acquired the property of a 5173-square-meter part of theMount of Olives at Jerusalem, in which they plan to build up a new international center namedDomus Jerusalem.[27][28]
Approximately every three to four years, theWorld Youth Day has been organized by the Roman Catholic Church, during which the Pope summons youths from all over the world to a chosen city. The Way has been an active supporter of these and individual areas organize pilgrimages to the city.[29]
During the pilgrimage event, young members of the Neocatechumenal Way meet with Argüello for a "Vocational meeting" where 'vocational calls" are performed. InSydney (2008), for example, approximately 1,500 men answered the call for the priesthood and 850 young women stood up to show their willingness to enter the consecrated life, and inBonn (2005) around 1,500 young men and another 900 young women answered the call. These young men and women begin a process ofdiscernment in their own dioceses and communities, which may lead topriesthood (most of the priestly vocations go to a "Redemptoris Mater" seminary) orconsecrated life.[30]
During the Neocatechumenal Way vocational meeting held near the Sea of Galilee followingPope Benedict XVI's visit to theHoly Land in May 2009, Arguello described the Way's situation in the Holy Land. There are seven communities in theLatin Church, inJaffa,Tel Aviv,Jerusalem,Nazareth,Bethlehem andCana.[citation needed] In March 2000, the Way opened itsDomus Galilaeae formation center on the slopes of theMount of Beatitudes in Israel. The facility houses a seminary and is used for studies and retreat, Christian seminars and conventions.[31]
In February 2007, bishops of the Holy Land addressed a letter in which they ask to the Neocatechumenal Way "to take place in the heart of the parish in which you announce the Word of God, avoiding to form a separated group", to root believers "in the parishes and in the liturgical traditions in which they have lived for generations", and that all Eucharistic celebrations would be presided by the parish priest. The document stated that the liturgical rite has preserved the Christian faith through the history of their nations and it was "like an identity card, not just a way like another to pray" in the Church.[32]
In June 2007,Melkite archbishopElias Chacour proposed the establishment of a new "branch" of the Neocatechumenal Way for theEastern Catholic Churches, Archbp. Chacour stated in his message that he searched for"someone or some community to preach the Good News to my parishioners" as an answer toproselytism of the sects, and that the Neocatechumenal Way is an answer. A spokesman for the Way reported the letter toZENIT, saying that"We share the sense of urgency expressed by Archbishop Chacour to evangelize 'the living stones' in the land of the Lord."[33]
The Way also operates several seminaries dubbedRedemptoris Mater seminaries which combines the priestly formation found in aseminary with the Christian formation received in a neocatechumenal community. Potential candidates often undergo a time of "Pre-Vocational Formation" before entering the seminary, which operates somewhat in the manner of apre-med course, designed to prepare, nourish, and preserve their vocations. The intent was to establish a seminary that was bothinternational, i.e. with vocations coming from different nations, andmissionary, i.e. upon ordination, the priests are available to go wherever their ordinary sends them.[34] In 1988, the firstRedemptoris Mater Seminary was established in Rome byUgo Cardinal Poletti.[35]
In 1997 Pope John Paul II "encouraged [Argüello and Hernández] to examine their thirty-year experience of the Way, and to formalize it with a written statute,"[36] andJoseph Cardinal Ratzinger urged the drafting of the Statutes as "a very important step that will open the way to the formal juridical recognition by the Church, and giving you a further guarantee of the authenticity of your charism"[37] The Statutes drafted in response were approvedad experimentum for five years in 2002,[38] and on June 13, 2008,Stanislaw Cardinal Rylko published a decree containing the definitive approval of the statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way.[39]
TheStatutes describe the nature of the Way and regulate its charism and specific tasks within the Church.[40] Through them the Neocatechumenal Way was endowed with "public juridical personality" status.[41] The Way is thus closely governed by an ecclesiastical authority, performs entrusted functions "in the name of the church," and has no material goods of its own.[42]
After thorough examination by various Vatican dicasteries, on December 26, 2010, the Pontifical Council for the Laity approved the text of the catecheses which are handed on to neo-catechumens during their itinerary.[43][44][45] PopeBenedict XVI praised the approval: "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.".[46]
The Neocatechumenal Way regardsliturgy as one of its three fundamental elements (tripod), along with the Word of God (scripture), and Christian community.[47] The Paschal Mystery, celebrated in theSacred Triduum, is seen as a liturgical axis and source of Christian life and a fulcrum of the Neocatechumenate which leads to "rediscovery" of Christian initiation.[48] The Eucharist is essential to the Neocatechumenate, since this is a post-baptismal catechumenate lived in small communities. In fact, the Eucharist completes Christian initiation.[49]
TheCongregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has observed the Way's liturgical practices from the beginning.[50] Pope John Paul II celebrated the Eucharist at the meeting with the communities inPorto San Giorgio in 1989, exactly as the communities do it, including the Communion rite in a sitting position.[citation needed]
CardinalFrancis Arinze, the Prefect of the Congregation from 2002 until 2008, wrote in December 2005 a private letter to Arguello, Hernández and Pezzi on behalf of Pope Benedict.[51][52] One of the points of Arinze's letter has been contradicted by the Final Statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way, in which the celebrations of the Eucharist of the Neocatechumenal communities on Saturday evening have been recognized as "a part of the Sunday liturgical pastoral work of the parish open also to other faithful.”[53]
In an interview with the Spanish newspaperLa Razón,Antonio Cardinal Cañizares, then Prefect of theCongregation for Divine Worship, expressed his view on the Eucharistic celebration of the Neocatechumenal Way:
The Statutes also mention the sacrament of Penance celebrated according to the rite of reconciliation for multiple penitents, with individualconfession andabsolution.[55]
In April 2012, journalistSandro Magister reported thatPope Benedict XVI asked the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to review whether Masses celebrated by the Neocatechumenate are “in keeping with the liturgical teaching and practice of the Catholic church”.[56]
The Neocatechumenal Way has encountered resistance and criticism from both heterodox and traditionalist opponents. These including writers and journalists such as Gordon Urquhart who, known for his cooperation withCatholics for a Free Choice Foundation, in 1995, accused the Way and other lay movements, likeFocolare andCommunion and Liberation, of conservatism, fanaticism,sectarianism, devaluing ofreason, "brainwashing", and a "personality cult" of the founders.[57] In his publication he wrote that after the Neocatechumenate was introduced into the parish ofSt Germain-des-Prés in Paris, theArchbishop of Paris,François Cardinal Marty, blocked any further expansion before his retirement in 1981,[58] and similar controversy in 1992 prompted theBishop of Nancy to transfer the neocatechumens to a different church.[59] Daniel Lifschitz, a convert from Judaism and former Way catechist, criticizes an excess of centrality of the Way on the initiators' charism and aesthetics, although not totally rejecting the validity of the movement.[60]
In 1985, then-CardinalJoseph Ratzinger, in theRapporto Sulla Fede, spoke of new lay movements, including the Way. The future Pope remarked that they also entail greater or lesser dangers, but that it "happens with all living beings," while enumerating the fruits born in these charisms: enabling youth to live their faith fully, a great missionary élan, serious life of prayer, full and undivided catholicity, and numerous vocations to priesthood and consecrated life.[61]
There have been allegations that the Way has a divisive impact on parishes. In 1996,Mervyn Alexander, Bishop of Clifton, in England, established a panel of inquiry to explore claims made by parishioners in three parishes (St Nicholas of Tolentino in Bristol, St Peter in Gloucester and Sacred Heart at Charlton Kings in Cheltenham) that had been harmed and experienced ‘considerable stress’ as well as ‘spiritual, personal and mental anguish’ by activities of the Neocatechumenal Way. The report stated that "it understands, from this presentation paper and the submitted evidence, that the Neocatechumenal Way over a long time (20 years) seeks to lead people towards salvation," but it is a cause of 'considerable stress', and 'spiritual, personal and mental anguish' for some individual members. The report recognized at the same time that "there is undoubtedly a 'conversion experience,'" and that it is drawing people in different conditions towards God.[62]
In some places such as China and the Middle East, local Catholics have complained that missionaries of the Way have forced European songs, rituals and prayers on them, withoutinculturation. ArchbishopPeter Takeo Okada, president of the Japanese Bishops' Conference, described the Way's presence in Japan’s small Catholic community as "a serious problem" and "divisive and confrontational".[63] Staff and students of the Takamatsu Redemptoris Mater seminary relocated to Rome in 2009,[64] and in 2010 the Japanese episcopal conference asked the Way to suspend its activities in Japan for five years.[65] Local Catholic bishops suspended the Way's activities in the northern part of the Philippines in 2010, and in Nepal in 2011.[66][67]
Pope Paul VI stated in 1974: "What great joy and what great hope your presence and activity give us! ... Living and promoting this reawakening is what you call a form of 'follow-up to Baptism', which will renew in today's Christian communities those effects of maturity and deepening which in the early Church were achieved by the period of preparation for Baptism."[68]
John Paul II, in 1980, regarding the nature of the Way, said that, "being a way, it is also movement".[69] In his letterOgni Qualvolta (1990), he "recognize[d] the Neocatechumenal Way as an effective means of Catholic formation for society and for the present time."[70]
In February 2014,Pope Francis told the members of the Neocatechumenal Way that "[t]he Church is grateful for your generosity! I thank you for all that you do in the Church and in the world."[71][72] Francis added that "[t]he freedom of the individual must not be forced, and you must respect even the eventual choice of those who should decide to look outside of the Way, for other forms of Christian life".[73]
On March 6, 2015, Pope Francis again addressed the Neocatechumenal Way in Vatican City: "I confirm your call, I support your mission and I bless your charism. I do not do so because he [pointing at Kiko] paid me, no! I do so because I want to do it. You will go in Christ's name to the whole world to bring his Gospel: Christ precedes you, Christ accompanies you, Christ will bring to fulfilment the salvation of which you are bearers!"[71][74]
Since its beginnings it has been a matter of concern of the Neocatechumenal Way to emphasize the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. With reference to the Second Vatican Council and its emphasis on thePaschal mystery of Christ, for example, theSalvation history connection between theJewish Passover and theEucharistic celebration takes a broad space in the proclamation.[75]
During his visit to Israel in 2000, Pope John Paul II consecrated the international centre of the Neocatechumenal WayDomus Galilaeae at theSea of Galilee, which serves as a site of Christian-Jewish dialogue. In 2015[76] and 2017, meetings were held between high-ranking representatives of the Catholic Church and Judaism, where Jewish rabbisDavid Rosen from theAmerican Jewish Committee andRonald Lauder from theWorld Jewish Congress participated.[77]
One of the important components of the dialogue with Judaism on the part of the Neocathechumenal Way is also Kiko Argüello's symphonyThe Suffering of the Innocent, a symphony in memory of the victims of theHolocaust, which was to be heard, among other places, in Jerusalem, New York City, the Vatican City and Auschwitz.[77] In his appreciation of the symphony, which was also held on 10. June 2018 in theBerliner Philharmonie, the Potsdam rabbiWalter Homolka, chairman of theUnion of Progressive Jews in Germany, recognised the special commitment of the Neocatechumenal Way in dialogue with Judaism and its recognition of the Jews as “Father in Faith”.[77] Rabbi Jehoshua Ahrens said in a greeting that the Neocatechumenal Way led a dialogue at eye level with Jews.[78][79]
Lenten meeting with the clergy of Rome: Address of his Holiness Benedict XVIArchived 2014-09-22 at theWayback Machine"For example, we ask ourselves whether, after five years of experience, it is possible to confirm definitively the Statutes for the Neocatechumenal Way, whether a trial period is necessary or whether, perhaps, certain elements of this structure need perfecting. In any case, I knew the Neocatechumenals from the very outset. It was a long Way, with many complications that still exist today, but we have found an ecclesial form that has already vastly improved the relationship between the Pastor and the Way. We are going ahead like this! The same can be said for other Movements."
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