Neocatechumenal Way, Controversial Lay Group, Approved By Pope

By Alessandro Speciale
Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY (RNS) After a 15-year process, the Holy See on Friday (Jan. 20) gave its final approval to the Neocatechumenal Way, a lay movement that has been criticized for its unorthodox liturgical practices but that has been successful in attracting followers.

The movement relies on tightly knit small groups, modeled on early Christian communities, that share a decade-long spiritual growth path under the guidance of a priest.

Pope Benedict XVI told around 7,000 members of the movement that Neocatechumenal communities could continue in their tradition of celebrating a special Saturday evening Mass, as long as the local bishop approved and the celebrations remained open to the public.

Nevertheless, he encouraged the movement's members not to remain "separate" from their parish community.

The pope praised the Neocatechumenal Way as a "special gift" of the Holy Spirit for modern times, especially as secularism "has eclipsed the sense of God and obscured Christian values." The movement, he said, can help Christians rediscover the "beauty" of their faith.

The Way's founder, Kiko Arguello, said Friday's approval was a "historic moment" after the "many troubles" the movement had faced in the process of receiving the Vatican's approval.

The movement's focus on preaching in secular contexts resonates with Benedict's recent focus on "re-evangelizing" Western countries where the faith has grown weak.

At the end of the audience, Benedict sent out 17 new teams of Neocatechumenal missionaries, who will work mostly in Europe and in the U.S. Each team is made up of three or four families accompanied by a priest.

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Comments

[Kiko1022]

05:11 PM on 01/27/2012

Kiko Argüello, Carmen Hernández and an Italian Priest, Father Mario Pezzi are presently the international team responsible for the Neocatechumenal Way. Kiko Arguello is not a priest but a lay person. He's not even a permanent deacon.

[eisforeverything]

08:21 PM on 01/26/2012

The article's statement "... a lay movement that has been criticized for its unorthodox liturgical practices but that has been successful in attracting followers..." is somewhat twisted.

It would have been better to say "... a lay movement that has been criticized for its ultra-orthodox liturgical practices, and as a result, has been successful in attracting followers ..."

Otherwise, very nice :) And thank you for reporting on this.

[rMatey]

03:09 PM on 01/24/2012

Opus Dei rebranded.

[sunshine14]

11:44 AM on 01/23/2012

Are there any woman in that laymen group?

[Asmondius]

12:49 AM on 01/24/2012

Since that term was not used in the article, your joke went flat.

[mommadona]

01:56 AM on 01/23/2012

Why a religion should NOT have been handed a sovereign country out of guilt. Just look at this mess. He's literally invading other sovereign states, and they bow and smile ~ #WhyWeCannotBeTrulyFree

[Asmondius]

12:50 AM on 01/24/2012

And even Fidel is letting him visit.

[iLdoRight]

04:57 PM on 01/22/2012

Has he given permission yet for people to believe what the Bible and Jesus said over what he and the church say yet or is it still, "Who are you going to believe ME or your own eyes and ears?" !

[Asmondius]

12:50 AM on 01/24/2012

Jesus is his Boss.

[firstamendment3]

02:18 PM on 01/22/2012

Just whom does this group intend to lay?

[Asmondius]

12:50 AM on 01/24/2012

They won't lay as flat as your juvenile humor.

[firstamendment3]

06:58 AM on 01/24/2012

Leave it to a Catholic to use "lay" and "juvenile" in the same sentence.

[fredgladys]

12:16 PM on 01/22/2012

Run, the Crusaders are coming, the Crusaders are coming.

[Kiko1022]

11:25 AM on 01/22/2012

The founder of the neocatechumenal way is not a priest but a lay person. The founder is Kiko Arguello.

[eisforeverything]

08:24 PM on 01/26/2012

Excuse me, you are wrong. Kiko Arguello is a priest.

[rMatey]

08:10 AM on 01/22/2012

Not part of the regular parishes??? Gotta do something to get those catholics back into paying dues.

[smartwater]

02:47 AM on 01/22/2012

It would be great if the Catholic Church returned to Orthodoxy.

[bryanzth]

11:19 PM on 01/22/2012

LOL!

BZ.

[smartwater]

01:31 AM on 01/23/2012

So I guess you don't think that will happen? Me too. They would have to go back to the theology pre 1054. I am sure the Pope won't like the idea of not being infallible! Or allow Priests to get married or more dogma they introduced since the great schism.

[gerorem]

09:11 PM on 01/24/2012

Orthodoxy [i.e., "WE are the noble, the pure, the true, the only."] is a disease that Jesus came to heal.
Remember, He was hated and killed by the "proper" religious authorities.
He was kicked out of church from day one.
He was quite unorthodox in his actions and teachings.

[donatusjustin]

11:31 PM on 01/21/2012

http://www.sspxasia.com/Newsletters/1999/July/The-Neo-Catechumenal-Way.htm

the Neo-Catechumenal Way a heresy encouraged by Rome.

[Sunwyn Ravenwood]

11:19 PM on 01/21/2012

The Neocatechumenal Way by any other name ... would be easier to spell.

Who comes up with these names?

The Bureau of Obfuscation Bureau?

[OPeixe]

12:14 AM on 01/23/2012

They are known by "the Kikos" (Keehkohs)

[gerorem]

09:16 PM on 01/24/2012

They were going to call it the "We Have a New Way of Teaching That Beats Anything Have By Far Because You are Just Wimpy Christians Group" but they wanted it to sound more Latin-y and mysterious.

It will probably get shortened to Neo-Cats. Now that's catchy! That's what the Neo-cons did.

[tg9563]

10:48 PM on 01/21/2012

The catholic church promoting a lay group? - What are the members laying I wonder - choir boys?

[MirrorMonkey]

07:26 PM on 01/22/2012

Well, since you are a lay person yourself, I have no doubt that you could tell them all about the best way to do it. After all, child molestation is far more common among families than it is among the clergy. So, which of your young relatives have you, er, "played with" this week?

[tg9563]

09:58 PM on 01/22/2012

I am not a lay person in the orignal sense or the contemporary sense - I am an expert in a number of fields. The definition of a lay person nowadays is someone who is somewhat uneducated in any given field of study or expertese. Since you are defending the church with your libellous jibes towards me, it appears to me that you are a "lay person superior" as you fail to realise or acknowledge that the catholic church is an offical recruiting office for evil child molesters who know what they are doing and know what they want, whereas such incidents that occur in families are caused thorugh mental illness for the most part and are not part of an organised synidcate.

[Robert Frano]

04:23 PM on 01/24/2012

Re: "So, which of your young relatives have you, er, "played with" this week?" {MirrorMonkey}

‘Neocatechumenal’...just the word-choice I'd expect, a-bursting from bishop-lips, between assignations with younger catechists! Since you brought the subject up…
>>SIGH

[EdwardJames]

10:18 PM on 01/21/2012

The Movement is one of many stirrings of the Holy Spirit in our times within the Church. The Catholic Church is nearly 2000 years old, having outlived all human institutions by over a millenia, and continues to grow (over 1.2 billion) because its message is one: "God is love." Critics need to consider the miraculous survival of the Church for two millenia, in the face of hatred, fiece persecution to blood for nearly 300 years by the then-emperors and more recently by Communism and Fascism. In the face of such stupedous realities, one needs to consider the central question posed: Is the Catholic Church true? Is its Founder, Jesus Christ, truly the Son of God and One with the Father, as He claimed? This is not a message nor a set of facts lightly to be dismissed but vapid sneers and envious sarcasm.

[rixter1965]

10:29 AM on 01/22/2012

Would that be (Italian) Fascism that signed the Lateran Accords ending a stalemate over the Kingdom of Italy taking possession of lands formerly part of the Papal States, recognizing the pope's sovereignty over Vatican City, proclaiming Catholicism the official state religion, restoring the primacy of the Church in "public" education and paying a huge indemnity?!? That Fascism? That threat?

[Asmondius]

01:05 AM on 01/24/2012

Isn't selective history wonderful?

The United States and other countries had diplomatic relations with Italy and Germany prior to the beginning of the Second World War (remember Hitler opening the Olympics in 1936? Remember Jesse Owens?). The Vatican was no different.

Perhaps your history book stopped one chapter short in the 1930's.

[EdwardJames]

08:00 AM on 01/26/2012

It would be National Socialism, which fiercely persecuted the Church. The NAZIs eventually took over Northern Italy as well as Rome and even plotted the kidnapping of the Pope. But those facts probably do not square with your bias, so you can ignore them to maintain your current view.

[TheFriendlyAtheist]

12:43 PM on 01/22/2012

Me thinks Judaism has been around quite a bit longer and is in no way inferior to its' daughter faith. And I hardly see why you call the survival of an institution that has for nearly it's entire existance been joinded at the hip with empire and king as miraculous. Maybe you're confusing your church with the Jews.

[suennui]

12:45 AM on 01/23/2012

Hinduism and Zorastrianism have also been around longer.

[Asmondius]

01:09 AM on 01/24/2012

Good point.

But what 'empire and king' has the Church been joined to lately? Henry VIII and the Reformation was quite some time ago.