From this morning's Zenit news (Thursday 28 June)
Neocatechumenal Way´s Statute Approved by Vatican
Spiritual Renewal Movement Was Founded in Spain in 1964
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 26, 2002 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican announced the approval of the Statute of the Neocatechumenal Way, the spiritual renewal movement born in the mid-1960s in Spain.
The Pontifical Council for the Laity in a statement said the official decree of the statute's approval will take place this Friday at the council's headquarters.
The Neocatechumenal Way has spread to more than 105 nations. It includes 1,500 communities in 800 dioceses and 5,000 parishes. It has opened some 40 diocesan seminaries.
Among those who will attend Friday's ceremony are the leaders of the Neocatechumenal Way team: founders Kiko Argüello and Carmen Hernández, and Italian Father Mario Pezzi.
Cardinal James Francis Stafford, president of the pontifical council, will preside over the event that also will be attended by some 40 catechists of the Neocatechumenate, as it is also known.
The Vatican statement released today explained that this step is "an event of notable ecclesial importance, as the Neocatechumenal Way, which arose in Spain in 1964, has spread at present to more than 100 countries of the world, some of them mission territories."
"In the line of renewal inspired by Vatican Council II, the Way places itself at the service of diocesan bishops and parish priests as a way to rediscover the sacrament of baptism, and for ongoing education in the faith," the document continues.
The Way carries out this task by proposing "to the faithful who so desire to revive the richness of Christian initiation in their life, through the route of catechesis and conversion."
Moreover, "the Neocatechumenal Way is an instrument for the Christian initiation of adults who are preparing to receive baptism," the Council for the Laity added.
In a letter addressed to Cardinal Stafford on April 5, 2001, John Paul II confirmed that the Council for the Laity has the authority to approve the Statute of the Way, a task that took the Vatican body five years to complete. It worked with other Roman Curia agencies in the process.
To carry out its work, the Council for the Laity contacted bishops and episcopal conferences around the world "to evaluate the experience of the Way at the parish, diocesan and national levels."
"Numerous patriarchs, cardinals and bishops worldwide have written the Holy Father to encourage the examination and approval of the Statute," the Vatican document added.
"This process of writing and examination of the Statute has been a time of discernment on the part of the Holy See of the proposal and experience of the Neocatechumenal Way," the statement said.
"The normative, which is now approved, has the objective of regulating the praxis of the Neocatechumenal Way and its harmonious integration in the ecclesial fabric, at the same time offering a help to pastors of the Church in their paternal and vigilant [support] of the Neocatechumenal communities."
BRIEF COMMENT: A WAY TO BECOME CHRISTIAN
The Neocatechumenal Way rcognized by the Holy See as a post-baptismal catechumenate
After more than five years of work, the Holy See has approved the Statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way, thus confirming the praxis in more than 105 nations for over thirty years.
The decree of approval, dated the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, was solemnly consigned on June 28 to the initiators of the way, Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez together with Father Mario Pezzi, by Cardinal Stafford, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, the Dicastery entrusted by the Holy Father with the task of guiding the preparation of the statute. The Neocatechumenal Way has not been approved as an association, a movement or a religious congregation, but, respecting and confirming the intention of the initiators, as an itinerary of Christian initiation for the rediscovery of baptism, that is, a post-baptismal catechumenate (see Statutes, article 1) at the service of the dioceses and parishes.
To underline the ecclesial value and importance of this act, the approval of the Statutes of the Way has been the fruit of a joint effort of some five dicasteries: the Pontifical Council for the Laity, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation for Divine Worship, the Congregation for the Clergy and Catechesis and the Congregation for Catholic Education. It is an act of great importance since it concerns the first post-baptismal catechumenate recognized officially by the Catholic Church.
This approval formalizes and specifies more precisely the recognition already given in 1990 by the Holy Father , who then recognized the way as an “itinerary of Catholic formation valid for society and for these times”. The work of preparation was drawn out over a long period since the juridical entities most commonly used by the Code of Canon Law are those of association or foundation, which do not correspond to the nature of the Neocatechumenal Way. Since it is Christian Initiation, the Way in fact is at the service of the dioceses and parish priests and is not constituted as an autonomous entity. The statute is composed of 35 articles. The first article expresses the nature of the Way and a description is given of the 4 spiritual goods which constitute the Neocatechumenal Way. These are:
1. the Neocatechumenate or post-baptismal catechumenate, see Title II;2. the catechumenate for non baptized as per the indications of the RCIA, see Title IV;
3. the ongoing formation of the communities which continue in the parish after having completed the Neocatechumenate, see Title III;
4. the service of catechesis, such as, for example, the return to the primitive schema of evangelization by means of itinerant teams willing to go to the ends of the earth on the basis of the mandate of their baptism, see Title V.
In the second article, the forms of operation of the Way are established: it operates in the dioceses “under the direction of the bishop” (see art. 2,1°) and “according to ‘the guidelines proposed by the initiators’” (see art. 2, 2°); the subject who promotes Christian initiation is obviously the bishop (see art. 26), to whom, however, is offered an instrument approved by the Holy See and configured in accordance with the indications of the statute. Finally, in the last articles the processes foreseen for the succession of the team of initiators of the Neocatechumenal Way are specified.
The statutes deal with a formulation foreseen by the codes, but which is new and very courageous. In a world ever more distant from Christianity and torn between secularization and forms of fundamentalism, with this act the Holy See courageously underlines the urgent necessity for the baptized to rediscover the roots of their faith and, in the face of the general dechristianization of modern society, it offers an instrument for the re-evangelization of modern man.