There was some confusion earlier in the year about the approval of the extra-liturgical ceremonies of the Neocatechumenal Way. Today, Sandro Magister has an article about Pope Benedict's attitude in particular to the way in which Mass is celebrated in the Neocatechumenal Way: That Strange Mass the Pope Doesn't Like
I have great admiration for the apostolic and evangelical zeal of the members of the Neocatechumenate. I am not particularly moved by arguments about them forming an "elite." Any group that ever did anything useful in the Church by way of apostolate was to some degree exclusive - this means nothing really much more than gathering an effective group together with a common purpose for the good. There have been many priestly vocations, in some cases reviving whole dioceses; in addition, the generosity of families in following the moral teaching of the Church is a fine example to others.
However the Liturgy does look in need of major overhaul. This problem is not confined to the Neocatechumenate. Many of the new movements encouraged by Blessed John Paul have remained stuck in a 70s-80s time warp with regard to their liturgy and find it difficult to adapt to the new situation created by Pope Benedict's Summorum Pontificum.
I pray that the neo-catechumenate will be able to preserve its powerful charism for the Church while dropping the liturgical aberrations, and that other movements will also wake up and smell the coffee.
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During my early years in the movement, their form of liturgy felt very engaging and meaningful. But over recent years I experienced a growing dissatisfaction.
The NeoCats put a heavy stress on the Liturgy of the Word, listening to the readings and subjectively applying them to one’s life, even sharing these thoughts aloud in an ‘echo’ before the homily. Whilst these sometimes contained helpful insights, most of them distracted from the Mass as invariably the priest (or ‘presbyter’ using the preferred NeoCat term) would wait several minutes for people to pluck up the courage to give their ‘echoes’, which in turn would often ramble on.
I believe Pope Benedict allowed one short exhortation to listen before the first reading and up to three short ‘echoes’ before the homily. This in my experience is generally disregarded, often with mini-homilies before each reading and lengthy ‘echoes’ as mentioned above.
At no point in the NeoCat Mass is there any silence. Before the start of Mass, the people gather amid general chit-chat and have to be called to order. Few, if any, visibly recollect themselves and none genuflect. During Mass almost every moment is filled with speaking or NeoCat songs.
Possibly the most contentious part of the Mass is the manner of receiving Holy Communion. Not only is receiving in the hand mandatory, the communicant has to stand with the bread (like a piece from a thick pizza base) in his hand until the presbyter has distributed the bread to the entire congregation and returned to his seat, at which point all consume together.
The net effect of all this is a decreased sense of the sacred and a general diminution in reverence. This is not so marked in the over-50’s who had experienced a traditional sacramental catechesis in their youth. However, my impression is that most of the new generation of young people who have been brought up from birth with their parents in the Neocatechumenate, show no more reverence or engagement during Mass than their semi-churched, semi-lapsed Catholic school peers. When they are not merrily chatting away they may appear to be in deep prayer, but closer inspection reveals that they are surreptitiously hunched over their smartphones.
By sharp contrast, the normal Sunday Masses in the same church with the same priest have a strong of sense of reverence and respectful silence.
I believe the problems with the NeoCat liturgy go much deeper than the external form. Any changes would also need to address the liturgical formation given to the members of the NeoCat communities. I hope and pray that the founders and their successors will recognise what is happening.
A big problem is the stuff like the Confession not just to a priest but to others as well (who are NOT bound by the seal of Confession), the dodgy stuff in the Catechitical resources, and the near worship of "Kiko".
Any type of community which includes lay people trying to live in a pseudo-monastic manner may be open to abuses. I have known neo-cats and have read extensively on the founders and I am not happy with the emphasis on experience and cult of the personality. We must pray for wisdom and grace with regard to this group. I find the Liturgy disturbing. Having said this, the neo-cat parish near my home is thriving, but it is very charismatic and the emphasis on that type of worship does not help catechize adults in the real Faith. I think the movement borders on the Protestant ideas of a lack of respect for the Eucharist and personal interpretations of experiential religion.
Here, in Perth, Western Australia, we have two Seminaries.
The Archdiocesan one is St. Charles and I was reliably told only four days ago, by one of their Seminarians, that they now have more Seminarians than any other Seminary in the whole of Australia.
The other Seminary is Redemptoris Mater which is the name given to all Neo-Cat. Seminaries.
I have visited this Seminary several times and we (I was not alone) have had Mass there each time. Yes, there was plenty of singing to guitars, banjos tambourines and the like, but there was nothing out of place that I could detect. I do not know the actual number of Seminarians there but it must number in the teens and most of them come from places like Ecuador, Chile, the Philippines etc.. On Ordination they serve some time in the Archdiocese and then they can be sent out almost anywhere. I can only see them as a force for good in the Church.
If not celebrating the liturgy in church but instead the hall beside it does not seem odd surerly the music should ring alarm bells immediately "the closer a piece comes to Gregorian chant the more worthy it is of the temple and the further away it is the less worthy" Pius X. That music is unworthy of the temple as indeed it seems is the liturgy...
With regards to liturgical music, we prefer Gregorian chant because it is proper to the Roman Rite but we should not despise other styles if deemed worthy of the liturgy. I can see no wrong with neocat music. It is even closer to Jewish music,which is the root of our Christian liturgy.
Actually Pope Benedict allowed the admonitions before all the readings except the psalm, the echoes (minimum of 3 and short), and the communion as it is observed universally today.
Neocats respect the Eucharist very much, a sign of reverence (bow) is observed upon receiving the sacred species. And the bread, while waiting for joint communion and before eating should be placed near the heart. In fact once a month, there is a celebration of exposition and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, after doing Lectio Divina ( Scrutatio Scripturae) for 2 hours.
At first, newly evangelized members seem to be ignorant about church matters such as reverence or other catholic stuff, but they normally learn this gradually, that is why liturgy is done "privately"? to avoid scandalizing those who dont understand. The purpose of the Way is to church the unchurched so expect the unchurched to accidentall carry over their unchurchedness into the Way at first.
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