The Lenten Season of the ‘Way’: Double Penance, in Rome and Jerusalem

First the pope, and then the bishops of the Holy Land level two stern warnings at the Neocatechumenal Way.

Here’s how, and why.

Source: http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=124623&eng=y

ROMA, March 5, 2007 – In the span of three days, the Neocatechumenal Way has received two weighty admonitions: the first from the pope, and the second from the bishops of the Holy Land.

The Neocatechumenal Way, founded in Spain in the 1960’s and directed by the laypersons Kiko Argüello (in the photo) and Carmen Hernández, and by Fr. Mario Pezzi, is one of the most flourishing Catholic movements. It counts 20,000 communities in 6,000 parishes, in 900 dioceses on all the inhabited continents, with 3,000 priests and 5,000 religious sisters. It has an international network of 63 “Redemptoris Mater” seminaries. Its expansion is fostered by many families that go on mission in faraway countries.

With results like these, it is natural that the Way would receive the support of many bishops and cardinals. But it has also received, and continues to receive, many criticisms that are just as authoritative, which have been detailed in previous articles from www.chiesa.

In December of 2005, the congregation for divine worship and the discipline of the sacraments ordered the Neocatechumenal Way to correct the ways in which its communities celebrate the Mass. And the following January 12, 2006, Benedict XVI urged the Way to “observe attentively” the prescribed norms. Obedience to both of these admonitions has been far from complete, both at the time and afterward.

Another controversial point concerns the catecheses that the Way preaches in its communities. The texts for these are still largely secret, and some of them have raised objections from various Vatican congregations, including the congregation for the doctrine of the faith.

Finally, there are doubts surrounding the reconfirmation of the statutes of the Way, which the Holy See approved “ad experimentum” on June 29, 2002, for a five-year period that will expire in a few months.

Benedict XVI has stated in person that the definitive approval of their statutes is in question:

It was February 22, the first Thursday of Lent, and the pope was speaking to the clergy of Rome. His remarks were prompted by a priest belonging to the Schönstatt community, Gerardo Raul Carcar, who asked the pope about the relationship between the Church and the movements.

And on the following February 25, the first Sunday of Lent, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, and the other Catholic bishops of the Holy Land weighed in on this same topic of the turbulent relationship between the Neocatechumenal communities and the parishes and dioceses in which they operate.

Their comments came in a joint letter addressed to the members of the Way, a letter courteous in form but stern in content.

The bishops have formed these criticisms through their direct experience. The Neocatechumenals have an extensive presence in the Holy Land. Their citadel is a sprawling complex on the slopes of the Mount of the Beatitudes, west of Lake Tiberias, called “Domus Galilaeae” and inaugurated on March 24, 2000 by John Paul II in person, in the presence of 50,000 Neocatechumenals who had gathered there from over the world.

The architecture and decoration of the “Domus,” with its bizarre hodgepodge of Christian and Jewish allegories, is the work of the founder of the Way, Kiko Argüello.

To the numerous communities they have established in the Holy Land is added a ceaseless flow of Neocatechumenal pilgrims, who are carefully separated from the other visitors. Even the Masses are celebrated separately. And the procedures for their rituals are identical to those in any other part of the world, including the songs composed by their founder and supreme leader, Kiko.

Moreover, in the realm of politics the Neocatechumenal communities do not conceal a markedly pro-Israeli outlook, contrary to the Christians living there, almost all of whom are Arab and pro-Palestinian.

Here, then, are the pope’s words concerning the Neocatechumenals and the letter sent to them from the bishops of the Holy Land, the former on February 22 and the latter on the 25th.

1. The words of Benedict XVI

From a conversation with the clergy of Rome on February 22, 2007

[…] In these months, I am receiving the Italian bishops on their “ad limina” visits. […] Some of them are critical, and say that the movements are not assimilating. […] It seems to me that we have two fundamental rules. The first rule was given to us by Saint Paul in the first letter to the Thessalonians: do not quench the Spirit. If the Lord gives us new gifts, we must be grateful, even if they are sometimes inconvenient. And it is wonderful that new forms of life should be born within the Church, as they have in all ages.

All of them were disconcerting at first: even Saint Francis was very troubling, and it was very difficult for the pope to give a canonical form to a reality that was much broader than the juridical regulations. For Saint Francis, it was a tremendous sacrifice to let himself be boxed up within this juridical framework, but in the end a reality was born that is still alive today, and that will continue to live in the future: this brings strength and new elements to the Church’s life.

Movements have been born in every century. […] They are not incorporated into the Church’s life without suffering and difficulty. Saint Benedict himself had to correct the initial direction of monasticism. And thus also in our age the Lord, the Holy Spirit, has given us new initiatives with new aspects of Christian life. As they are lived out by human persons with their limitations, they also create difficulties.

So the first rule is not to extinguish the charisms, to be grateful even if they are disconcerting. The second rule is this: the Church is one; if the movements are really gifts of the Holy Spirit, they are incorporated and serve the Church, and in the patient dialogue between pastors and movements there is born a form […] that is constructive for the Church of today and tomorrow.

This dialogue takes place on all levels. The priest, the bishop, and the successor of Peter all participate in the search for the suitable structures. In many cases, this search has already borne fruit. Other cases are still under consideration: for example, it is being considered whether, after five years of experimentation, the statutes for the Neocatechumenal Way should be confirmed in a definitive manner, or if more time for experimentation is needed, or if perhaps some elements of this structure should be modified.

In any case, I have known the Neocatechumenals since the beginning. It has been a long journey, with many complications that still exist today, but we have found an ecclesial form that has already greatly improved the relationship between pastors and the Way. And so we continue forward! The same holds true for the other movements.

I would sum up the two fundamental rules this way: gratitude, patience, and acceptance of the inevitable sufferings. In marriage, too, there are always suffering and tension. And nonetheless [the spouses] move forward, and so it is that true love ripens. The same thing happens in the communities of the Church: let’s have patience with each other! The various levels of the hierarchy – from the pastor to the bishop to the supreme pontiff – must also hold a constant exchange of ideas, they must promote dialogue in order to find, together, the best path. The experiences of pastors are fundamental, but the experiences of the bishop and the universal perspective of the pope also have their own theological and pastoral place in the Church. […]

2. The letter from the bishops of the Holy Land