John Paul II: visit to the parish of St Luke the Evangelist,
Rome 04/11/1979
Pope John Paul II to Neocatechumenal Way in San Luca parish in Rome
Translated from the Italian edition of L'Osservatore Romano, 5-6 November 1979.
The group or rather the Community is always formed from within, inside, and it is within that the Holy Spirit touches each one of us, what each one of us is, his personal intimacy, his spiritual intimacy, but it does not touch any of us separately, individually, because he created us to be community, to live in communion. He touches each of us to rebuild us in communion and this is how all these Communities within the Christian communion can be explained, Communities like yours, for there are five Communities. I think that there is a rule, a simple rule: to give, one must have something, not in a material sense, but in a spiritual sense. To give, you must have something inside that is not material, but spiritual, and this invisible thing must be discovered. I think that this is the rule of your Neocatechumenal Movement: it is about discovering, rediscovering what you have inside. There are many baptised Christians, but perhaps they have not discovered their baptism. They have almost forgotten their baptism. They are baptised people, their Baptism is in the documents, it is found in the parish registers, and is even registered in their hearts - but this interior registration is nearly dead, not awakened. It must be discovered! When you discover you have it, then you must give it. When you discover it, you cannot help but give it, because what you are discovering impels you to give it. In this way, all the Apostles were born, all the Apostles were born in this way, I think that if there are now itinerant catechists, if the Pope too has become itinerant, this is also a fruit he has discovered. Once you have discovered this richness, this mystery, this mystery of Christ, this mystery that makes up our own personal, spiritual and Christian identity, you cannot help trying to give it to others.. I am very happy with this meeting. I hope you will continue. To continue means to follow the Holy Spirit and to follow also your vocation. Discovering this
National Catholic Reporter
ReplyDeleteIssue Date: December 10, 2004
Vatican heaps praise on Legionaries of Christ VATICAN CITY -- In a week of liturgies, meetings and official documents, Pope John Paul II and Vatican offices have spotlighted the growing influence of the Legionaries of Christ and the associated movement, Regnum Christi.
The events coincided with celebrations in Rome of the 60th anniversary of the priestly ordination of the Legionaries’ founder and head, Mexican Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado. The pope lauded Maciel’s missionary and spiritual efforts, in particular an international network of schools, university centers, charitable institutions and institutes that promote family and human values.
Maciel, 84, founded the Legionaries in 1941, and it has grown to include about 500 priests and 2,500 seminarians, who work in more than 20 countries. The Regnum Christi movement has tens of thousands of members around the world, most of them lay men and women.
Maciel has remained in papal favor despite numerous and sustained allegations that he sexually abused several former Legionaries when they were teenage seminarians in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s (NCR, March 7, 1997).
Maciel and the Legionaries have categorically and strenuously denied the allegations since they emerged in 1997. The repetition of the allegations against Maciel by former members of the order has prompted the Legionaries to post a special page of rebuttal documentation on the order’s Web site. A Vatican investigation produced no public findings.
Among other things, the pope entrusted to the Legionaries the administration of an important church institution in the Holy Land, Jerusalem’s Notre Dame Center. He also approved the statutes and charism of the Regnum Christi movement.
A top Vatican official ordained 59 Legionaries of Christ priests from 10 countries and said the new vocations underline the international nature of the religious order.
Closing the celebrations at the Vatican Nov. 30, the pope presided over an enthusiastic encounter with some 4,000 Legionaries of Christ priests and seminarians and Regnum Christi members.
After warmly greeting Maciel, the pope said in a speech that the priest’s ministry had been “full of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.”The pope said he wanted to join in the “canticle of praise and thanksgiving” for the great things the priest has accomplished.
Dear Anonymous at 12:46 pm,
DeleteFirst of all, if you believe that EVERYTHING the Pope praises and approves is wrong, then why bother that YOU should follow the Pope. In other words, why should you even bother to tell us to obey what the Pope says if you cannot even trust the Pope's judgment. It was never the Pope's fault that the founder of the Legion of Christ was living a double life.
Secondly, it is unfair to compare the Legion of Christ to the NCW. The founders are not the same. The founder of the Legion of Christ was found guilty of child abuse and molestation. The founder of the Way has not been accused of any crimes. To judge that ALL organizations are exactly like the Legion of Christ is unfair, unjust, and discriminatory. Each organization should be judged individually and according to its own merits.
Merely pointing out that popes can be wrong in there support of people and organisations....
DeleteDear Anonymous at 5:16 pm,
DeleteMerely pointing out that Popes can also be right in their support of people and organizations.
DeleteAnonymous April 26, 2015 at 5:16 PM
Merely pointing out that popes can be wrong in there support of people and organisations....
Since the inception of the NCW; we have 4; 04; 1-2-3-4 Popes acknowledging the fruits of the Way.
Two of these Popes are now Saints.
I say that's pretty good odds that they are right.
There is a reason of abhorrence from Trent. At that time the Catholic Church had to cuddle up to protect itself from the Protestant onslaught. So the clergy at the council led by St Ignatius of Loyola came up with a rigid dogmatic framework. Some of this was necessary, some was not. St Ignatius, perhaps, outdid the job a little. This made a twist in the history of the church for about 350 years up until Vatican 2. Dogmatic thinking, but not the dogmas themselves, destroyed the natural diversity in Catholic faith that had been present ever before Trent. Freedom in Christ and guidance by the Spirit was replaced by servitude to written books. No wonder the church is suffering. It is time now to straight out the path of the Lord, throw out of the bookworm mentality that seeks instruction from books only. Books are to teach and not to impose. Eventually, this sour twist called Trent in church history must be overcome by truth and freedom in the Lord.
DeleteDear Delta Force,
DeleteI hope you are not saying that the dogmas and doctrines of the Church should be thrown out. There is nothing rigid in the dogmas and doctrines of the Catholic Church. These dogmas and doctrines are revealed truths that came from God that one should not ignore. Freedom in Christ does not mean to ignore the written Truth. But we are to manifest that written Truth in our lives so that it becomes a living light in us.....the light of Christ, Christ said that to love God and to love your neighbor as God loves us fulfills the entire law and prophets. Christ never broke the Law, but fulfilled it.
No, dear Diana, this is not what I am saying. Dogmas and dogmatic thinking are two completely distinct categories. Dogmas are like pearls but dogmatic thinking is like plague. Dogmas are ultimate declarations in faith matters. Dogmas are very few and all of them have rational explanation! It does not mean you accept a dogma by reason. You accept it by faith but you still can argue and can make rational explanation about it.
DeleteIn contrast, dogmatic thinking is not an ultimate declaration of one thing, but a tendency of ultimate declaration for everything! This is a huge difference between the two things. Dogmatic thinking is not about a few thing, it is about everything. Dogmatic thinking disdains reason and denies that faith can be argued or explained rationally. Dogmatic people want you to accept everything by sheer submission imposed on you. They want to reduce you to shambles by throwing books and paragraphs on you. But they do not have the Spirit of truth.
Just look at the jungle, that is what they do day and night, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They would quote 100 paragraphs a day on you from GIRM or CCC or whatever in order to make you give up your ways and submit. Would you? No, we would not. Because bookworms are not the keepers, but the killers of faith! So please, make distinction between justified dogma and unjustifiable dogmatism.
Dear Delta Force,
DeleteThat is the first I have heard of dogmatic thinking. The jungle is like the Pharisees who knows the Letter of the Law, but lack the Spirit of the Law.
Dogmatic thinking is an enemy of freedom in Christ. It poisons the Spirit of Him who came to be incarnate among us and for us so that we may be set free through Him from bondage.
DeleteDiana legion of Christ and NCW founders are exactly same kind of people. They are both founders of contemporary ecclesial movements. Birds of the same feather flock together to fool others.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous at 3:26 pm,
DeleteThey are not the same kind of people. They are different. One was found to be a child molester and was living a double life. The other was not.
Oh...when did they find out Kiko is a child molester? A double life?
DeleteThis is what I am saying! As it was in the days of St Paul, it is also the same today. In our communities we experience the Spirit of Him who made Himself incarnate among us. This Spirit cannot exist in bondage. You have to break free from bondage in order to come to the Lord. This is the great thing about our communities.
ReplyDeleteYou need Jesus to override horrible the old wiring in your heart. St Paul talks about the new man. Jesus gives us the Spirit of truth that makes you free in contrast to the spirit of servitude that enslaves you. The two things cannot exist together just as freedom in Jesus and enslavement to Sabbath day cannot exist together.
The Council of Trent wanted to stop erosion caused by the Protestants and made a big box of rules to frame Catholic life around. I worked for a couple of hundred years. But now is the time to break free. We outgrew the box of Trent, the framework of imposition. We see now how the Spirit of Him who came to be incarnate and free us is excluded from that box of dogmatic imposition.
ReplyDeleteVery true, the Sainted Holy Father pointed out that the Baptisms were registered in the Parishes and in the Baptized hearts. What about if you are Baptized in a gym or Hotel. And then find out your Baptism is registered in your heart but NOT in the Parish? Diana?
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous at 9:30 pm,
DeleteThe priest who baptized the person represents the parish because that is where he was assigned.
I only asked because a gentleman said he could not get authentic copy of his son's Baptism Certificate. I believed the story to be true. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThe adversaries of Archbishop preach reconciliation. They practice hatred.
ReplyDeleteThey organize sham prayer rallies.
Prayer is based on forgiveness. Jesus Christ himself said it. One cannot pray if one fosters animosity.
These prayer rallies are a total perversion of Christianity.
There is a campaign going on at the moment NOT to contribute money to the Archdiocese. You guess who is behind this campaign! Apparently the intention of these Archbishop Haters is to starve the Church to submission to their demands.
ReplyDeleteWho will suffer? Obviously us, the normal Catholics.
The money that is collected in Archdiocesan Appeal goes to the formation of priests and Hospital and Prison Ministry.
No money no future priests. No future priests no sacraments. No sacraments no Catholic Church.
No money less hospital and prison ministry. Who will suffer? These unfortunate members of our Church.
It is so easy to destroy.
Hatred makes one blind.
God is giving this island the grace of vocations. Why squander this grace? It is madness.
ReplyDeleteNo need to look further than our nearby island. No priests at all.
Is this what these Archbishop haters want?
One of the first causalities of this campaign not to give money to the Church is Saint Thomas More School. This school has been relying heavily on the money that the Chancery constantly funneled to it since day one.
ReplyDeleteThis school has been running in the red since they began and it is the Chancery that constantly bailed them out.
No money in the coffers. No help to this school. School has to close its doors.
Who are the losers? Again, us…
Obviously we are the losers. This campaign led by these foreigners has already made us lose a school.
ReplyDeleteDo not give money to the Archdiocesan Annual Appeal, say these Archbishop Haters.
ReplyDeleteThe Catechism of the Catholic Church prescribes five precepts that are meant to identify the minimum spiritual commitment required of the faithful.
1. "You shall attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation and rest from labor."
2. "You shall confess your sins at least once a year."
3. "You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season."
4. "You shall observe the prescribed days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church."
5. “YOU SHALL HELP TO PROVIDE FOR THE NEEDS OF THE CHURCH, EACH ACCORING TO ITS OWN ABILITY.”
How can these guys who are so finicky about observing liturgical rules, neglect an explicit precept of the Church?
Jesus gives us sound advice. “Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."
How does Tim Rohr make a living? I wonder. Perhaps he is making money from the contributions he is constantly asking in his blog.
ReplyDeleteFrom Jungle Thing : “Thank you for your support. As you might imagine, this blog has required many hours of writing, research, engaging, and generally getting the truth out. You can help support this effort by making a contribution of any amount. Checks may also be mailed to Tim Rohr…
The Donate button below takes you to PayPal.com. All transactions are protected by PayPal. All transactions are confidential.”
I wonder whether he inputs this income in his Tax Returns.
Being so keen on transparency of others, I hope and pray he is as transparent himself!
Maybe the IRS need to look in to this 7:29 AM
DeleteArchbishop Thomas Wenski, Archbishop of Miami, preached the homily at the ordination of Bishop Peter Baldacchino, Miami’s 10th auxiliary bishop. The consecration took place March 19, 2014 at St. Mary Cathedral in Miami.
ReplyDeleteBishop Baldacchino walked the Neocatechumenal Way in Malta(I believe) since he was 14 years old. And he is still walking. Last Sunday he was at the Great Mission in Miami.
This is an excerpt of Wenski’s homily
“Peter, you have followed an itinerary of Catholic formation – a work of the New Evangelization – known as the Neocatechumenal Way, which Blessed John Paul II deemed “valid for our society and for our times.” Pope Benedict XVI described “The Way” as a “precious instrument” that contributes, “with new impetus and ardor, to the radical and joyful rediscovery of the gift of baptism.”
As you walked this itinerary you discovered – in the proclamation of the Kerygma – the Evangelii Gaudium, the Joy of the Gospel. As a bishop you must continue to share that joy with all – as you recognized in the choice of your episcopal motto, Ubi Dominus, ibidem Laetitia (Wherever God is, there is joy).”
Why are some people shocked that Archbishop Apuron walks in the Neocatechumenal Way? I do not understand. They attack him on this point as if he is doing a crime!!! In other places it is normal that Bishops ‘walk’ in a neo-catechumenal community
This is gross.
ReplyDeleteUsing prayer to protest against Archbishop is abominable. It makes a mockery of Jesus Christ.
He said it so clearly… “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. 26"But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions."
They tell me that Father Paul Gofigan and JJ Calvo, who is the godson of Mgr. Benavente are two of the promoters of this motorcade scheduled for next Sunday. They talk reconciliation and they do hatred.
Archbishop must be suffering. Let us all help him overcome all this wickedness against him. Let us all pray for him.
Amen. Abominable is exactly the right word.
DeleteJesus goes further. He says if you know of someone who has a problem with you (you might not have that problem) leave the offering at the the altar and go reconcile.
Well Said!! 11:15 AM
Delete@ 5:11... And how do you suggest we do this when AAA hides behind closed doors and refuses to answer legitimate concerns? Oh I forgot, because Diana said that some will say he is lying. So I guess it's better for him to hide, or travel the world.
DeleteDear Anonymous at 11:39 pm,
DeleteThe Archbishop already published the 2012 and 2013 financial report. He knows that the financial report must be published because this is what Pope Francis wants. Give him time to publish the 2014 financial report.
11.15am. Street protests against Archbishop are to be encouraged. Catholics have every right and responsibility to make their voice heard. Anthony Apuron is no longer accepted as spiritual leader of Guam. He must be. Removed.
DeleteDear Anonymous at 4:45 pm,
DeleteI have some news for you. Tim Rohr has been bashing the Archbishop, and nothing happens. He is still the Archbishop. Typhoon Toves came by and still nothing happened. He is still the Archbishop. Tons of letters have been written to Archbishop Krebs and the Vatican, and nothing happened. Archbishop Krebs even visited Guam and nothing happened. He is still the Archbishop. CCOG organized themselves and nothing happened. The Vatican Delegation came to visit Guam and Tim Rohr and CCOG spoke with them. Nothing happened so far. He is still the Archbishop. So, you can go ahead and have your demonstration and prayer protests to God telling Him to remove the Archbishop. My question to you is...........after all that has already happened, when is it going to dawn on you that the Pope is on our side and will NOT remove Archbishop Anthony Apuron?????
There has been all sorts of vicious nastiness in Zimbabwe over the last thirty years, and despite well organised, and just opposition, Robert Mugabe is still president.
DeleteIN any case, even if the pope is "on your side", he may be wrong. Even if this pope is too blind to act (personally, I don't think that is so), perhaps the next one will.
Anonymous April 29, 2015 at 2:03 PM
Delete4 Popes; two of whom are Saints saw the Spirit of God working on mortal man through the NCW.
If Pope rohr is your next....I don't think so Pope...don't hold your breath