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The Neocatechumenal Way is leading Catholics towards the full grace of their baptism
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| Double celebration: Young Catholics Benedetta Giannini, from Brisbane, and Ambrose Skruzny, from Melbourne, celebrate both World Youth Day and Australia Day while in Panama City. |
MOST of us were baptised as infants and never had a chance to learn about the faith we inherited, which is precisely why the Neocatechumenal Way is heaven-bent on catechesis.
Brisbane archdiocese has many Neocatechumenal Way communities, including at Loganholme, Wynnum and Newmarket.
Sydney Neocatechumenal Way priest Fr Tony Trafford said their mission came straight from the pages of the Catholic Catechism article 1231.
“Where infant Baptism has become the form in which this sacrament is usually celebrated, it has become a single act encapsulating the preparatory stages of Christian initiation in a very abridged way,” the catechism reads.
“By its very nature infant Baptism requires a post-baptismal catechumenate.
“Not only is there a need for instruction after Baptism, but also for the necessary flowering of baptismal grace in personal growth.”
Fr Trafford said the catechism clearly tells us baptised infants must be given post-baptismal catechumenate in order to “bring the grace of the sacrament to fruition in the life of the person”.
That is where the Neocatechumenal Way steps in.
The Way invites people every year to undertake catechesis as well as reaching out into new communities with the permission of the parish priest and bishop. And catechesis is for life.
Members of the Way learn and discover their faith every week at catechesis sessions, the staple of the community’s ministry.
Evangelisation is an inescapable consequence of this mission.
“As a (Neocatechumenal Way) community begins to grow, it’s clear they’ve received something that’s changed their lives,” Fr Trafford said.
“And when you see something that’s changed your life, you want to tell other people about it because it could change their lives too.”
The evangelisation to follow was as old as the journey from Antioch to Corinth.
“If you look at the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles and the New Testament, you see how (St) Paul and the others went from one city to another bringing the faith they’d received by announcing the Gospel,” Fr Trafford said.
“And what they saw, when they announced the Gospel, that itself produced fruit without having to set out creating structures or anything else.
“The fact of announcing the kerygma awakens in the heart of the person who receives it.
“The Church grew like that – and we work a bit in the same way.”
At Eastertide, members of the community also go out to do missions of the square in public.
Fr Trafford said they set up a cross and a lectern outside a shopping centre and started preaching the message of the Gospel.
“I’m sure the treasure we received is so great it’s not just for us,” he said.
“If God chooses us to be Christians, it’s not because of anything we’ve done, it’s because he has a mission for a Christian to be a sign and a witness to the world.
“That Christ is crucified and risen. And this is a sign of God’s love for mankind, for the sinner.
“We don’t keep quiet. We try to announce Him to the world.”
Young people especially were drawn to the Way in droves.
Fr Trafford said young people recognised what was authentic and saw in their community an honesty and a sincerity.
He said the Neocatechumenal Way took about 250 young people to Panama for World Youth Day this year, and 450 to Krakow.
A unique liturgy was part of the appeal of the Way. The Neocatechumenal Way celebrates Mass with some changes to a typical Mass.
“We always celebrate (Mass) in the form of an assembly, around the altar, because the call of the Church is to love and to be one, and so we can’t be anonymous,” Fr Trafford said.
“It’s important to see one another, and listen to the Word of God together, seeing one another, hearing Christ being proclaimed in our midst.”
Other special Mass permissions included introductions to all the readings to help people listen closely or to simply approach a tired old reading in a new way.
Fr Trafford said the introduction was “not some theological treatise, it’s about me now, in front of this Word, which is Christ being proclaimed to me”.
He said these alterations helped young people become involved too.
Not only was the liturgy strongly articulated, vocations were too.
Fr Trafford said when the Church was life-giving then all the charisms appeared.
Marriage, priesthood and religious life were all highly encouraged in the communities.
This year the Way has had four ordinations, two from its Sydney seminary and two from its Perth seminary.
The Way opened 120 seminaries across the world in the past 25 years.
“The fruits are there,” Fr Trafford said, “God is faithful – He rescues.”
Fr Trafford had a simple message to Australians – “God loves us as we are and his love is shown to us in Jesus Christ”.
It's amazing that ONE person's testimony can direct others to convict Cardinal Pell even though there is an abundance of evidence proving differently.
ReplyDeleteIt is also amazing that ONE person's "misguided belief" can direct others to celebrate, world-wide, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with unapproved alterations, even though there is an abundance of evidence proving the NCW Mass should be celebrated differently.
We must all pray that truth be desired and embraced wholeheartedly.
The NCW Statutes of 2008 do not allow for the many additions and deletions. And, the sad news is the leaders know this; otherwise, they would have not sought the approval for the alterations in 2012 (which they didn't get). Pray for your leaders.
We will pray that God will send a little candle your way so that it's little flame will give you a little ray of light to enlightened your mind of the truth. And may God have mercy on your soul.
DeleteUnderstand that there is no call to "end" the NCW, just to correct "their" Mass in order that their evangelization would become (as in the words of Pope Benedict XVI,) "more effective." For how can people embrace the NCW when the NCW worldwide ignore the directives the Popes have issued.
ReplyDeleteWhat Peter binds and looses, will be bound and loosed in Heaven.
Dear Anonymous at 12:58 am,
DeleteFor a long time, we have been telling you that we have the APPROVAL of the Holy See to celebrate Mass the way we do, but you think we are lying. It was the same with Easter Vigil. You believed that we violated the GIRM because we have our own Easter Vigil. You tell us we are in violation because the GIRM specifically said that there is to be only one Easter Vigil in the parish; yet, we kept telling you that we have the permission and approval of the Holy See to celebrate an Easter Vigil. Yes, you do not believe us. You still have not changed. We are telling you we are not in violation because we already have the permission and approval of the Pope to celebrate Mass the way we do, but you do not believe. The fact that you do not believe us is not our problem. In the future, you will find out the truth, just as you found out the truth about the NCW Easter Vigil.
Furthermore, our evangelization is fantastic. After all, why do you think the Pope has decided to erect an RMS in Macau and Japan and allow the NCW to run it??? That alone should have been obvious. By the way, how is YOUR evangelization coming along? Oh that is right.....you have no effective evangelization. What a pity.
Dear Diana: You state you have approval, but I cannot find it no matter how hard I try. Would you please provide, I'm trying to believe you:
DeleteWhere is your permission from any Pope(s) to insist that able-bodied people stand during the Eucharistic Prayer?
Where is your permission from any Pope(s) for the priest NOT to consume BOTH the Body and Blood BEFORE the rest of the people receive Communion?
Where is your permission from any Pope(s) for able-bodied people to sit while consuming Jesus?
Where is your permission from any Pope(s) to DENY Jesus on the tongue? (In 2018 Pope Francis, during his catechesis on Liturgy, stated that a person can choose to receive Communion on the tongue if he/she so desires.)
Where is there permission to exclude those wishing Jesus on the tongue from the One Body of Christ?
Excerpt from: POPE FRANCIS "Witnesses to obedience" Thursday, 27 April 2017
"Perhaps, Francis continued, one might say, “I go to that spiritual teacher” or, “I read this book”. Yes, the Pope explained, that’s “all fine and good, but only the Spirit can change our hearts and can make us all witnesses to obedience: it is a work of the Spirit and we must ask for it. It is a grace to ask: ‘Father, Lord Jesus, send me your Spirit so that I may become a witness to obedience’, that is, a Christian”.
I noticed that you ignored Diana's example of the Easter Vigil. You also couldn't find it in the Statutes that we are to have the Easter vigil, but many people claimed the NCW was going against the GIRM. Now, it has come out that the Way had permission all along, I didn't hear a single word of apology from the opposition. Not even a benefit of the doubt. You continue to beat a dead horse.
Deletewe are ALL sinners in need of correction
ReplyDeletemay we humble ourselves, and renounce our pride
otherwise Satan wins
to Annon. 7:19 PM Could you refer to where the Pope states that the additions and deletions are allowed in the Easter Vigil. It is one thing to be allowed an Easter Vigil (could you please refer to Pope's actual permission - what date? - I can't find which letter, document, etc says that.), but the alterations? I don't know how that would be possible, especially if you must give a person Communion on the tongue if they so wished. Please explain. I just don't understand this.
ReplyDeleteI found this online, it is worth repeating, even though I cannot take credit for writing it:
ReplyDeleteAnonymousApril 1, 2014 at 2:48 PM
"Once again you demonstrate a deep misunderstanding of your own statutes. Here is the full article on the Vigil:
1. Axis and source of Christian life is the paschal mystery, lived and celebrated in a preeminent
way in the Sacred Triduum,42 whose brilliance fills the whole liturgical year with light.43
For this reason, it constitutes the fulcrum of the Neocatechumenate, since this is a rediscovery of
Christian initiation.
§ 2. “The Paschal Vigil, focal point of the Christian liturgy, and its baptismal spirituality
inspire all Catechesis.”44 It is for this reason that during the itinerary, the neocatechumens are
initiated gradually45 into an ever more perfect participation in all that the holy night signifies,
celebrates and realizes.
§ 3. In this way, the Neocatechumenate will stimulate the parish to have a richer celebration
of the Paschal Vigil.46
Number 1 says that the Paschal Vigil is important to the neocatechumenate.
Number 2 says that the neocatechumen will "participate" more and more over time in the Paschal Vigil and what it means.
Number 3 says that "IN THIS WAY" (my CAPS) - in other words, by participating more and more in the Vigil, the neocatechumenate will stimulate the parish.
Nowhere is it stated or implied that the NCW should celebrate the Vigil separately from the parish. Actually the third point suggests that it does not, but rather celebrates with the parish. The whole "neocatechumenate" idea has been perverted, and not only by you. But the Paschal Vigil existed before the NCW, and the NCW Statutes make reference to that.
The neocatechumenate is not a group or a movement, but rather a method of initiation designed to "foster in its recipients a mature sense of belonging to the parish" (Art. 6)." As such, it has no right or capacity to diminish the unity of the parish by a separate Paschal Vigil."
Dear Anonymous at 1:12 and 1:50 pm,
DeleteYou stated: "Nowhere is it stated or implied that the NCW should celebrate the Vigil separately from the parish."
According to the article, the truth has been revealed since May 29, 2019:
"The episcopal council of the Rome diocese, in a document distributed March 1, said the unity of the diocese - seen especially through the unity of the bishop and pastors of parishes in the celebration of the Eucharist - is especially important to emphasize during the triduum: the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the Good Friday liturgy of the Lord’s Passion and the Easter vigil Saturday night.
“To express visibly the unity of the holy people of God and express the deepest meaning of belonging to an ecclesial community,” the council said, those who frequent non-parish churches, chapels and oratories or who belong to special groups, associations or new movements “are exhorted to take part in the celebrations of the Easter triduum in parish churches.”
An exception exists for “national churches,” like the U.S. Catholic community at St. Patrick Church in Rome, and for members of the Neocatechumenal Way, whose Vatican-approved statutes allow for small-group celebrations of the Easter vigil, Midili said."
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-europe/2019/03/29/a-triduum-or-two-too-many-rome-diocese-tries-to-unify-celebrations/
So you see, an EXCEPTION exists for the NCW. In other words, the NCW had the permission of the Holy See to celebrate its' own Easter Vigil just as we have always claimed. In short, we did not lie. You have already expressed your discontent on this thread and no matter what anyone in the NCW says, your mind is made up. You will always label us "liars"; therefore, any further comments on this subject will no longer be published.