New movements: Part V.

What is the Neo-Catechumenal Way?

By Father Hector Vila

In the early Church, confronted from everywhere by paganism, if someone desired to become a Christian, he had to follow an itinerary of formation to Christianity. It was called the "catechumenate," a word derived from catekeo which means "resonance", "to listen".

The present process of secularization has led many people to abandon the Church and the Faith. There is need, therefore, to open again an itinerary of formation to Christianity. The Neocatechumenal Way does not pretend to establish itself as a movement, but its aim is to aid parishes in opening a way of Christian initiation toward discovering the meaning of Baptism and what it means to be a Christian.

In the parishes it is an instrument in the service of Bishops, not only to lead back to the Faith many who have abandoned it, but also to deepen the faith of committed Catholics who wish to do so. In today's Western countries many dioceses are striving to realize a catechesis for adults.

The Neocatechumenate is a theologico-catechetical synthesis, a catechism, a catechumenate for adults. It is an itinerary of Christian formation for men and women of today.

In the primitive Church, the catechumenate was made up of a synthesis between the Word (Kerygma), the Liturgy and Morals. First of all, the early Church carried a Kerygma, that is, an "announcement of Salvation". This Gospel's announcement, brought by itinerant apostles like Paul and Silas, provoked a moral transformation in the listeners. They changed their life by the help of the Holy Spirit who was accompanying the apostles. This moral change was sealed and confirmed by the sacraments: Baptism was concretely given by stages. Therefore, the first catechesis was a "gestation" to the divine life.

When the catechumenate under this form disappeared in the following centuries, the synthesis "Kerygma--life transformation--Liturgy" was lost. The Kerygma as a call to Faith which implies a moral decision no longer exists. It is changed into "scholastic teaching". Morality passes to the "internal forum", namely, it is restricted to one's private life. Liturgy is rendered the same for all.

The Neocatechumenal Way recuperates once more this "gestation", this synthesis of the Kerygma, the transformation of life and the Liturgy. Today, after the Second Vatican Council, the situation of atheism and secularization places the Church in such a position that the re-establishment of the catechumenate is absolutely necessary.

In fact, Pope John Paul II in 1990 said of the Neocatechumenal Way: "I too, as Bishop of Rome, have been able to verify the abundant fruits of personal conversion and fruitful missionary impulse in the many meetings. I have had with the Neocatechumenal communities and their pastors. Hence, I acknowledge the Neocatechumenal Way as an itinerary of Catholic formation, valid for our society and for our times. It is therefore my wish that the Brothers in the Episcopate together with their presbyters value and help this work for the new evangelization so that it may be implemented according to the lines proposed by its initiators" (Letter to Bishop Paul Josef Cordes, August 1990).

In 1964, in the shanty town of Palomeras Altas on the outskirts of Madrid, the painter Francisco (Kiko) Arguello (a convert to the Christian faith from an existentialist type of atheism), initiated the Neocatechumenal Way. The Way was born among the poor. Strongly influenced by the formula of Charles de Foucauld--to live silently at the feet of Jesus Christ--Kiko went to live in the shanty town as a poor man among the poor, bringing with him a Bible, a crucifix and a guitar.

He attracted the curiosity of the neighbouring people, who asked him to talk to them about Jesus Christ. Koko soon noticed that a profound fraternal bond, a communion, emerged among the poor people who came to his shack to listen to his improvised catechesis. Also, the Eucharist began to be celebrated (by a priest known to Kiko) with such simplicity and power that the experience spread rapidly. The love, the communion, made visible in a small community were the signs which called to the Faith many people whose lives were far from the Church.

Surprised by the reality that was growing, Kiko and Carmen Hernandez (a religious who, impressed by what she had seen happening, joined Kiko in those early years of the Way) understood that whatever had been freely given by God had to be freely made available. They agreed, at the requests of many parishes in the area, to give the same catechesis which had given birth to the first community. Thus started the spreading of the Neocatechumenal Way, which today is present throughout the world.

Another outstanding fruit for the local Church is the new bloom of numerous vocations to the priesthood. This has given way to the birth of, to date, over 40 Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminaries throughout the world. In view of the New Evangelization, over and above theological studies, the process of formation for these seminarians includes direct and personal participation in the Neocatechumenal Way from which their vocation originated. These seminaries, however, are not their own but the diocesan seminaries under the direction of the local bishop.

His Eminence Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic has welcomed the Neocatechumenal Way to Toronto and has, also, recently erected the Missionary Seminary Redemptoris Mater of the Archdiocese of Toronto.

To conclude, the itinerary of the Neocatechumenal Way, a precious gift from God for serious Christian formation, is carried out in small communities following the example of the Holy Family of Nazareth, which lived in humility, simplicity and praise.