Paycheck Along With Other Benefits

An anonymous poster wrote the following comment, which he got from Tim Rohr's post in the jungle.  His/her comment can be found here (bold is my emphasis). 

AnonymousSeptember 30, 2014 at 8:52 AM

Diana, look what Tim wrote on his blog.

Here's why I'm asking. As the vice-rector of the Cathedral, you have access to the books. You can see my paychecks, as measly as they are. But you don't know what those checks are for that are written to my company, do you?

http://www.junglewatch.info/2014/09/fr-jucutan-is-this-you.html

Now, I think we understand why there is a lot of anger.....it has all to do with money.  Not only was Tim Rohr getting a paycheck, the Church was also making out checks to his company.  Why are checks being written out to his company?  Tim is in real estate.  What would the Church have to do with real estate?  Perhaps, the Church was purchasing books from Tim for their CCD classes?  Was that the "company" he was referring to?  It appears that he had a really good deal, taking money from the Church.  Now, I understand where all the anger is coming from.   

Camino Neocatecumenal JMJ Madrid 2011

In the last World Youth Day, the Neocatechumenal Way sent about 40,000 youths to Brazil. Although the video below was from the World Youth Day of 2011, it showed the experiences and impact that the Way had on the youths during these events.  The next World Youth Day will be in Poland.  Remember the youths.....our children.....the future Church. 

Kiko Is Evil?????

An anonymous poster under one of my posts said that the jungle is calling Kiko Arguello "evil."  His/her comment can be found here. First, they call the Archbishop "evil incarnate", and now they are calling Kiko Arguello (the Founder of the Neocatechumenal Way) "evil."  What action has Kiko done that warrants such a harsh condemnation?  Did he commit murder?  Has he molested many children?  Did he rape a helpless girl? 

Kiko Arguello founded the Neocatechumenal Way.  Was that supposed to be a crime?  One of the most admirable things the Way has done was help families and youths.  For the first time since I was in the Way, I see the youths participating in the Eucharist of the Way, whether it was through cantoring or admontions and readings.  I see the youths spending their Saturday nights in a two hour Mass.  I see the youths spend a Sunday every month in youth scrutacio studying the Holy Bible. I see families pray together and couples being open to life.  So, what exactly has Kiko done that is "evil"??     


The jungle is claiming that the Archbishop is only a puppet taking orders from Giuseppe Gennarini and Father Pius.  So, where is the evidence?  If Tim Rohr can obtain recordings of a closed meeting and homilies of priests, then where is the recording of Giuseppe Gennarini and Father Pius giving orders to the Archbishop and the Archbishop saying "Yes Sir!"???    

By the way, I am still waiting for the confirmation flight of Father John.  The Archbishop was accused of hiding Father John in the seminary, and they have not produced any evidence so far. 

Financial Disclosure Of Archdiocese of Agana

The financial disclosure of 2012 and 2013 of the Archdiocese of Agana can now be viewed in its website.  However, the financial report does not include the Catholic Social Services, Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc, and the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary.  The financial statements of these organizations will be disclosed separately in their websites. 

You can view the financial disclosure of the Archdiocese of Agana in the following website: 

Disclosure of Financial Statement


In July 31, 2014 Archbishop Apuron made the following statement, which can be found in the Umatuna.  According to the Archbishop: 

The Archdiocese of Agana has been working diligently to review its financial condition with the help of the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche and the Archdiocesan Finance Officer, following the indication of Cardinal Filoni, Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Together with the Archdiocesan Finance Council, I decided that on an annual basis the Archdiocese of Agana, Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc. and the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary of Guam will publish the financial reports and financial review.

I am pleased to tell you that through this review we have verified that the overall financial situation of the Archdiocese is healthy and that the debt of the Archdiocese in the past years has been reduced by twenty percent (20%).

However, two (2) entities of the Archdiocese, the Agana Cathedral-Basilica and Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc. have about seven million dollars of indebtedness which has been reduced only marginally and which accounts for about one quarter of the total indebtedness of the Archdiocese of Agana.

Moreover, Deloitte & Touche has determined that the accounting practices, especially of the Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc., are “inappropriate”. Deloitte and Touche, listing the cases of inappropriate accounting, concluded that an audit is not possible until appropriate accounting has been reestablished in The Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc.

College of Consultors and the Archdiocesan Finance Council about this situation, and they expressed their support.

Based on these findings, I have decided that a change in administration in these two entities, the Agana Cathedral- Basilica and The Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc., is necessary and urgent to reestablish proper accounting practices and to complete the financial review, financial report and the audit.

The statement made by the Archbishop about the Church being healthy is true.  The June 2013 report showed an excess of $400,000.  It would be interesting to see the report on the Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc. when it finally comes out.   

The Way Says "Yes" To Europe

 
Catholicism has increased mainly in the continents of Asia and Africa - continents, which are predominantly pagan. The number of men pursuing the priesthood rose more than 30% in Africa and about 29% in Asia.  Unfortunately, numbers decreased in Europe, which showed approximately 22% drop in the priesthood candidates between 2001 and 2011. 

While Kiko Arguello spoke of producing about 20,000 priests in China, the Way is also looking at re-evangelizing Europe.  The problems facing Europe are similar problems facing Guam.  The rate of divorce has increased on Guam.  Many children are being raised by grandparents or other relatives.  Couples are living together rather than entering the sacrament of marriage.  Families are being broken.  There are many children who do not even have the same last names as their parents.  Today, many people see nothing wrong with pre-marital sex, fornication, homosexuality, oral contraception, abortion, and same sex marriage.  These are things that threatens the family.   

According to news report dated April 1, 2008: 

 After 40 years of Europe saying "no" to its future, the Neocatechumenal Way is leading the way to say "yes," according to the archbishop of Vienna.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn said this at a meeting of nine cardinals and 160 European bishops who gathered March 24-29 at the Domus Galilaeae International Center on the Mount of Beatitudes in Galilee to reflect on the New Evangelization in Europe.

The participants in the meeting, which was organized by the Kilo Argüello, Carmen Hernández and Father Mario Pezzi, founders of the Neocatechumenal Way, were greeted by a telegram sent by the Pope's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who sent greetings and the blessing of Benedict XVI.

“In the last 40 years," said Cardinal Schönborn, "Europe has said ‘no’ to its future three times: in 1968 when it rejected 'Humanae Vitae'; then, 20 years later, with the legalization of abortion; and today with homosexual marriages.”

He continued: “It is no longer a moral question, but it is a fact. For example, in Germany today for every 100 parents there are 70 children and 44 grandchildren. In two generations the population will be cut by half.

"This is an objective ‘no’ to the future. The only voice in Europe that has promoted and is promoting the future is the Catholic Church with Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and so many others.

"The Neocatechumenal Way is without a doubt an answer of the Holy Spirit to this situation and I have been able to see it as a bishop and as a shepherd. I have seen parents saying ‘yes’ to life in an encouraging and generous way; they are saying ‘yes’ to the future.”

Mission

At the end of the gathering, the bishops released a joint declaration to launch the re-evangelization of Europe: "We, nine cardinals and 160 archbishops and bishops of Europe, have gathered [...] during the octave of Easter to reflect on the new evangelization in the place where Jesus proclaimed the Beatitudes, and from where he sent the Apostles for the universal mission.

"We, the bishops, recognize with gratitude that, among the many graces that the Holy Spirit has bestowed upon the Church in our times, the Neocatechumenal Way represents, with its itinerary of Christian initiation, a powerful charism to reinforce the missionary impulse that emerges from the baptismal regeneration and to give an answer to the dramatic situation of de-Christianization of Europe.

"We declare that the future of the Neocatechumenal Way will greatly depend upon the fatherly love with which we bishops welcome this charism, closely follow the Redemptoris Mater seminaries and encourage the precious families of the Neocatechumenal Communities, inserting them, more and more, into the life of the local Church."

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Kracow, underlined the importance of the gathering: “It is very important because morality is in a deep crisis in Europe, not just in an individual level, but in an institutional level as well.

"We need to reflect and find a way out, and we, as shepherds, must do this. Here we have an important proposal, the proposal of the Neocatechumenal Way, which is to renew the life of the family.

"The crisis in Europe emerged because of the crisis of the families, for this reason, in renewing the life of the families, Europe herself can be renewed.”

Renewal

The Neocatechumenal Way, whose statutes were approved for five years "ad experimentum" by the Holy See in June 2002, is a spiritual renewal movement at the service of diocesan bishops and pastors as a way of rediscovering the sacrament of baptism and promoting ongoing education in the faith.

The journey began in 1964 when Argüello left everything to go live with the poor in the slums on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain.

There are an estimated 20,000 communities of the Neocatechumenal Way in more than 6,000 parishes in 900 dioceses, which gather together around a million Catholics.

In January 2006, Benedict XVI sent more than 200 families of the Neocatechumenal Way on mission to dioceses around the world to areas where the Church is now absent and the number of the non-baptized is reaching almost 90% of the population.

Vatican representatives at the meeting included Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, and Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/neocatechumenal-way-saying-yes-to-europe

Missio Ad Gentes: A Mission Of Gratitude

In the Neocatechumenal Way, families have stood up and risked everything to go out into foreign lands to evangelize.  These are the testimonies from some of the families in mission: 

Vatican City, February 03, 2014 (Zenit.org)    
“Evangelize with love, be zealous and joyful missionaries, do not lose your joy!” This was the mandate given by Pope Francis on Saturday to over 400 families of the Neocatechumenal Way, who were sent to announce the Gospel all over the world. These words of the Holy Father were particularly touching to those 174 families at the meeting who will be part of 40 new missio ad gentes to the most de-christianized areas of Europe, America and Asia.

The families taking part in this mission “to the gentiles” feel a particular call to leave their home, work and securities in gratitude to what they have received: the love of Christ.

Pedro and Carmen Dinoris Biaggi, a couple with 8 children, one of whom is in the Redemptoris Mater Seminary of Dallas, were among the families sent by the Holy Father to one of two missio ad gentes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“I see how God has saved me from death,” Biaggi told ZENIT. “And from this death I am so grateful for what He has taken me out of - from the gangs, from the streets, from drugs - and now he’s given me a wife and children, a Christian family. I see this as a call from the Lord to go and announce what God has done in my life to the brothers of Philadelphia.”

Regarding the challenges and difficulties they might face in their mission, Biaggi said that despite those difficulties, God will open a way for them to be happy, even in the midst of suffering.
“I am more afraid of my sins than the mission,” Biaggi’s wife, Carmen, added. “Seeing where God has taken me out of, too see that I have been married for 18 years with 6 children, I see that I don't deserve it. I see real graces! I'm very happy to do this mission and I can't wait to throw myself and see what the Lord has for us.”

“The Lord Precedes Us”

Many families who are already in various missio ad gentes around the world were present at the meeting with the Holy Father. Miguel and Beatriz, a family with 4 children, form part of the missio ad gentes in Manchester in the UK. “In the beginning it was very hard,” Miguel told ZENIT, “The language, the customs, the food...For one year, we lived in very humble conditions, without being able to communicate or understand [the language]. But God has never allowed us to lack His help, as well as strengthening our faith, even providing us with concrete things, like a house, a job, etc.”

“What touched my wife and I the most was to see how quickly our children adapted, they were happy from the moment we arrived, and learned English very well! This mission is our way of giving thanks to the Lord, for everything He has done, for the life he has given to us and our children.”

This same gratitude was expressed by Cedric, Cristine and their four children who were sent to Rajkot in their native India. Their mission is particularly difficult as they are being sent to an area known for continued persecution against Christians. “There are many risks,” he confirmed to ZENIT, “the majority of the population are Hindi, some are even extremists. It is very difficult. Even though we will be in India, we still must learn a new language, a new culture, it is all very different.”
“Then why embark on this mission?”, we asked him.

“Because our gratitude towards God is much stronger,” he replied. “We have seen so many miracles and received so much love, that we can’t help but share this with others.” One such example, he recalled, were the difficult pregnancies his wife had. Despite the risks, Cedric and Cristine said that God has blessed them with four children. “It is truly a miracle: each child is a gift! Our children know that God has given them life, so they are very happy to go on this mission.”

Announcing the Gospel Courageously.

“It is truly a miracle that see all these people will be going around the world to evangelize, leaving their homes and their securities,” Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron of Guam told ZENIT. “What struck me the most were the families sent to China, who are willing to learn a new language, a completely different culture, to lose their life. I am sure that the Lord will help them.”

The same sentiment was shared by Bishop John McIntyre, auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia, where 12 of the families will be sent, among them the Biaggi family, in two different missio ad gentes. Bishop McIntyre said he was moved by the Holy Father’s words at the meeting, particularly his concern for the families and their generosity in offering themselves in mission to the Church.

“In certain parts of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, participation in the life of the Church is very strong and in other areas. it’s very weak,” he said. “We need to evangelize, to go out to those who are far from the Church. The families, the priests and the seminarians who are with them will dedicate themselves full time to that so we’re very grateful for their willingness to do that and to come to us.”
While acknowledging that there are very real challenges and difficulties the families might face, Bishop McIntyre expressed his confidence that Christ will ultimately triumph.

“With faith in Christ, in his victory over all those problems, over sin and death, I know the families will succeed [through] Him,” the Bishop said.

Families In Mission

In The Eyes Of Kiko Arguello

The following article was taken from Zenit in 2002.  It is an old article, but still an excellent one.  It is seen from the eyes of the Founder of the Way, Kiko Arguello.  The weblink to the article is provided at the bottom.  

ROME, JUNE 28, 2002 (Zenit. org)

In 1964 a Madrid youth named Kiko Argüello initiated the Neocatechumenal Way in one of the poorest neighborhoods of the Spanish capital.

Now, the Way is one of the strongest charisms of the Catholic Church. Its statute was officially recognized today in a ceremony at the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

This ecclesial reality has spread to 105 nations, in 883 dioceses and 4,950 parishes.

In the 1960s, Argüello was the prototype of nonconformists. A product of a Catholic middle-class family, he studied fine arts in Madrid. He became a self-described atheist and went on to win the National Award for Painting. But his professional success didn’t bring him happiness.

“I had died interiorly and I knew that sooner or later my end would undoubtedly be suicide,” he said in a rare interview. “To live each day was a suffering. Every day the same thing: Why get up? Who am I? Why are we living? Why earn money? Why get married? Nothing had meaning for me.”

He recalled: “I would ask the people around me: ‘Excuse me, but do you know why you are living?’ They could not answer me. A great chasm opened within me. I would escape from myself. That chasm was a profound call from God, who was calling me from my deepest interior.”

One day Argüello said he went into his room and began to cry out to that God: “‘If you exist, help me. I don’t know who you are -- help me!’ And at that moment God had mercy on me, because I had a profound experience of encounter with the Lord that startled me.”

“I remember that I began to cry,” he recalled. “Surprised, I asked myself, Why am I crying? I felt pardoned, as one who, in the face of death, when he is about to be shot, is told: ‘You are free, you are free at no cost.’“

“For me that meant passing from death to seeing that Christ was within me, and that someone within me was telling me that God exists, as St. Paul says: ‘The Spirit witnesses to our spirit that we are children of God,’“ Argüello added.

Following in the footsteps of Father Charles de Foucauld, in 1964 Argüello left everything to live among the poor, in the shanties of Palomeras Altas, on the outskirts of Madrid. While in touch with the poor, he was involved in catechesis. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he formed a community with the poor who live celebrating the Word of God and the Eucharist.

It was the advent of the tripod on which the Neocatechumenal Way is based: Word, liturgy and community.

With the help of co-founder Carmen Hernández and some priests, Argüello introduced the experiment in a number of parishes. And so a new Church entity came into being.

A key event was the visit of Monsignor Casimiro Morcillo, then archbishop of Madrid, to the community of Palomeras. Profoundly moved, he recognized God’s action in those poor, and blessed the fledgling Neocatechumenal Way. Since then, Argüello and Hernández have worked, always seeking communion with bishops.

The two founders were then called to preach the Gospel in several Madrid parishes. They found middle-class and educated people who, called to conversion, progressively began to see the catechumenate as a way of Christian initiation, moving by stages until it reached the baptismal font. These faithful also saw the need for a neocatechumenate, for a post-baptismal catechumenate.

What is the Neocatechumenal Way? Argüello believes that “the current process of secularization has led many people to abandon the faith and the Church. This is why it is necessary to reopen a way of Christian formation.”

“The Neocatechumenal Way does not intend to create a movement in itself, but tries to help parishes to open a way of Christian initiation [leading] to baptism, in order to discover what it means to be Christian. It is an instrument at the service of bishops, within parishes, to bring back to the faith the many people who have abandoned it,” Argüello clarified.

As the founder explained, this experience recovers the “kerygma” of the early Church, the news of salvation, which is followed by a change of life in the catechumen, and is then sealed by the liturgy.

“The renewal that has taken place in parishes thanks to the neocatechumenate has, in fact, caused an amazing missionary impulse, which has made many catechists and whole families offer themselves to be sent to those places on earth in need of evangelization,” Argüello added.

“Another important fruit in the local Church is the flowering of numerous vocations, both to the religious as well as the priestly life,” he said. “It has made possible the resurgence of 40 missionary diocesan seminaries, which can go to the assistance of so many dioceses in difficulty, at this time of lack of vocations.”

Neocatechumenal Way as seen by Founder Kiko Arguello

Responding to voice of faith

Voice of faith asked me three questions, which I said I will answer in a post.  First of all, voice of faith, you sound almost like Catholic United, and I cannot help but wonder if you are that person under a new name.  At any rate, I did say that I would answer your three questions.  This post is only for you, and then I will move on, even if you do not like my answer.  According to voice of faith whose comment is found here.:  

voice-of-faithSeptember 24, 2014 at 12:45 PM

I am not particularly surprised that you throw out my other questions. Let me just repeat. Could you please explain these 3 things from our conversation in the last couple of days:

1. What do you mean that Jesus was a Jew and also God? Is Jesus a Jewish God?
2. How was Isaac an "idol" to Abraham?
3. Why would Abraham think that Isaac could be resurrected after sacrificing him?

I hope you don't think my questions are offensive. These things came up at your blog. I am truly looking forward to your explanation. Thanks.

1.  Jesus is NOT a Jewish God. Jesus is God because we believe in the Holy Trinity...that there are three persons in one God.  Jesus is the second person in the Holy Trinity.  The Holy Trinity does not care about the ethnicity of a person. The Holy Bible says that God created man and woman.  It never said that He created a caucasian man or an African man.  Mankind is the only one who assigns ethnicity to each other.  Only man looks at the color of a person's skin, which is the reason why we have ethnic cleansing, racial conflicts and discrimination of people of different races and ethnic background.  Christ was a Jewish man, but He is a God of all people who has faith in Him.  The Holy Bible traced Christ's lineage to Adam to show that he is one with the entire human race and not just to the Jewish people (See Luke 3:23-38).  From one man and one woman came the entire race of human beings.  

Jesus came down incarnated as a man.  Christ (who is the second person in the Holy Trinity) has two natures - a human nature and a divine nature.  The human nature is Jewish because he was raised in a Jewish home and practiced Jewish customs.  The Catholic Church have always recognized that Christ was a Jew, so I do not know where you got the idea that Christ was a Christian.  The Catholic Church also recognize Jesus as God, the second person in the Holy Trinity.   

2.  Children can become idols when parents love their children more and put them first before God.  An idol is anything that one puts first before God.  According to the Bible:  

Matthew 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 

Jesus is saying that if you love your son or daughter more than Him, then you are not worthy to be His disciple.  Jesus is saying that you should love God more than your child.  God should always come first even before your child.  If Abraham loved Isaac more than God, then Isaac has become an idol.  

3.  Abraham not only believed in God, but also KNEW God.  He knew Him well enough that God is capable of resurrecting his son Isaac if Isaac died.  Abraham already saw that his wife Sarah was very old and had a dead womb and therefore could not give him a son.  But it was God who made Sarah's womb alive so that she can give birth to Isaac.  Abraham saw the miracle in this.  

So, Abraham knew that God is also capable of giving life back to his son just as He gave life to his wife's dead womb.  And God is indeed capable of resurrecting the dead just as He did with Lazarus.  Abraham knew that God will either provide him with a lamb so he would not have to sacrifice his son Isaac (Genesis 22:7) or that God would resurrect his son from the dead. Either way, Abraham trusted God, which is why he is called "the father of faith."     

Facts About the Way

Fast facts about the Neocatechumenal Way

ü  Founders: Kiko Argüello, a painter, and Carmen Hernandez, a graduate in chemistry and theology, who met in the shanty town of Palomeras Altas, on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain, and developed a program for evangelizing the slum’s residents, many of them gypsies, prostitutes, drunkards and robbers who had no relationship with the Church.

ü  1974: The Congregation for Divine Worship, while preparing the reintroduction of the catechumenate for adults (known as RCIA), publishes a laudatory note, “Praeclarum exemplar,” (wonderful example)  and settles on the name “Neocatechumenate” to indicate an itinerary of post-baptismal formation for those who are baptized but not sufficiently catechized.

ü  May 8, 1974: Neocatechumenal Way is approved by Paul VI during a meeting with Argüello and Hernandez.

ü  1987: John Paul II opens the first Redemptoris Mater seminary in Rome to prepare priests for the New Evangelization; today, there are 100 Redemptoris Mater seminaries worldwide, with almost 2,000 priests already ordained and 2,000 seminarians in formation. Eight of those seminaries are in the U.S., including the one in Miami.

ü  1990: Neocatechumenal Way is recognized by John Paul II as “an itinerary of Catholic formation valid for our society and our time,” and an instrument for the New Evangelization.

ü  June 13, 2008: Five Congregations of the Holy See — Doctrine of the Faith, Divine Worship, Bishops, Catholic Education, and Council of the Laity — approve the final statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way

ü  Jan. 17, 2011: Pope Benedict XVI approves the “Catechetical Directory of the Neocatechumenal Way.”

ü  Families in mission: Neocatechumenal Way sends families to areas on the periphery of cities, often immense slums, to form nuclei of evangelization and small communities that can contain the spread of Protestant sects until priests can be sent and new parishes founded. Currently, there are about 1,000 families in mission all over the world. 

ü  Missio ad gentes: Groups consisting of a priest and four or five large families who, at the request of a bishop, receive a mandate to evangelize de-Christianized or pagan areas. There are now 95 missio ad gentes in the world, including six in the U.S. dioceses of Brooklyn, Boston and Philadelphia

ü  Feb. 1, 2014: Pope Francis, meeting with about 12,000 members of the Neocatechumenal Way, sends 450 families in mission and 42 new missio ad gentes. 

ü  Today, there are about Neocatechumenal 25,000 communities in 800 dioceses and 6,000 parishes in 124 nations, including 1,000 communities in 300 parishes and 75 U.S. dioceses. 

Neocatechumenal Way in Miami

Those who are interested in learning more about the Neocatechuenal Way, our website is below: 

http://www.camminoneocatecumenale.com/

The Body And Blood Of Christ

There is a false rumor going around in the jungle about our belief in Transubstantiation.  To dispel that rumor, let it be said and known here that members of the Way DO believe in Transubstantiation.  We believe that in the Eucharist, the bread and wine BECOMES the actual Body and Blood of Christ after the priest consecrates it.  It is no longer viewed as bread and wine, but the actual Body and Blood of Christ.  This is why some of us even say that when we drink His blood, the Blood of Christ flows in our veins.  This is not something symbolic. 

Tim Rohr's conclusion for this false rumor stems from the fact that we consume the Body of Christ sitting down.  In other words, he is saying that we do not believe that bread and wine becomes the actual Body and Blood of Jesus Christ simply because we consume His Body SITTING down. 

This is the same utter nonsense that Fundamentalist Protestants have for calling Catholics "idol-worshippers"......because they see Catholics BOWING to statues.  Idolatry is found only in the hearts of men.  It is not found in statues, paintings, jobs, wealth, or in other things.  God can give wealth to people just as He did with Job.  Money is not a sin.   It is the "LOVE of money" that is a sin because one is supposed to love only God with their whole heart, mind, and soul.  So, it is utter nonsense when Fundamentalist Protestants accused Catholics of being idol-worshippers because they see them BOWING to statues.  Do these Fundamentalists say that those who bow to the audience after a performance are worshipping the audience?  They understood perfectly that bowing to an audience after a grand performance does not mean that the performers were worshipping the audience.  The same can be said of Catholics bowing to a statue of Mary.  We do not worship Mary, and God who sees the hearts of all men is the only one capable of knowing this.    

Therefore, for anyone to say that the NCW do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist as His actual Body and Blood simply because we consume His Body SITTING down is only following the seriously flawed logic of the Fundamentalist Protestants.  The truth is...... the NCW believes that after the priest consecrates the bread and wine, it BECOMES the Body and Blood of Christ.    

In fact, there are cases in Catholic history where the bread and wine miraculously changes into a human tissue and human blood.  Experiments show that the tissue came from the tissue of a human heart, and the Blood was found to be AB human blood.  The NCW believes in transubstantiation.

  

An Exercise In Futility

A friend of mine has been reading my blog on a daily basis, and he offered his observation based on the comments in the threads.  I thought his observation was excellent and decided to publish his comment on my blog.  His observation are the following with some highlighted points: 

AN EXERCISE IN FUTILITY

 

A deacon aired his view on PDN that Archbishop should answer to the criticism that this dude on ‘Jungle or Wilderness something’ is presenting. Well, I hope Archbishop has more important things to do than to read and answer this nonsense. Moreover, does Deacon believe that these people, who are behind this blog, really care about the truth? 

•    The Popes, not one, not two, not three but ALL the recent Popes have said that the Neocatechumenal Way is great and we have presented excerpts of their speeches and their documents. Since 1974. 40 YEARS OF constant APPROVAL FROM THE SUPREME PONTIFFS.  These gentlemen discard them as irrelevant. And they claim that they are Catholics.

•    The Holy See have studied and, not only approved, but lauded our catechesis and they still claim that these catechesis are heretical = deviating from the Catholic faith. What is the point of even reasoning with these folks if they do not listen to Rome?

•    We have furnished a whole list of Cardinals and Bishops who favor the Neocatechumenal Way. They reject their testimonies and then this one bloke had the cheek to make a whole story and publish it in PDN about one (I repeat, one) Bishop in the Philippines who wrote a letter somewhat against the Way!!!

•    We have the Statutes approved by the Holy See.  Coolly they put them aside as inappropriate. Where is their Catholicity?

•    Many brothers and sisters dared to share their lives in public. They made fun of them. Insensitivity at its worst.

•    TWO POPES, innumerable Cardinals (even Cardinal Canizares who at the time was the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments - February 2013) celebrated the Eucharist the way we do it.  And yet they keep harping the same broken disk that we are not obedient.  So neither the Pope nor the Cardinals are obedient?!!

Sometimes they write that the Neocatechumenal way is wrong – other times they claim that only the leaders are wrong…. Which is which? As Dr. Eusebio wrote, “you claim that you have problems with 1% of the Neocatechumenal Way. No, you have issues with 99% of the Way.”  One simple question : Are these people more knowledgeable than the Popes!?

They constantly finish their rants by digging at the Archbishop that is allowing these things to happen in his Archdiocese.  If the Pope himself allows “these things” in his diocese, give me one good reason why should Archbishop not allow them?

 

Wrong Attitude

The following was emailed to me by a friend, so I decided to publish it here.

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9/19/2014

WRONG ATTITUDE

 

Just today the Pope gave us a very deep answer to all these nitpickers on the liturgy of the Neocatechumenal Way. Admittedly these people are a very minuscule minority but they are so annoying.  They are like these irksome mosquitos that keep buzzing around someone trying to catch some sleep. And perhaps that is their intention!

 

Let us listen to the freshness of Pope Francis. "In front of many pastoral needs, in front of so many requests of men and women, we run the risk of turning in on ourselves in an attitude of fear and defense. And from there comes the temptation of sufficiency and clericalism that encode faith in rules and instructions, as did the scribes, the Pharisees and the scribes of the time of Jesus. "

 

Instead of discussing ways of how to reach the un-churched we lose our time squabbling about sitting and dancing and prostrating and kneeling… Obviously without referring to the theme that is being aired here in Guam by this microscopic minority  as if it is the biggest problem in the Pacific (!!!), the Pope is saying, ‘open up, look at the essentials’. He is speaking of an attitude that he feels should govern all our discussions. If we close ourselves in the hypocritical bitterness of codes and regulations, we risk not listening to the cries of those who are suffering and who may discover in the Church a haven for their wounds..

 

Speaking to the participants of the International Meeting 'The pastoral plan of Evangelii Gaudium' organized by the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, the Pope continued, “I said already a few times before that the Church seems to me to be a field hospital: many people asking us to heal their wounds, asking us what they asked of Jesus: nearness, closeness. But with this attitude of the scribes, the doctors of the law and the Pharisees, we never give a testimony of closeness. … How much poverty and loneliness unfortunately we see in today's world! How many people live in great suffering and ask from the Church to be a sign of closeness, kindness, solidarity and mercy of the Lord ... ".

 

Moreover, days ago, in Santa Martha, Pope Francis had already answered to a recurrent objection: "Some of you may say: 'But, Father, don’t Christians have the law?' Yes! Jesus said: 'I did not come to abolish the law but to bring it to fulfillment.’ And the fulfillment of the law, for example, are the Beatitudes, the law of love, total love, as He - Jesus - has loved us. And when Jesus rebukes these doctors of the law, he scolds them for having made of ​​the law so many petty slave laws of numerous minor things one must do. "

 

It is so sad that instead of rejoicing that so many people are coming back to the Church also through the Neocatechumenal Way, some protest and condemn. But on reflecting, what is the big surprise? Jesus predicted this in the parable of the Prodigal Son. The elder brother when he returns from the fields gets so angry because his Father made a feast for his brother who has returned from his profligate lifestyle, that he refused to enter into the house and party. “Now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’”  Let us have a look again at Luke 15.

 

The Spirit Of The Law

The Sabbath is very important to the Jewish people.  The Lord God commanded His people to work for six days and to rest on the Sabbath Day. 

Exodus 20:10  but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.

This was what the Pharisees and the teachers of the law knew.  They commanded the people to follow the letter of the law to the fullest.  All work was forbidden.  So, when Jesus healed on the Sabbath Day, the Pharisees were quick to condemn Him for breaking the Sabbath law.  There were people who wanted to destroy Jesus because of His healing on the Sabbath, His declaration of being God (which they considered blasphemy), His novel interpretation of the precepts of the law regarding purity, and His close association with tax collectors and prostitutes.  Christ was accused of blasphemy and other religious crimes, which the law calls for death by stoning.  Unfortunately, these people were so much into the law that they could not see the miracle that Jesus performed as He healed the blind and the lame. They could not see that there was something there greater than the law. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 

CCC 2173   The Gospel reports many incidents when Jesus was accused of violating the sabbath law. But Jesus never fails to respect the holiness of this day.⁹⁸ He gives this law its authentic and authoritative interpretation: "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath."⁹⁹ With compassion, Christ declares the sabbath for doing good rather than harm, for saving life rather than killing.¹⁰⁰ The sabbath is the day of the Lord of mercies and a day to honor God.¹⁰¹ "The Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."¹⁰² 

 This is not to say that the law is bad or that we should disobey the law. Following the Spirit of the Law is not a means to avoiding the Letter of the Law.  It is a means of understanding what the real purpose of the Law is, and keeping the Letter of the Law in the context of the two greatest commandments, which is to love God with your whole heart, mind, and and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself. 

Christ said that you will know His disciples by their fruits.  The fruits are miracles of the Holy Spirit.  When one is so much into the law, as the Pharisees were, they would miss the miracles that are apparent in the Neocatechumenal Way.  These fruits are not man-made, but comes from the Holy Spirit.  It is only by the grace of God that one can truly forgive one's enemies and even be open to life.