The Neocatechumenal Way

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Economist July 16, 2009
The Neocatechumenal Way
Jerusalem Post (good article)

The Catholic Church has been bleeding parishioners for years. One of the few bright spots has been Latinos in the Unites States. And now, according to the Economist, even the Latinos are jumping ship. They are defecting to evangelical and charismatic churches.

The Economist list their reasons for the defections. Here is mine. I've never met a Catholic parish priest who could deliver a decent talk. They are all boring!

I think the church hierarchy realized they had a problem years ago. With the shortage of clergy (even though they are boring you still need them), plus the attraction of more lively churches they saw what was coming.

And then along came the Neocatechumenal Way, also know simply as The Way. The Way is a lay-driven organization made up of small, parish-based communities of between 20-50 people. It was started in Madrid, Spain, in 1964 by Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez. (Arguello is a painter. The painting on this page is his). The pope liked what he saw and supported the Way.

Today, there are around 40,000 communities throughout the world, with an estimated 1 million members. The Way is essentially a Vatican-sanctioned evangelical movement within the Catholic Church. They are deeply committed to the New Evangelization, which was first mentioned by Pope John Paul II.

The New Evangelization is a movement within the Catholic Church that has lay members as well as clergy. Their mission is to seek converts and bring non-church going Catholics back into the fold. This is new for Catholicism. Lay Catholics have not been evangelical in the past.

I think the Catholic Church may keep their traditional structure (hierarchical with unmarried male priest at the top) and build up the Neocatechumenal Way (along with other organizations) to counter advances being made by other churches.

There are some who claim The Way is a cult within the Catholic Church and others who claim it is heresy.

My definition of a cult is an organization that is very difficult to leave. And as I understand it, you can walk away from The Way anytime. So I would not classify it as a cult. But that said, I haven't had personal experience with The Way.

As far as the heresy charge goes, if several popes have approved of the Way, I don't see how the heresy charge can stick. The Way does have something called a post-baptism for members who are already Catholic. If I understand it correctly, it's another baptism for adults who have undergone religious instruction. (see reply at bottom)

The Catholics killed thousands of Anabaptists who believed in re-baptizing adults. Re-baptizing adult Catholics would be a major departure from traditional teaching. If anyone knows more about this practice than I do, please post a comment.

Whether the Neocatechumenal Way helps stanch the departure of Catholics from the church is anybody's guess. It hasn't worked to date, but it seems to be the direction the church is taking.

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Saint Paul -- still making news

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June 30, 2009

Saint Paul made it into the news two days in a row, which is pretty impressive considering he has been dead for nearly 2,000 years.

Times Online (June 29, 2009)
To your right is the oldest picture of St Paul, according to Vatican archaeologist. The 4th-century portrait was found in the catacombs of St Thecla, not far from the Basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls in Rome (pictured below) where church tradition says St Paul was buried.

The portrait shows St Paul with a high-domed forehead, deep-set eyes and a long pointed beard, confirming the image familiar from later depictions.

New York Times (June 28, 2009)

And the day before that story, archaeologists reported they opened the white marble sarcophagus located under the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls and carbon-dated bone fragments found inside.

Pope Benedict XVI said the scientists confirmed that the fragments date from the first or second century. The pope hedged his statement a bit by saying the test "seem to conclude” that the bones belong to St Paul.

From the New York Times article.

“This seems to confirm the unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul,” Benedict said, announcing the findings at a service in the basilica to mark the end of the Vatican's Pauline year, in honor of Paul.

It could be true. He has to be buried somewhere.


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