Strange Bedfellows?

 

[The following is an adapted and expanded translation of an open letter written in February 1994 by Fr. Enrico Zoffoli, an Italian Passionist priest and theologian. It was reproduced in July 2012 in the Italian periodical Faith and Culture, then again in September 2012 by the Osservatorio. The full Osservatorio article (whose translated closing commentary we also include), along with the letter's full citation and provenance, can be found here.]

Why does the Catholic Church condemn Freemasonry? Pope Leo XIII explains better than many, in his 1902 Apostolic Letter, Annum Ingressi (also called Vigesimo Quinto Anno). In that letter, he writes:

...A certain sect of darkness is engaged, a sect which human society these many years carries within itself and which like a deadly poison destroys its happiness, its fecundity, and its life... It constitutes a sort of regressive society whose object is to exercise an occult suzerainty over the established order and whose whole purpose is to make war against God and against His Church. There is no need of naming it, for all will recognize in these traits the society of Freemasons, of which we have already spoken, expressly in Our Encyclical, Humanum Genus of the 20th of April, 1884... It has succeeded in entering all classes of society... While loudly professing its respect for authority and even for religion, [it] has for its ultimate purpose, as its own statutes declare, the destruction of all authority as well as of the priesthood.

Strange Analogies

There are documents that show plans to subdue and annihilate the Roman Catholic Church. These documents show the points to be hit, and the ways to do it: eliminating respect for the sacred, for the priesthood, for the dogmas and the cults of the Saints and of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Strangely, in the Neocatechumenal communities, everything that leads back to the purposes of Freemasonry is taught: trying to eliminate precisely the Marian cult and the cults of the Saints, respect for all that is sacred, for the priesthood, and for the dogmas of the faith. It is a Catholic-Protestant-Jewish syncretism; that is, a Catholic shell (so to speak) with Protestant doctrine tending towards Judaism.

Gnosis

The Gnostic heresies have been, since the patristic era, among the most recurrent enemies of the Church; but, despite repeated attacks, they have never been able to put a scratch on the Bride of Christ. The heresies are based on "knowledge" (gnosis, literally, in Greek), which is reserved for a small number of people (the "initiates" or "enlightened," or whatever, according to the various sects), while the others (the "members" or "affiliates") must remain in the dark about everything, not having the slightest clue where their path will lead. Many people join Freemasonry without having the slightest idea where this affiliation could lead them. Perhaps they join due to the vaguely philanthropic impression given by some lodges, or perhaps even to increase their personal power and thus increase their capital (both social and material). Certainly, they never imagine becoming real slaves of Satan--something that only some will come to understand, climbing the long ladder of initiation.

Albert Pike (1809-1891) authored the book, "Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry."

When one enters the Neocatechumenal movement, one must forget questions. For a long time, asking questions is not allowed; and even when it does come time to ask something, the answers are evasive, unless they concern the future of the "Way," because then everything is top secret. Knowledge is all in the hands of the "catechists," who are not people with any particular background in theology, liturgics, patristics, or anything else; they are only people who have already walked at least five or six years and have been indoctrinated by others before them. They themselves have no idea what will be taught in the next few years. The best pupil for the Neocatechumenals is the one who is completely ignorant of the Catechism (the real one), theology, and Sacred Scriptures, in order to be able to teach them whatever they want. The very fact that in the Neocatechumenal movement there is this "gnostic" hierarchical scale, in the light of the history of the Church, makes one very much doubt the goodness of the end result.

Attack on the Church

Documents have been filtered from various Masonic sources which attest to the fact that plans for the annihilation of the Church have been underway for many years, working from within. Let's examine four points of interest to our study:

1. The devaluation and depreciation of the Most Holy Eucharist, and consequently the desacralization (ironically a favorite word among Neocats) and profanation of Catholic worship and places of worship.
2. The elimination of Mariology from Catholic theology, and the contempt for post-biblical--especially Marian--prophecy.
3. The elimination of the ministerial priesthood and of everything that has to do with the sacred.
4. The use of money to increase approval.

Point 1: For the Neocatechumenals, the Mass is not a real "sacrifice," the perpetuation of the sacrifice of the Cross, but only a community banquet that celebrates the saving power of the Risen Christ, which it is good to celebrate not in consecrated churches, but in any old room, to highlight that it is just a meal. If it is celebrated in a church, for spatial reasons (with more communities brought together), the altar (i.e. the table) must be removed from the sanctuary and placed in the center of the church. The consecrated bread does not substantially change into the Body and Blood of Christ, as it has no other function than that of symbolizing the spiritual presence of him who, having risen, drags everyone onto his chariot of fire (c.f. 2 Kings 2).

Denied the Eucharistic sacrifice and transubstantiation, the "consecrated bread" (with all its remains and fragments) excludes the Real Presence of Christ. Therefore, in Masses carried out by Neocatechumenal priests, the purification of sacred vessels is often not carried out correctly; it does not matter if fragments fall to the ground (this used to be called sacrilege...), and any worship is denied to the Blessed Sacrament. In some parishes, people do not have any idea what the Forty Hours Devotion is, or have any concept of serious Eucharistic Adoration since Eucharistic worship is limited to an exposition of the Blessed Sacrament for about twenty minutes each First Friday--a practice kept around to please the "old ladies" who are "used to it." Once, someone who had recently entered a community, seeing some abandoned fragments in a chalice, pointed this out and was answered, "If you still believe in these things, this spirituality is not for you!"

Point 2: Talking about Our Lady to the Neocatechumenals is like talking about the Blue Fairy--a fable, or little more. The figure of the Co-Redemptrix and Mother of the Church does not exist; saying the Rosary is crazy, or thereabouts. The only Marian effigy allowed is an icon with a vaguely Byzantine flavor, called "Kiko's Madonna" (see above). The only rapprochement took place during the Marian Year (1987), but more to be seen by the Pope than out of any real conviction; in fact, the Neocatechumenals took subsequently very little interest in Mary Most Holy, and in all Mariology. Obviously, we cannot speak to the Neocatechumenals of Medjugorje or similar things, but even of Lourdes, Fatima, etc., all importance is denied.

[Kiko, incidentally, has claimed his own "intellectual vision" of the Blessed Virgin, and those who progress on the Way for no less than 15 years get to hear some extremely fascinating teachings about what amounts to an "assimilation" of Kiko and Our Lady... but those are topics for another day.]

Point 3: The elimination of sacrifice involves the suppression of the ministerial priesthood since there is no other priesthood to be recognized except that of Christ: the Eucharist is celebrated by the community of believers, all indiscriminately participating in that one priesthood... This, of course, stands in direct contrast to the Second Vatican Council's teaching in Lumen Gentium (see specifically §10-11), and yet the Way repeatedly contends it is the purest fruit and truest fulfillment of that Council. The exclusion of the ministerial priesthood leads to the collapse of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy; that is, to the rejection of the Sacred Order which founded it. Once suppressed, the Church--as a visible and hierarchical society--no longer has any reason to exist.

In fact, in the Neocatechumenate, all authority and all knowledge rest in the hands of the catechists, to whom even the priests must give obedience. How many times priests have been treated poorly without the slightest respect for their state! The Neocatechumenals, then, never kneel--neither in front of the Blessed Sacrament, nor at the Consecration. They assume irreverent attitudes during the celebrations. Once, a Neocat Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion was smoking while transporting the Blessed Sacrament to the sick. When someone pointed this out to him, he replied, "How do you know Jesus didn't also smoke?" ...No comment.

Point 4: The Way has large sums of money that are generously donated by its followers. With what "liberality," there would be much to discuss. There once was a nun, for instance, who, although she possessed nothing already, had her watch taken from her so that she would free herself from all possessions, because of the vow of poverty. Having arrived at a certain point of the Way, people have to give "tithing," obviously not knowing where the money ends up: no one presents final balances. In large part, the money is given in handouts to the parishes and dioceses that host the Way, in order to increase their approval rating with the hierarchy.

Another aspect of the Neocatechumenal Way that is reflective of the statutes of Freemasonry is their behavior towards others. In the Masonic Oath, it is obligatory to help the "brothers" of the same lodge. For the Neocatechumenals, there is the obligation of mutual aid within their own community, and possibly of the other communities, while it is not necessary to help those who do not belong to the movement. The justification for such behavior is found in the teaching according to which salvation is not obtained by works, by exclusively by accepting the Resurrection of the Lord--a typically Protestant and clearly heretical thesis.

Conclusion

As we have been able to observe the many points of contact between Freemasonry and the Neocatechumenal Way, everything would suggest that the Neocatechumenals were born from Freemasonry as a time bomb to explode within the Catholic Church. Of course, this alarming hypothesis is only just that, as concrete evidence is still lacking. However, it seems strange that being born of different "mothers," there are so many similarities between the aims and principles of Freemasonry and the behavior and catechesis of the Neocatechumenals. It naturally is not up to this blog or its authors to make definitive judgments on all this, but we do want to raise the alarm, so that those with the charism of guarding the orthodoxy of the faith can analyze and dissect this problem in depth.

Epilogue

Before being overwhelmed by a wave of Neocatechumenal slogans that will furiously deny what is reported above, let's try to put ourselves in the shoes of a "brother in the community," who today might do one or more of the following things in good faith, and then ask ourselves how his so-called "catechists" would react:

• He goes on pilgrimage to Lourdes, or Fatima, or the tomb of some Saint without waiting for his Neocatechumenal community to organize one.
• He asks some members of more "advanced" communities what he will find in the next "stages," in order to better prepare himself, as suggested by 1 Pt 3:15.
• He kneels during the Consecration at the Saturday evening celebration.
• He doesn't flaunt any of Kiko's works at home; he instead has a statue of Our Lady of Fatima and a reproduction of Fra Angelico's Annunciation.
• After Communion, instead of doing the dance around the table, he remains on his knees in silent thanksgiving, despite the infernal din around him.
• In place of the "tithe," he deposits in the black bag the receipts of money orders for the offerings he made to the cloistered nuns, the sum of which perhaps exceeds 10% of his salary.
• He consumes Communion as soon as he receives it, and when the "liturgical waiters" return, he avoids drinking from the "salad bowl" out of a natural hygienic instinct. (Communion under a single species is not already only complete, but it is not even forbidden.)
• He goes to visit his uncle in the hospital after an urgent operation, on Saturday night, reserving the right to attend Mass on Sunday morning.
• He joins the promoters of Eucharistic Adoration in the parish, but without demanding to include either paintings or songs by Kiko.
• In preparing the church for the Saturday evening celebration, he neglects to carry the large table to the center of the nave; he leaves pews arranged towards the altar and the tabernacle and moreover places the bookmark in the Roman Missal.

At this point, we can reread the article--still incredibly current despite the original being nearly 30 years old--and ask ourselves how the so-called "catechists" would react, and if their behavior contributes to making the question so burning and relevant: why are there so many strange points of contact between Freemasonry and the Neocatechumenate?

This has been the first, but most assuredly not the last article regarding the connections between Masons and Neocats. While we understand that mentioning Freemasonry online in connection to just about anything will tend to elicit raised eyebrows, eye rolls, and cries of "conspiracy theory!", there nonetheless remains more to be said... So stay tuned.