JEM@BLogger Specials: Let us pray brothers...

The Blue Virgin by Kiko Arguello

The Neocatechumenal Communities is always considered a butt of criticism. It is always misunderstood, taken for granted, even considered a 'sect,' a 'church within the Church.'

One example is that which is happening today in Japan. Here is a piece of news.

Vatican, Apr. 30, 2008 (CWNews.com) - A delegation of bishops from Japan visited the Vatican this week, hoping to resolve a conflict with the NeoCatechumenal Way, which operates a seminary in Japan, the UCA News service reports. The visit by four Japanese bishops was the third such trip to Rome.

"We hate to come so often but we had to give the serious nature of the problem that needs to be resolved", Archbishop Okada of Tokyo, president of the bishops' conference, told UCA News.

The archbishop said that the NeoCatechumenate had caused "sharp painful division and strife within the Church in Japan." He characterized the lay movement as a group engaged in "powerful sect-like activity" that was damaging the unity of the small Catholic community in Japan.

Another is what's happening in the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan. There is an ongoing moratorium within the Archdiocese, seizing the establishment of new communities, among other orders. Here is an excerpt of the Pastoral Letter (isn't it?) coming from Archbishop Soc Villegas.

THEREFORE, considering the foregoing facts and statutory principles, by virtue of my authority as Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan, in order to guide and reorient the Neocatechumenal Way in this archdiocese, I hereby impose a moratorium on all initial catecheses in the Neocatechumenal Way within the archdiocese until the Episcopal Delegate, named below, recommends the lifting of this moratorium.

No new communities shall be opened and no new members may be initiated into the Neocatechumenal Way within the moratorium period starting on the Solemnity of Pentecost this year until the Solemnity of Pentecost in 2011.

Likewise, I order the reading, within the whole year, starting from the Solemnity of Pentecost this year until the Solemnity of Pentecost in 2011, of paragraphs 748 to 945 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, pertaining to ecclesiology, the readings being spread out during the weekly celebrations of the Word of each Neocatechumenal community.

Moreover, I enjoin the recitation of the five mysteries of the Holy Rosary before the weekly celebration of the Word, starting on Pentecost Sunday, in adherence to the mandate of Article 14, number 4 of the Statutes;

In addition, effective today, I revoke the canonical mandate previously granted by the Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan to the incumbent itinerant catechist to teach the Catholic faith within this ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

In these trying times for our brothers, the Initiators of the Way, Kiko, Carmen and Fr. Mario, calls upon all the pilgrims all over the world to pray for all the brothers and communities, especially for Japan, and in the Local Scene, for the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan.

We are instructed to pray the Rosary. As part of the intentions, we are to pray for the all the communities in the said places. In addition, we are to add this special prayer after the Rosary:

Oh God!
You do not allow the power of evil to prevail against the Church,
founded on the Rock of Peter.
We pray you,
through the intercession of the Holy and Humble Virgin Mary,
sustain the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI,
and help the Communities of the
Neo Catechumenal Way,
especially in Japan, and in Dagupan.
Amen.

"Sufficient for a day is its own evil" (Mt 6: 33-34). In a world that seeks human certainties and earthly reassurance, show that Christ is the firm rock on which to construct the building of your own existence and that trust placed in him is never in vain.

-Pope Benedict XVI
Address to the Neo Catechumenal Communities
January 12, 2006