The "Mass" of the Neocatechumenical Way |
Hey it's 2012 right?
Maybe this was what the Mayans were predicting.
Ahahahaha
From the Vatican Insider
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ROME, April 11, 2012 – With a letter written personally to Cardinal William J. Levada, Benedict XVI has ordered the congregation for the doctrine of the faith to examine whether the Neocatechumenal Masses are or are not in keeping with the liturgical teaching and practice of the Catholic Church. [Oh shucks! There goes any hope for the resurrection of the zombie named "Misa ng Sambayanang Pilipino"]
A "problem," in the pope's judgment, that is "of great urgency" for the whole Church.
Benedict XVI has been alarmed for some time about the particular ways in which the communities of the Neocatechumenal Way celebrate their Masses, on Saturday evening, in separate locations.
His sense of alarm was increased by the plot woven behind his back in the curia last winter, as reported by www.chiesa in the following articles:
> "Placet" or "Non placet"? The wager of Carmen and Kiko (13.1.2012)
> Vatican Diary / The Neocatechumenals get their diploma. But not the one they were expecting (23.1.2012)
What had happened was that the pontifical council for the laity headed by Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko had prepared the text for a degree of blanket approval of all the liturgical and extra-liturgical celebrations of the Neocatechumenal Way, to be made public the January 20 on the occasion of a meeting scheduled between the pope and the Way. [Cardinal Rylko is another Sodano.]
The decree was redacted according to the guidelines of the congregation for divine worship, headed by Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera. The founders and leaders of the Way, Francisco "Kiko" Argüello and Carmen Hernández, were told about it and joyfully told their followers about the imminent approval.
Benedict XVI found out about the text of the decree a few days before the meeting on January 20.
He found it illogical and mistaken. He ordered that it be scrapped and rewritten according to his guidelines. [Booya! They think Benedict is like John Paul who signs almost anything instantly without reading them, or so as the rumor mill in the Vatican back in the JP2 days says.]
In fact, the decree that was made public on January 20 limited itself to approving the extra-liturgical ceremonies that mark the catechetical stages of the Way.
In his speech, the pope stressed that only these had been authorized. While with regard to the Mass, he gave the Neocatechumenals a genuine lecture – almost an ultimatum – on how to celebrate it in full fidelity to the liturgical norms and in practical communion with the Church.
During those same days, Benedict XVI received in audience the archbishop of Berlin, Rainer Maria Woelki, a trusted confrere whom he would soon make a cardinal. Among other things, Woelki talked to him about the difficulties that the Neocatechumenals were creating in his diocese with their separate Masses on Saturday evening, officiated by about thirty member priests. [A church within the Church. Wasn't this what the critics of Opus Dei once labelled them? But nooooooooooo! Opus Dei members are not like that. They celebrate Masses in the parishes where they live.]
The pope asked Woelki to give him a survey of the matter in writing. On January 31, Woelki sent him a letter with more detailed information.
A few days later, on February 11, the pope forwarded a copy of this letter to the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, together with a request to examine as soon as possible this question that "concerns not only the archdiocese of Berlin."
The examining commission headed by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith would have to include, according to the pope's guidelines, two other Vatican dicasteries: the congregation for divine worship and the discipline of the sacraments, and the pontifical council for the laity. [A Sacred Congregation is in fact of a higher "stature" than of a Pontifical Council, fyi.]
And so it was. On March 26, in the Palazzo del Sant'Uffizio, under the presidency of the secretary of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, a Jesuit, a meeting for an initial examination of the question was held with the secretaries of the other two dicasteries – for divine worship Archbishop Augustine J. Di Noia, a Dominican, and for the laity Bishop Josef Clemens – and with four experts designated by them. An absent fifth expert, Dom Cassiano Folsom, prior of the monastery of Saint Benedict in Norcia, sent his assessment in writing. [What?!?! They did not get the world-renowned Benedictine liturgists who is well known for the same fabricated liturgies you saw this Holy Week in our parishes?! The nerve...... :D]
All of the judgments expressed were critical of the Masses of the Neocatechumenals. Also very severe was the one that the congregation for the doctrine of the faith had asked, before the meeting, of the theologian and newly created cardinal Karl J. Becker, Jesuit, professor emeritus at the Pontifical Gregorian University and an adviser to the dicastery.
The dossier provided for the meeting by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith included the pope's letter of February 11, Cardinal Woelki's letter to the pope in the original German and in English, the assessment of Cardinal Becker, and a guide for the discussion that explicitly brought into question the conformity to the liturgical teaching and practice of the Catholic Church of article 13 § 2 of the statutes of the Neocatechumenals, the one in which they justify their separate Masses on Saturday evening. [Anyone always has as excuse.]
In reality, the danger feared by Benedict XVI and by many bishops – as demonstrated by the many complaints that have been made to the Vatican – is that the particular ways in which the Neocatechumenal communities all over the world celebrate their Masses may introduce into the Latin liturgy a new de facto "rite" artificially composed by the founders of the Way, foreign to the liturgical tradition, full of doctrinal ambiguities and a source of division in the community of the faithful. [Very much the same as the Misa ng Sambayanang Pilipino of Fr. Anscar Chupungco. And I thought he was a liturgical expert....]
The Singkil deacon of a Misa ng Sambayanang Pilipino |
To the commission he had set up, the pope entrusted the task of verifying the validity of these fears. In view of decisions to be made.
The judgments elaborated by the commission will be examined in an upcoming plenary meeting of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, on a Wednesday – a "feria quarta" – in the second half of April.
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So it is good to say your goodbyes to the Kiko Mass and all their eccentricities.
Several Pinoy bishops have expressed their disgust of the Neo Cat and one bishop even publicly banned them from his Archdiocese.
If communities such as these who have liturgical weirdness littered all over it are being disciplined now under this gloriously reigning Pope's watch, when will the same ax fall on liturgical abusers here in the Philippines?
Watch out fellow Pinoy Catholics.
I will be posting tons of liturgical abuse photos sent in by our members of the elite squad of God's Undercover Liturgical Police or the GULP Squad. :)
Hi. I am a constant reader of your blog and a member of the neo catechumenal way. the recent developments have been echoed to us, and as always, we will obey the pope since he interprets the will of God for us.
ReplyDeleteI will not deny that there have been several issues raised against our community; the bishops of japan for one, even archbishop villegas has given clear instructions re. the pastoral care of members of the way in Dagupan, and thank God, the brethren has taken the better portion and that is to obey.
I guess like in any family, the neo catechumenal communities although it has been there for sometime, will always have flaws that requires the correction of holy mother church.
defensive as I may sound, please take no offense when I assure you that our communities will never create a parallel church within the church, nor will it disobey magisterium. many have left and choose to rise against the deposit of faith handed by the apostles but the "neo cats" as we are called will not desert our roman catholic faith.
please pray for us that we be renewed in the light of faith, so that thru this conversion of manners and way of life, Jesus may be pleased.
Of course Jopet I do not wish ill on you. We all want you to stay within the same fold. Our shepherd, Peter, will fulfill the mission given to him by the Resurrected Christ (Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs.)
DeleteIt is edifying to note that you are one of those who chose to listen to the voice of Peter. I have been reading and getting news from my email about how obstinate your leaders are. I pray and hope that this will not be another case of Legionnaires.
Stay in the one Fold Jopet and let us nourish each other in the Faith.
The Boat of Peter is being rocked by her enemies (secularists, atheists, INC, Islam, radical Judaism) They are all around us. Let us stay united.
God bless you.
Dear Ordinary Life,
DeleteIn your community's celebration of the Eucharist:
1. does the presbyter distribute the consecrated bread before consuming himself?
2. do you take the bread standing and then sit before consuming?
3. do you wait till all the communicants have been given the consecrated bread before consuming together?
Thank you for your reply.
I was happy at first when I read this story, but then I visited Rorate Caeli and read the comments and my joy evaporated faster than spilled acetone. Some people just can never be satisfied. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI received this is a comment on my blog JungleWatch (based in Guam). We are wondering if this Fr. Roberto has any comment:
ReplyDeleteHere on Guam the archbishop is apart of the NCW.. In the PI it's the Capuchins that are very involved in the WAY. I know of one capuchin priest from the Philippines that came to Guam last year to cover for his capuchin brothers in the parishes. Fr. Roberto. He's a good priest that stayed in the friary on Guam during his duration here. He was well educated in the NCW and said that he has a community in his parish. He also mentioned that he was more close to the communities at the RSM then the friary except for some few capuchin brothers. He also said that this was his last time coming to Guam to cover because the capuchin brothers here didn't know he was apart of the NCW in PI. He also mentioned to me that the capuchin brothers here are great with some brothers that show negativity towards him being apart of the NCW. I pray for unity for the priests of PI and Guam.