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Has any 'new ecclesial movement' as defined and encouraged by Vatican II ever given the Church so much trouble as the Madrid-born Neocatechumenal Way?
Back in 2005, early in Benedict XVI's papacy, they were admonished by him to refrain from innovations in the Mass which are not in keeping with the approved Latin rite, almost as a condition for the Vatican to give final approval to their statutes as a movement. But despite a much-publicized approval of their 'catechetical guide' to initiate new members last January 20, they have apparently persisted in their innovations to the Novus Ordo.
On his www.chiesa site today,
chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350217?eng=y
Sandro Magister tells an almost incredible take in which it would seem that both the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Pontifical Council for the Laity were ready to grant the movement full permission to indulge their version of the Mass last January 20 - until the Pope read their proposed decree and said "NO! This cannot be" and asked the CDF to investigate the Neo-Catechumenal rite and report to him about it.
I find it hard to understand 1) the persistent disobedience of the Neocats and their insistence on 'inventing' their own Mass to set them apart from all other Catholics - which violates the universality of the Latin-rite Mass (they certainly are not among the pre-Council of Trent rites that were in existence for at least 200 years and therefore qualified to be kept on, alongside the post-Reformation Tridentine Mass!]; and
2) that the two dicasteries mentioned should have even thought to approve the Neocat liturgical innovations at all. Did both Cardinal Canizares of CDW - the 'little Ratzinger' - and Cardinal Rylko at Laity (whose #2 man is Benedict XVI's former longtime secretary, Mons. Josef Clemens) suffer a severe mental lapse? And how is it that Mons. Clemens could not have warned Benedict XVI about what his off-the-track boss was intending to do???? Unfortunately, Magister does not bother to explain these, to say the least, 'oddities' which so forcefully beg the question!
I will proceed to translate Magister's blog which sort of updates the above-cited article, and the more important article that he appends to it...
For the Neo-Catechumenals, recess is over:
Time to go back to the classroom
April 12, 2012
The order given by Benedict XVI to the CongrEGation for the Doctrine of the Faith to examine if the Mass used by the Neo-Catechumenal Way for decades conforms to the Church's liturgical doctrine and practice is a severe blow to the movement founded by Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez.
But last January 20, at the Neo-Catechumenals' annual encounter with the PoPe, both Kiko and Carmen understood that the wind had turned against them.
Instead of triumphantly seeing their 'rite' approved by the Pontifical Council for the Laity (which supervises the lay ecclesial movements) - the decree had in fact been prepared but was junked by the Pope when he saw it at the last minute - they had to listen to some humbling admonitions from Benedict XVI on the proper way to celebrate Mass. [See the full text of the Pope's address to the Neo-Cats and a fuller background to the Neo-Cat 'insolent disobedience' o n Page 280 of this thread
http://benedettoxviforum.freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=8527207&p=280&#idm115323182
Of course, papa Ratzinger expressed himself in his mild and gentle style. But the clarity and straightforwardness of his lecture could not be missed by his audience.
In fact, one of them, the Archimandrite Manuel Nin, a Benedictine monk and rector of the Pontifical Greek College of Rome, did not miss the occasion to comment on the "beautiful lesson on litgical theology' imparted by Benedict XVI not just to the Neo-catechumenals but to the entire Church.
Nin's exegesis was published in L'Osservatore Romano on March 15, and was considered another bad sign by the Neocats.
It is therefore useful to reproduce it - for the authoritativeness of its author, for the fact that it was published in OR, and above all, for the clarity with which it goes to the heart of the issue - which is not merely ceremonial in nature but substantial, which is why the Pope entrusted the question to the CDF.
Benedict XVI's lesson on liturgy
to the Neo-Catechumenals
by Manuel Nin
Translated from the 3/15/12 issue of
The Fathers of the Church (particularly Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Theodore of Antioch), in their pre-Baptismal catecheses preached during Lent, 'initiated' the catechumens - one could say, took them by the hand and led them - those who were preparing to receive Baptism at the Easter Vigil to discover, know and 'memorize' the Christian faith through the profession of faith (the Credo), and giving them the model for prayer, the Our Father.
During this time of preparation, while awaiting Baptism which, like all the sacraments, is a gift to be received within the Church, within its regenerating womb, the catechumens were initiated into the faith, to listen to the Word of God and to understand it, but took part only in the first part of the Mass. [What we now call the Liturgy of the Word used to be called Mass of the Catechumens.]
Indeed, after the Gospel - and we still have proof of these in the Oriental rites - the deacon would dismiss the catechumens and instruct them to leave the church, to remain 'in waiting', a joyous waiting for the time they could participate in the Sacrifice of Christ on that Easter even when their bishop would baptise them into the one and only Mother Church.
On that night, the catechumens, who were welcomed into the church to the chanting of the Pauline verse "All you who are baptized in Christ, you have been reclothed with Christ, Alleluia", were now called 'neophytes', meaning they were now embedded, inserted. Into what? In Christ in the one great Church.
From that moment, they could take part fully in all the holy mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ, no longer just a stage in their catechumenate but the fullness of belonging to Christ in he life of the Church.
It is in the wake of the Fathers of the Church, of their catecheses and mistagogical discourses that we can consider the address Benedict XVI made to the members of the Neo-Catechumenal Way last January 20 after having met with the founders of the movement.
It was a lesson in liturgical theology that is valid and useful for the Neo-Catechumenals as well as for the whole Church.
At the start, the Pope underscores the value of the movement's commitment to mission and evangelization - a commitment however that must always be doe - the Holy Father underscored this twice - "in communion with the entire Church and with the Successor of Peter", always seeking profound communion with the Apostolic See and with the pastors of the local Churches into which they are inserted".
One might say that the Bishop of Rome never loses sight of his principal function of communion with all the pastors of the Catholic Church: "The unity and harmony of the ecclesial body are an important testimonial to Christ and to his Gospel in the world in which we live".
Benedict XVI, as a good pastor, rightly does not spare bringing to light the generosity and missionary enterprise of the Neo-Catechumenal Way - and even the difficulties they encounter in this task - and to encourage its members (laymen, priests, entire families) to continue their zeal to announce the Gospel even in places quite remote from Christianity, and always for love of Christ and the Church.
After his introductory words, the Pope explains the approval of those Neo-Catechumenal celebrations "which are not strictly liturgical but are part of the itinerary of growth in the faith".
He reminds them and the entire Church that legitimate liturgies are those approved by the Church in various texts from the Magisterium of the Popes or the various ecumenical councils that have regulated and approved the liturgies of the Church.
He points out however that the approval of the (non-liturgical) celebrations included in the 'Catechetical Directory of the Neo-Catechumenal Way" must be read strictly with the 'sensus Ecclesiae' [what the Church means by its celebrations] and in harmony with the demands of building together the 'corpus Ecclesiae' (the body of the Church).
He tells them that "the Church understands the richness you bring, but it also looks to the communion and harmony of the entire Body of the Church". Once more, in Benedict XVI's Pontificate, we see Peter as the basis for communion and unity in the Church.
What he has said so far on the movement's commitment to evangelization and approval of their non-liturgical celebrations offers Benedict XVI the chance to speak about the value of liturgy - that reality in the life of the Church that does not need any specific approval because it has already been examined, approved and regulated by the Roman See and by Vatican II.
The Pope was not seeking to explain what liturgy is, but to highlight its value - what it has that is central and vital to the life of the Church and every Christian.
In order to clearly lay down the principles of his argument, Benedict XVI begins by citing No. 7 of Sacrosanctum concilium, the Vatican-II constitution on the liturgy. It defines liturgy as "the work of Christ the Priest and his body which is the Church".
He cites the liturgical year which not only commemorates but celebrates and makes present and actual with epiclectic force all the mystery of Christ for and in the Church:
His Passion, Death and Resurrection are not merely historical events: they reach and penetrate history but transcend it and remain always present in the heart of Christ.
In the liturgical acts of the Church, there is the active presence of the Risen Christ who makes actual and effective for us today the same Paschal mystery for our salvation. He draws us to this act of giving himself which is always present in his heart, and he makes us participate in the presence of the Paschal mystery.
Thus, the Church, in celebrating the mystery of Christ, becomes his body. And the Pope cites St. Augustine in this respect:
This work of the Lord Jesus, who is the true content of liturgy, letting us enter into the Paschal mystery, is also the work of the Church which, being his Body, is one and the same subject as Christ: Christus totus caput et corpus (all of Christ, head and body).
Faithful to the catechetical and mystagogic tradition of the Fathers of the Church, Benedict describes the Eucharist as "the summit of Christian life" - full communion with Christ through the Sacrament of his Body and Blood, and with the Church which, in turn is his body as well as his guardian.
The oriental Churches, faithful to ancient Christian tradition, always celebrate all three sacraments of Christian initiation together - Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist. Therefore, the peak of the catechumens' journey that ends with Baptism at the Easter Vigil, is their participation, in full communion with the Church - in the holy and divine mysteries.
The Pope, citing the statutes of the Way which consider the Eucharist as a post-baptismal catechumenate, situates this view of the Eucharist in the context of "promoting a rapprochement to the wealth of the sacramental life by people who have grown away from the Church or who have not received an adequate Christian formation".
Basically, the Pope appeared to be leading the Neo-Catechumenals away from viewing the Eucharist in the context of a catechumenate, to that of the true and proper mystagogy (introduction to a mystery) which is specific to it.
Thus, he also intended to redirect the Eucharist as celebrated by the movement or by any other ecclesial group of movement, to the context of the Church herself, outside of which the celebration of the divine mysteries would be devoid of any Crhistologic and ecclesiological basis.
Rvery Eucharistic celebration is an act of the one Christ together with his one Church, and is therefore essentially open to all who belong to that Church. This public character of the Holy Mass is ultimately ordered by the Bishop as a member of the Episcopal College who is responsible for his designated local Church.
And so, once more, Benedict XVI reiterates the unique and irreplaceable role of the bishop as custodian and liturgist of the Church. Liturgy, he makes clear, does not belong to anyone, be it persons, groups or movements, to be adapted, modified or made to measure.
It belongs to the Church and is guaranteed by him who by the laying of hands received the fullness of divine grace and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in order to pasture the flock, to be the one who 'watches from above' (which is the true sense of the Greek word episkopos, for bishop).
I would add that the liturgy, in whatever Christian Church in the East and West, must be respected and received almost like a sacred gift itself, not as something that anyone can take or use as he wills and as he pleases.
Concluding, the Pope reminded the Neo-Catechumenals, and all members of the Church, that it was necessary to be faithful to the liturgical books which regulate liturgical celebration, thus avoiding any arbitrariness or subjectivism, since all liturgy must be a service in common among all Catholics in the service of ecclesial communion.
Such necessary insertion into the fullness of ecclesial life is underscored by the Holy Father:
At the same time, progressive maturation in the faith by the individual and by the small community must promote their insertion into the life of the larger ecclesial community, which finds its ordinary form in the liturgical celebration of parishes, in which and for which the Neocatechumenate work.
Finally, the unifying thread of his entire discourse:
Even during this journey [of maturation], it is important not to separate yourselves from the parish community, especially not in the Eucharist, which is the true place of union for all, where the Lord embraces us in the various stages of our spiritual maturity and unites in in the one bread that makes us all one Body.
[A major problem of the Neo-Cats is that they have tended to antagonize the bishops of the dioceses in which they carry out their mission because they do ot acknoqledge his authority and because they set themselves apart from the rest of the community by their idiosyncratic practice of the Mass.]
Theology, liturgy, communion. These are the three elements which are dear to his heart and which Benedict XVI sough to underscore. These were theological reflections, but more especially, mystagogic, seeking to take the faithful by the hand and lead them towards a true understanding of the mysteries of Christ in full communion with Christ himself in the Church he founded.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 13/04/2012 14:47] |