Celebrate In Small Communities

As I stated in one of my posts many times, one purpose of the Way is to follow the Early Christians, and this is also stated in the Statutes.  According to the Statutes:  

5 "An itinerary of a catechumenal type, which follows all those phases which the catechumens in the early Church followed before receiving the sacrament of Baptism.....(See Postbaptismal Catechumenate, in Notitiae 95-96, [1974], 229)" (JOHN PAUL II, Letter, Ogniqualvolta, August 30, 1990: AAS 82 [1990] 1514).

The Statutes further states in Chapter III, Section II, Article 13:  

The neocatechumens celebrate the Sunday Eucharist in the SMALL community after the first Vespers of Sunday.  

It is highly recommended by our Catechists that the celebration of the Eucharist be done in small communities, and this is also stated in the Statutes.  Considering this fact, would it then make sense to understand why the words "open also to other faithful" does not mean that we are to publicly advertise where our Eucharistic celebration will be held in the Church bulletin or local newspaper?  If that were the case, we would not be celebrating in SMALL communities as the Statutes specified. However, members of the Way have invited others to the Eucharistic celebration.  If there are a large number of invited guests, the Responsible and Priest are notified so the group preparing can provide enough bread and wine for the celebration.  

In the same way, people with good intentions who attend a struggling Church in mass numbers to show support without notifying the priest will only frustrate the priest who only have a few hosts due to the fact that he was not informed nor did he expect such a large number.  The Way has been criticized for not advertising where their Eucharistic celebrations are located.  So, what happens if we do advertise where our Eucharistic celebrations are located in the Church bulletin? The answer is simple.....they will criticize the Way for not celebrating in small communities as the Statutes specified.  So, we are damned if we do and damned if we don't.  When the Statutes specify that the Eucharistic celebrations are also open to other faithful, that is actually interpreted to mean that we can invite non-members to the celebration.        

Those who wish to attend the two hour Eucharistic celebration of the Neocatechumenal Way, the celebrations usually starts at 7:30 p.m.  Just ask the parish priest or a member where it is held.  When you do attend, we will introduce you to the community.