Kiko's Annunciation

Kiko's Annunciation
Kiko the plagiarist

Monday, November 28, 2022

"Saint" Carmen's Top Ten

On December 4 of this year, the diocesan phase of Carmen Hernández's canonization process is scheduled to open in the Archdiocese of Madrid.

Since her death in 2016, numerous articles from numerous sources have all written extensively on why Carmen's sanctity is...questionable, at absolute best. The Osservatorio devotes an entire blog category to the subject. Here and here are a couple of examples from The Thoughtful Catholic. This very recent piece from the Osservatorio (not included in the aforementioned category) looks at some of the so-called "miracles" of this "higher category" of saint.

Here, we propose just one short offering, translated from this Osservatorio original from 2017.


The Top Ten Reasons Carmen Should NOT Be Made a Saint

10. Even if the story of her youth is cloaked with a confusing and grandiose halo that makes everything more acceptable, in fact, she was nothing more than a spoiled rich girl with mystical ambitions and a religious novice expelled from her missionary order for disobedience.

9. She boasted of visions not approved by the Church--even insinuating that Our Lady called her "blessed among women"!

8. She contributed to the spread of Protestant and Gnostic heresies by passing them off as Catholic doctrine and, as she publicly stated, she prided herself on "serving the Second Vatican Council on a silver platter" to Kiko, her worthy friend, to act as a support - with the appropriate distortions - for their heretical construction.

7. Together with Kiko Argüello, she is the founder of a schismatic, heretical, and extortionist entity installed within the Catholic Church, persevering in error and completely impervious to the numerous corrections pointed out by the (true) Church.

6. This entity made its way into Vatican circles to the sound of "little gifts" (to friends) and threats (to enemies).

5. This entity is responsible for causing unspeakable suffering to a multitude of souls, directly and indirectly, and in order to preserve the good name of "the Way," it has lent itself to covering up the worst misdeeds of its so-called "catechists" [and even priests and bishops].

4. As a model to follow, she leaves a lot to be desired and her testimony of Christian life is objectively pathetic--from the case of being arrested on a plane because she refused to put out her cigarette, to her public utterances as a sour, disrespectful woman, as numerous stories attest to her chronic indelicacy and absolute lack of empathy with others.

3. She always--even aggressively--discouraged and prevented her "catechists" from any altruistic or solidaristic initiatives that did not concern the Way itself.

2. Her alleged Diaries, published after her death, strongly contrast with the woman she was during life--so much so as to consider the work a deliberately crafted forgery or, alternatively, evidence of a disturbed mind and a dissociated personality.

1. After a life in which she exasperated others by instilling in them a false concept of the importance of accepting "history" as it is, without ever remotely wishing to improve it because this would be pride and rebellion against God, it is really too much to attribute to her any power to grant or promote "graces" of any kind.

The aspiring saint shows her great respect and devotion to the Holy Father as she sports her Adidas gear.

Pray for this woman's eternal soul.

 

Monday, November 21, 2022

Time to Fry the Fruit


"Since 1990, the year of the first ordinations, until today, there have been more than 1,600 ordained priests in the various Redemptoris Mater seminaries, and there are about 2,000 currently preparing to receive Holy Orders. Confirming a deep missionary vocation, since 1985 the Way has sent large families to places where faith is disappearing or has never arrived."

This quote comes from a 2012 post on camineo.info, a pro-NCW Spanish-language blog. The writing makes several attempts to justify the Way’s celebration of the Eucharist as the very root of the Way and so, therefore, if one enjoys “the fruits'’ of the Way, the root that brings it life should not be despised.  It also goes on to make the usual justifications for their way of doing the Eucharist, citing the various approvals of the statues, rites, catechesis, and directory--all of which we will discuss in a future post.

The “fruits” of the Way most often cited are their numbers, as seen in the quote above.  If you’ve ever been to a gathering with your area's bishop or one of the worldwide gatherings, you know just how important these numbers are to the Way.

One of my first experiences of one of these gatherings was with Archbishop Aquila of Denver.  We were told as a community to invite our families, whether they were in the Way or not. We were to call and invite those who attended the catechesis--even if they only attended a couple of sessions--as well as those who maybe had been in the community, even if we hadn’t seen them since the initial retreat. This was an inconsistency (of which there are many) in the Way’s manner of doing things.  For example, I personally witnessed a young man expelled from the community's first post-retreat Liturgy of the Word because he had not been present from the beginning.  He was told he would have to start over and go through the process again, should he want to join the Way. 

At any NCW gathering with bishops or the Pope, they will call out communities in the audience and ask them “how many?” are in their particular parish.  You can see Giuseppe Gennarini, Kiko’s likely replacement, get right to the point here in this 2012 video from a meeting with Archbishop Aquila and the Way communities of Colorado and Wyoming (approximately at the 22-minute mark). This is done to ensure that the Way is producing its evangelical fruit.  Otherwise, why would a bishop put up with their divisions and the problems they create if they weren’t increasing the number of faithful in their diocese? To see if these increases are genuine, therefore, let us examine the numbers.  

First, we can look at where the Way started in Spain, at its roots, and then in Italy, where they quickly moved:

Madrid, Spain: 1960s- 99.7% Catholic, 3200 priests; 1990s - 82-90% Catholic, 3100-300 priests; 2020 - 80% Catholic, 2000 priests - population 3.6-4.1 million

Santiago de Compostela, Spain: 1960s - 99.8% Catholic, 12-1300 priests; 1990s - 92 -95.8% Catholic, 900-1000 priests; 2020 - 85.9% Catholic, 545 priests - the total population has remained between 1.1-1.3 million since the 1950s.

Ávila, Spain: 1960s - 99.9% Catholic, (+/-) 300 priests; 1990s - 97% Catholic, 250-270 priests; 2020 - 94% Catholic, 167 priests - total population 157,000-200,000

Rome, Italy: 1960s - 100% Catholic, 4700 priests; 1990s - 97.2% Catholic, 5100-7700 priests; 2020 - 82% Catholic, 3700 priests.  Total Population 2.6-3.1 million. The first Redemptoris Mater Seminary opened there in 1986.

Naples, Italy: 1960s - 99% Catholic, 685 priests; 1990s - 98-99% Catholic, 980-1100 priests; 2019 - 81% Catholic, 1000 priests. Total Population 1.6-1.8 million

Both of these countries, where the Way was founded and has been established for almost 60 years, have seen a loss in the number of Catholics as well as a decrease in priests.

The Way often establishes itself wherever a World Youth Day is held (though perhaps not always totally willingly, as our story about Denver illustrates). In like manner, World Youth Days have come to places where a Way presence (often indicated by a Redemptoris Mater seminary) was already established. We might find that where there has been a WYD, there has also been an increase in Catholics, so how can we tell if this increase in the faithful population was due to WYD or the NCW? Or, has the NCW brought about an increase in the faithful, thus providing an impetus for the Holy Father to hold a WYD in that particular place?

When examining both given factors, and even considering dioceses that established an RMS but had no WYD, all dioceses saw a decrease in Catholic faithful and vocations, or remained relatively static in their Catholic populations, even considering a slight increase or decrease in the overall population (Dallas is an exception, as there was a total population increase of 1 million).

Częstochowa, Poland (WYD '91): 1970s - 94.8% Catholic, 700+ priests; 1990s - 97% Catholic, 750-850 priests; 2021 - 97% Catholic, 833 priests. Total population 707,000-1 million.

Kraków, Poland (WYD '16): 1990 - 97% Catholic, 18-1900 priests; 2019 - 97% Catholic, 2100 priests. Total Population 1.2-1.6 million.

Manila, Philippines (WYD '95, RMS est. 1996): 1990s - 90-94% Catholic, 13-1400 priests; 2019 - 80% Catholic, 654 priests. Total population increase.

Paris, France (WYD '97, RMS est. 1997): (late) 1990s - 69% Catholic, 1500 priests; 2019 - 60% Catholic, 1100 priests. Total population 2.2-2.1 million. (Note: there is actually no address or information found on an RMS in Paris, although the Neocatechumenal Way lists it, along with other French cities, with a seminary. However, of the 6 cities listed, only two have an actual address.)

Toronto, Canada (RMS est. 1999, WYD '02): 1999 - 34.5% Catholic, 888 priests; 2020 - 31.6% Catholic, 780 priests.Total Population 5.2-6.5 million.

Cologne (Köln), Germany (RMS est. 2001, WYD '05): 2001 - 43% Catholic, 1365 priests; 2019 - 35% Catholic, 939 priests. Total Population 5.3-5.5 million.

Sydney, Australia (WYD '08, RMS est. 2012): 2010s -2020 - 24.2% Catholic, 493-456 priests. Total population 2.3-2.7 million.

São Paolo, Brazil (RMS est. 2013, WYD '13 in neighboring Rio de Janeiro): 2010s - 73% Catholic, 858 priests; 2020 - 65% Catholic, 1000 priests. Increase in population.

Panama City, Panama (RMS est. 1990, WYD '19): 1990s - 90% Catholic, 185-148 priests; 2019 - 85% Catholic, 176 priests. Total population 1.2-2 million.

Denver, Colorado (WYD '93, RMS est. 1996): 1990s - 13-14% Catholic, 285 priests; 2021 - 15% Catholic, 286 priests. Total population 2.3- 3.8 million.

Dallas, Texas (RMS est. 2004): 2004 - 27.6% Catholic, 198 priests; 2021 - 29.9% Catholic, 230 priests. 1 million total population increase from 2004-2021.

Washington, D.C. (RMS est. 2001): 2001 - 22.6% Catholic, 1109 priests; 2020 - 22% Catholic, 936 priests. Total population increase 2.4-3 million.

Boston, Massachusetts (RMS est. 2005): 2006 - 46.4% Catholic, 1409 priests; 2020 - 45.2% Catholic, 1087 priests. Total population 4 million.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (RMS est. 2013): 2013 - 36.6% Catholic, 930 priests; 2019 - 34.9% Catholic, 759 priests. Total population 4 million steady.

Bridgeport, Connecticut (RMS est. 2015): 2015 - 44.7% Catholic, 231 priests; 2020 - 46% Catholic, 215 priests. Total population 939,000-956,000.

Lima, Peru: 1990s - 90% Catholic, 731 priests; 2019 - 84% Catholic, 487 priests. (An RMS was established in the neighboring suffragan diocese of Callao in 1986, and Bishop José Luis del Palacio, who was in charge of the Callao diocese from 2011 to 2020, is intimately connected to the Way).

If the Neocatechumenal Way was a business hired to increase customers and employees, this would be an abysmal track record. 

Now, let's take a look at dioceses that restricted the expansion of the Way, or banned it altogether.

In Takamatsu, Japan, the overall Catholic population has remained at .1% from 1970-2020, with an average of around 45 priests in all those years, with the exception of 2020. This is even considering that there was an RMS established in 1999 and closed in 2009 after all of the Japanese bishops banned the Way. The total population remained steady at 3.9-4.7 million.

In Nancy, France, from 1990-2019, Catholics remains steady at 91% with a steady total population, however, the number of priests decreased from the 300s to the 150s. Bishop Jean-Paul Jaeger kicked out the NCW in 1992. 

In Clifton, England, Catholics increased from 5% in the 1990s with 200 priests to 6.5% in 2021 with 116 priests and a steady total population of 2.5 million. Bishop Mervyn Alexander banned the NCW in 1996.

[All above data from Catholic-Hierarchy.org]

The number of clergy has seen a steep fall worldwide, Neocatechumenal or not.  There has been an increase in lay missionaries worldwide, but a decrease in Catechists, with the highest drops in the Americas and Europe.  With the NCW having its roots in Europe and having initial success in many Latin American countries, there is little evidence that the Way is doing great work evangelizing the nations.

In fact, by evidence of where the NCW has gone, with perhaps Denver and Dallas excepted, they tend to take hold in already very highly populated Catholic areas.  We can only speculate that if the Way were to go--as the Church’s true missionaries do--to places that have not heard and received the Good News of Jesus Christ and His Church, there would be no parishes from which they could pull resources. The Way typically feeds itself: It uses an already established parish building, takes from already practicing Catholics for their communities, and establishes their priests on the diocesan payroll. In turn, they build their seminary and continue to build a presence in the diocese, all the while pretending they are the answer, the true embodiment of the New Evangelization. To quote one Denver Neocat pastor, “where would the Archdiocese be without [the vocations provided by] the Way?”

In answer, generally, dioceses without the Way are faring no better or worse than the ones with the Way. Africa, where the Way's presence is minuscule, has seen the largest growth in Catholics, by 8.3 million. True, the Way lists Redemptoris Mater Seminaries in Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Zambia, DR Congo, Madagascar, and Gabon - these have an address, but also have no numbers of seminarians or professors listed in residence. 

From CARA, Tanzania reported 24 seminarians, and Angola claimed 3, with a diocesan seminary next to it (similar to Denver's arrangement). South Africa’s RMS is listed as closed, while Uganda - which is listed on the RMS Wikipedia page - is NOT FOUND. The Way sure doesn’t boast of its failures - where it has been banned, restricted, ran into scandal, or simply had no effect and therefore closed up shop.

Lastly, to prove that the Way is really only highly effective in creating problems in a diocese, we can look at the list of dioceses in the United States that are the most successful

The Vocation Ministry Analysis of Diocesan Data from 2015-2021 shows that of the 13 dioceses that met the criteria to be deemed “healthy," not one of them had any Neocatechumenal Way presence, at all. Of the 36 dioceses that were "borderline healthy," only Denver, Miami, and Washington D.C. have the NCW in their diocese; the rest have none. That means 43 of the top 46 most healthy dioceses in the USA have zero Neocat presence. Additionally, of the dioceses listed as “unhealthy” in the report, 4 of the 9 dioceses in the US with an RMS make the list and at least a dozen of the 52 listed have received a concentrated effort by the NCW.  

More than half the Redemptoris Mater Seminaries in the United State exist in an “unhealthy”(4) or "maintaining" (2) diocese, and 3 are just making the grade. Not one diocese showed marked improvement in increasing the flock, and in fact, they show decreases; To return once again to the Denver pastor's arrogantly flippant question, the Archdiocese of Denver, quite frankly, might very well be doing better without the Neocatechumenal Way!

For additional related analysis, see our older post, "Recognize us by our fruits."

Monday, November 14, 2022

A Survivor's Testimony


 

The following testimony comes from an anonymous young woman, identified only by the initials "ME." It was originally published in Spanish on the blog Crux Sancta back in March 2016. She writes of her experiences on the Way in the early 2000s. Given last week's post on the subject of abuse, we find the presentation of this testimony both timely and relevant.


I am a 33-year-old woman from a country in Latin America. My parents joined the Neocatechumenal Way when I was 10 years old. Being the youngest, I was the one who accompanied my parents the most from the beginning. When I turned 12, I entered my own community (after doing the respective catechesis). Of the young people who entered with me (around 15), there were only about 5 left in our first year.

I got to the "Traditio" stage (if that's how you write it, I don't remember anymore). I was 20 years old. In the convivence for this stage, they joined us to another community before ours. In this convivence, what happened would make my decision to eventually leave the Way.

On Saturday night after the Eucharist, four friends decided to make a toast to one of them, who was going to the seminary the following week (he is a Redemptoris Mater priest today). We were, at the time, the following: A (the future seminarian); E (A's brother); O (the brother of my best friend in the community); and me. These guys were the same age as me and had been in the Way since they were 10 years old, just like me, except for A, who was a year older than the rest.

For the toast, they brought a bottle of rum and E served each of them about 3mm in a shot glass (it was a toast, not a party). I also took that amount. I lost consciousness in less than a minute.

Talking about this causes me a different pain than it did two years ago. Thanks to God, my Father, the emotional and psychological wound is healed. However, a spiritual pain remains within me that is revived when I think of how many people suffer or have suffered what I did in the Way.

That night they drugged me.

The one who placed the drug (I will say later how I know) was E, and it was he who tried to abuse me first. The thing is, he miscalculated the timing of the effects and when he tried to abuse me, I woke up in a semi-conscious state and pushed him and insulted him with all the strength I had. I noticed about a meter from us was O, so I dragged myself to him and asked him to take care of me (I couldn't get up because my legs wouldn't respond) and, stammering, I told him to take care of me like his sister. He told me that he would.

My next awakening was my return to consciousness: at six in the morning, naked and raped.

I remember quickly understanding what had happened to me, and I remember that I did not understand how I did not remember it. Also, at that moment, I didn't remember what happened with E--I only remembered the mouthful of rum. Then I thought about the possibility of having gotten drunk and if what I had done was fornication. I got dressed and started to walk toward the hotel (they had taken me out of the hotel for the convivence). I got to my room (shared with another sister from the community) and took a bath. I began to doubt that I did it because I didn't remember the decision to do it. I didn't remember any previous moments of affection or romance, and I also had no experience in that regard. If I never did it with my boyfriend of three years (also from the Way and who I was no longer with at that time), how would I do it with someone like that, on those terms, without being my partner, at a convivence, being a lifelong friend? My God, we met when we were all ten years old!

When I left the room, O was in the doorway, waiting for me. I asked him what had happened, if we had had sex, and he said yes and added: "Forgive me, because I was conscious, and you weren't."

This sentence, at that time, I did not understand well. Looking back, I was 20 years old, with no sexual experience and a mind so innocent and guarded to the world. I just thought, "if he did this to me... is it because he wants to be with me?" I never saw the evil of him. Never. To me, he was someone as trustworthy as a brother.

Ten years later, when I received psychological therapy for this incident after presenting a severe case of post-traumatic depression, I discovered how that sentence had been the declaration of abuse.

At that moment, my rapist was telling me: I raped you.

In less than a week, E called me to say that he was angry with me and that I should apologize, that I had caused him suffering. I didn't understand what he was talking about, and he told me that I had insulted him that night. I still didn't understand. He then told me that he had some photos of me that I wouldn't want anyone to see, and it would be easy for him to give them to me. So, I told him to give them to me, but he made it a condition that I should ask for his forgiveness. Wanting to know what had happened that night, since no one gave me details and I didn't understand anything, we met before the Eucharist in a shopping center, and he gave me the photos (not without me first asking for his forgiveness).

Seeing the photos, I had to contain my desire to attack him. At that moment, I remembered what he had tried to do to me. The photos showed me lying on the floor, face down, unconscious, with my blouse half-raised, then crawling to O's feet. I didn't say anything to E. I felt a lot of terror and shame. I didn't feel safe, and I just left. At the Eucharist I went to with my parents, as usual, he treated me very normally and even joked with me, as usual.

After these events, I spent three months seriously confused. Only one sister from my community came to know how things happened because I told her what I remembered. I remember that she told me that they had abused me and that I had to clarify it because they had been telling everyone that I had been the occasion of sin, that I had been the cause of fornication, and that now it was as if nothing had happened. This sister, really, was the only one who wanted to help me, protect me, and the one who never doubted me. The rest forgot that they had known me since I was a child, that they knew who I was. They all believed the lies mainly told by E and simply spread the gossip.

At some point in all this, my catechists found out. I had the bad luck that my head catechist is the most macho and even violent man that I have known closely, and that the single woman in the group of catechists was a very sparing and chauvinistic woman, as well. When they talked to me about it, I told them how I remembered it. I never said, "he raped me." I never said, "they drugged me," since I didn't remember anything or know about the drug, but based on my memory. This is why I tell you, like I told the sister who wanted to protect me: don't you think it was obvious that I wasn't there? That no one asked me? That neither my mind nor my heart nor my soul was there to decide?

However, they sent me to apologize to O (yes, to apologize to my rapist) for being an occasion of sin for him... and believe me, I'm not kidding.

That was our first meeting since the abuse. I apologized to him, and he never apologized. And even years later he hasn't: not to me, nor my parents, nor the community for letting them believe E's lies or for making them believe his lies.

I must point out something important: in my confusion, I suffered from Stockholm Syndrome (diagnosed years later). Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological reaction in which the victim of a kidnapping, rape, or retention against their will, develops a relationship of complicity and a strong emotional bond with their kidnapper. Mainly it is because they misunderstand the absence of violence against their person as an act of humanity on the part of the kidnapper. According to psychologist Nils Bejerot, Stockholm Syndrome is more common in people who have been victims of some type of abuse, such as: hostages, cult members, psychologically abused children, prisoners of war, prostitutes, concentration camp prisoners, victims of incest, and victims of domestic violence.

Since I had no memory of violence with O, but rather the memory of him apologizing to me, it was very easy for this syndrome to develop in my mind. In this way, I believed (or unconsciously chose to believe) that my rapist was in love with me and I with him, because how else would I have slept with him? That was my reasoning, or rather my defense mechanism. I didn't know at the time that I had been drugged. That I found out a year later.

This is how I spent those three months wanting to straighten out the crooked tree, communicating with O and imagining that he loved me and just didn't know how to say it. Everything stopped when I asked for his help with a university matter, and he told me no, to leave things, that he didn't love me or anything and to stop everything. So it was.

My need at that time was due to a car accident I had, and thanks to the shock of the accident (and what O told me when I asked for help), I came out of the emotional trance I was in. I remember crying in the arms of my university classmates, with them believing it was because of the accident. I was crying because I discovered that my life had changed; that my identity had been destroyed; that I was no longer the same person; that they had done things to me that I could not prevent, control, or know about; that in the end, I just had to pick up the pieces of me that were left with dignity and restart.

And I knew that the Way was no longer for me, that I couldn't be there. And I said to God: "God, if I stay there, I'll kill you, I'll hate you until I die, and I'll forget you." So, I left the Way. The accident was on a Saturday and that was the last Eucharist I attended.

I did not speak to O again. However, four years later I found out that E (who had married by then) was dating a former schoolmate of mine (yes, married and with a girlfriend). Knowing this, I told her who he was, and she left him. Soon after, I received threats via social media from E, telling me that I was crazy.

I never had contact with either of them again. In fact, just imagining seeing them made me panic, but God is good, and He didn't allow it until I was ready.

My parents continue to this day in the Way. The pain that all this caused them was very strong, but they decided to forgive. When they got the full truth from me, that's when I found out I had been drugged. t was like this: A brother from my parents' community needed E's computer services (since he provided these services). E went to the house of said brother, who had served himself a glass of water. He took a drink, with E already being in his house, and after a short time he did not remember anything else. When he woke up, some money he had been saving had disappeared and E had already left. The brother woke up in his bed, apparently told that he had taken a nap. But he curiously did not remember being sleepy and going to the bedroom. The last thing he remembered was taking a mouthful of water.

For my parents to know this was in some way the answer to what happened to me that day, because I didn't remember anything. And so, we realized that E was not only an abuser, liar, and extortionist, but also a thief... and that he was still loved by the brothers, while I had been disowned. No one, no one from my community (except for the sister I mentioned and my responsible's wife) saw me with love or tried to help me. No one.

Years passed and today E is separated from his wife, has one child, and is still in the Way, while O is married with two children, and is still in the Way with his wife.

A year ago, we learned that one day O went out to a brothel with a friend from the Way who was also married. The friend was drugged (as far as we know, the same drug as me, but a higher dose). They robbed him and he was in a coma for weeks on the verge of death. O was more scared, not only because he didn't have the same drink but because when he went to get money from his car to pay (I don't know if it was alcohol or something else), he fell asleep in the car. When he woke up, he went to his parents' house to bathe and change clothes, and thus arrive home like nothing had happened. His wife was pregnant with a girl, their second child.

This has been my story of abuse in the Neocatechumenal Way. What I can tell you about myself after that are only good things - gifts from God that I have had, and still have to this day.

The year after living all this, I fell in love with a worldly boy (ironically, he claimed to be an atheist at the time) and, from the beginning, I told him everything. God knows that if I saw His love in my life again, it was thanks to the arrival of this person.

I remember one night crying with happiness and saying to God, "if I die today, thank you for showing me happiness and love." That night, my mother hugged me so tightly and we cried so much together. This boy did nothing spectacular, nothing visibly magical or mystical; he was simply always honest, straight, well-intentioned. He was simply the good person that God put in my life so that I could be happy again and feel alive.

He was himself, as God had made him. That is why God gives each person what he needs, and not the same to all - not what the Way believes it should be, nor what the catechists say, but what He sees fit for you.

And so it was that later we got married. We have now been married for seven years, and I continue to thank God for him. (By the way, he's no longer an atheist. Today he prays with me every night.)

With this story, I wanted to publicly tell my experience so that those who live or have lived with something similar can come out; that they can know that happiness exists and comes from God. As a priest (not from the Way) once told me: "God wants us to be happy."

That those "tests" that God gives us are not the ones imposed by the catechists; that they don't lose their free will; that they don't kill their reason. I, by killing reason, caused more harm than the rape itself, since the hardest thing to overcome within my therapy (yes, God uses psychologists to help us, like a doctor or a psychiatrist or a masseuse. Do not demonize these professions.) was the pain of betrayal, complicity, and humiliation.

But I understood that O never had me in the end; that my soul, while all this was happening, was in the arms of God; that God saw the injustice and He Himself preserved me, because after all that He did not allow me to harm my life or anyone else's - on the contrary, He gave me a good life partner and has always put in my path friends and people to help me.

So get out of your head that there is nothing outside.

Do you know what you can find outside the Way? Honesty. Love. Respect. Equality. Certainty. Strength. Friendship. Compassion. And even more faith in God.

And to make you even more amazed: my therapist was the one through whom I recovered the most intimate communion with the Church. Thanks to her, I returned to the sacraments, not only because of the therapy itself, but because God - I repeat - God put her in my life, a woman who took care of me without charge and who, in my freedom and only when I asked her, gave me spiritual advice. And that was this: If you want, go to church and ask God what He wants for you.

I love the simplicity of that advice. I love it because it never annuls consciousness or the free and intimate relationship that must be nurtured between human beings and God. I love it because she showed me a real door; nothing mystical, nothing pompous or difficult. She didn't open it or push me to go through it. She just told me there was one, if I wanted...

She knew that God would take care of the rest.

Those are the ones that really announce God.

A year ago, after I was discharged from therapy (yes, God does things in His own time), a few minutes after literally saying to God, "Thank you for everything, God. I'm ready for whatever comes," I came face to face with O at a labor convention.

I saw his discomfort in his gaze, which he couldn't hold. I saw him and felt absolutely nothing. It was like seeing the friend of the cousin of the brother-in-law of the stranger's neighbor.

I walked out of that convention and thanked God for his answer: Yes, I was ready. I was healed.

If this testimony saves one person who identifies with my story, that's enough.

Thanks for reading.

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Approved or Not?




When waving a letter of endorsement or approval from a Bishop

in your particular parish, it may be helpful to note that with all the

talk of “approval from the Pope and many bishops” - their formal

approval only ever came from the Pontifical Council of the Laity

but not from the Congregation for Doctrines of the Faith and the

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the

Sacrament, as it was supposed to.  It is also notable that many of

the bishops that welcomed the NCW and established a

Redemptoris Mater Seminary, climbed the ladder within the

hierarchy and later were a part of their “approval” process as well

(such as Cardinal Stafford of Denver, on the Pontifical Council of the

Laity).  


They never talk about all the Bishops who have kicked them to

the curb or the numerous reprimands from local pastors, bishops,

and even the Pope. Here is a breakdown of just what is available

through research, it doesn’t contain, of course, the numerous

complaints from the laity to their Pastors and Bishops that never

made the news, or were never shared in the blogosphere, of

which there are countless. 


1962 - Carmen gets expelled from the convent/Missionaries of Christ


1981 - Archbishop Marty of Paris blocks further expansion of the Way


1985 - Cardinal Ratzinger speaks of new lay movements, including The

Way, of their divisiveness. 


1986 - Bishops of Umbria Episcopal Conference address concerns over

NCW abuses


1986 - Bishop of Brescia, Bruno Foresti, in a Communication to the

Ninth Assembly of the Presbyteral Council addresses concerns

over methods and theology of the NCW. 


1988 - Pope John Paul II blesses 100 NCW families to evangelize

emphasizing importance of obedience to the Pastors of the Church.


1989 - Bishop Lorenzo Bellomi of Trieste issues admonishment to

NCW on their separatist practices


1992 - Bishop of Nancy, France orders NCW to leave the diocese.


1994 - Bishop of Clifton England opens investigation of NCW

communities and abuses


1995 - Bishop of Foligno [Arduino] Bertoldo tells NCW priests that

Neocatechumenal parents should send their children to the parish

catechism


1996 - Bishop of Clifton, England bans further activity of the NCW

in the diocese


1996 - Bishop of Vicenza, Pietro Nonis, writes to the pastors of the

Neocatechumenal Way to correct their divisiveness.


1996 - Cardinal Salvatore Pappalardo publishes a critical reflection

on the Neocatechumenal Way


1997 - Pope John Paul II requests written statutes of the NCW

upon their 30th anniversary



1998 - The Regional Liturgical Commission of the Episcopal Conference

of Basilicata issued, specific mandates to unify with the parishes they are

affiliated with.


2001 - Pope John Paul II writes Cardinal Stafford, President of the

Pontifical Council of the Laity, to assist the NCW in getting the

written statutes as it had been four years since his first request. 


2002 - Preliminary Statutes of the NCW approved ad experimentum

(to 2007). Goes to the Holy See to examine the NCW Catechetical

Directory and the catechetical and liturgical practices of the Way. Pope

JPII “members will willingly and generously support the directives

they will receive from these authoritative sources”.


2005 - Cardinal Arinze, Prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship

and the Discipline of the Sacraments writes on behalf of Pope Benedict

to Kiko, Carmen, and Fr. Pezzi “ follow the liturgical books approved by

the church, without omitting or adding anything” plus six critical matters

regarding their liturgy; more specifically distribution of communion.


2006 - Pope Benedict addresses assembly of NCW blessing and

reminding them observe the norms established in the liturgical books


2007 - Parishioners in Australia write to the Vatican after Cardinal Pell

dismisses their widespread concerns with treatment from the NCW priests.


2007 - Pope Benedict speaks of NCW/movements their problematic

beginnings and need for adherence to the church


2008 - Pontifical Council for the Laity approves final status of the

Way autonomously, however the Catechetical Directory had not

yet received official approval by the Congregation for Doctrines

of the Faith and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the

Discipline of the Sacrament


2008 - Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Japan closed by Bishop

Mizobe for causing division and trouble.


2009 - Pope Benedict addresses the NCW on their 40th anniversary,

gives praise and blessings - emphasizes the large portion of his letter

to adherence to the directive of the Cardinal Vicar and for unity.


2010 - Pontifical Council of the Laity approves NCW Catechetical

Directory


2010 - Japanese bishops unanimously suspend the NCW


2010 - Bishops in Northern Philippines suspend the NCW 


2011 - Bishop Anthony Sharma suspends NCW in Nepal 


2012 - Pontifical Council of the Laity approves NCW celebrations

contained in the NCW Catechetical Directory


2012 - Cardinal Burke of the Congregation for Divine Worship and

the Discipline of the Sacrament writes Pope Benedict that they

were not consulted nor had they approved the NCW Directory


2012 - Pope Benedict meets with NCW, does not issue

blanket approval; responds to Cardinal Burke’s assertion

in agreement with him. Pontifical Council of the Laity

reads out approval only of para-liturgical rites.


2014 - Pope Francis’ first address to the NCW begins with admonishment,

to be in communion with the churches, work with the cultures, express

mercy and freedom among members.


2014 - Deacon Martinez, former head of Guam’s Sex Abuse Response

Team (SART) formally write Archbishop Apuron with concerns over

Redemptoris Mater seminarian screenings as credible allegations of

abuse mount in the region.


2015 - Deacon Martinez of SART in Guam writes Archbishop Apuron

of Agana, Guam again regarding patterns of sexual deviancy among

NCW and RMS clergy/seminarians


2015 - Concerned Catholics of Guam make a formal report/inquiry into

the illegal transfer of title of the RMS property to the NCW, the NCW

abuses and Archbishop Apurons abuse of power


2015 - Bishop Czeslaw Kozon of Denmark write to the Archbishop of

Copenhagen and copied to their Nuncio, regarding the problems

brought on by the Neocatechumenal Way in that country 


2017 - Bishop of Lancaster restricts NCW due to abuses



https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/2002/september/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20020921_cammino-neocatecumenale.html

https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/to-cardinal-stafford-assist-the-neocatechumenal-way-8333 - JPII to Stafford

http://www.internetica.it/neocatecumenali/english/arinze-letter-interview.htm

https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/leaks-confirm-ambivalence-about-neocatechumenal-way

https://thoughtfulcatholic.com/?page_id=45850

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/21808/japanese-bishop-upholds-suspension-for-the-way-in-his-diocese

http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1346356bdc4.html?eng=y - still doesn’t obey

http://lingayen-dagupan.org/ArchBishop/neocat.html - philippines

https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=11296 - nepal

https://fsspx.news/en/news-events/news/great-britain-%E2%80%9Cneocatechumenal-way%E2%80%9D-reined-bishop-30408 - england

https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2006/january/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060112_neocatecumenali.html -Pope B . address

https://www.ncronline.org/news/french-archdiocese-freed-18-years-abusive-leadership - AB Avignon drains all finances to Neocatechumenal Way

https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2007/february/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20070222_clergy-rome.html - Pope B 2007

https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2015/01_02/CCOG-Primary-Report-1.pdf - CCOG Report

https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2009/january/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20090110_neocatecumenali.html - Pope B 2009

https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2014/february/documents/papa-francesco_20140201_cammino-neocatecumenale.html - Pope F 2014


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8T2YTN37X-ATE9LYVRCOW42ZFJ3WThLem9UemE0NUEwZnBn/view?resourcekey=0-o6V48Hgj4WEBjzTmEH1fcg - Deacon letter 2015 Guam

https://www.kuam.com/story/28618470/2015/03/26/clergyman-losing-faith-in-churchs-leader

https://thoughtfulcatholic.com/?page_id=44398 - Bishop Denmark to AB Copenhagen

https://www.smh.com.au/national/redfern-parish-at-war-with-its-priests-20070601-gdqa69.html - Austrailia

https://thoughtfulcatholic.com/?page_id=45790 - Australia