Is My Priest a Neocat?

 Discerning Catholics want to know: is my parish priest a Neocat?

The priests of the Neocatechumenal Way function very similarly to priests of religious orders, in that their job assignments are not limited to the diocese (or even country) in which they are currently operating. A priest operating in the Archdiocese of Washington may be called away to serve a parish in the Archdiocese of Boston. A priest in the Archdiocese of Denver may be called away to serve a mission in Florida. A priest in the Archdiocese of Newark may return to his home country to never be seen stateside again.

Likewise with priests of religious orders, these relocation assignments do not come directly from the diocesan bishop, but rather are decisions made by the priests' superiors - the lay leadership of the Neocatechumenal Way, headed by Kiko.

The difficult part is this: the Way is not actually a religious order. It is, according to canon law, neither an institute of consecrated life nor a society of apostolic life, but an association of the Christian faithful. This means that it is primarily a lay organization, and any priests it has look and function identically to diocesan priests, and its seminaries function alongside and in cooperation with diocesan seminaries.

Fr. John Smith, O.F.M. in his brown habit is easy to identify as a Franciscan. Fr. Bill Jones, O.P. in his white and black habit is easy to pick out as a Dominican. But Neocat priests wear no special habit, and carry no special letters after their names. So how can you know who's who?

Well, you just have to pay attention. Maybe homilies are getting harsher. New, vague catechetical sessions are starting up. You start feeling like an outsider in your own parish. The signs are common, but not always easy to pin down, especially if you haven't been trained on what to look for. You could always just ask a priest if he's part of the Way--they're usually very proud to tell you about their "journey of faith." But some people aren't comfortable being that direct and abrupt.

So as a public service, this blog is introducing a new feature whereby we provide you the names of known Neocatechumenal priests and the dioceses in which they serve. This list will be its own tab on the main page, so you can access it quickly and easily. Some notes about this list:

• We're a small operation here at this blog. We only have so many man-hours to access so much information. As such, this directory of priests should never be considered comprehensive or complete. From personal experience, and from combing through church websites and diocesan media archives, we are able to come up with so many names, but we recognize there are likely many more that we have missed. We will do our best to keep the list current and up to date, adding new names as they are discovered (or ordained). We will also remove names if necessary (for example, if we discover our initial information was bad, or if someone leaves the country or dies).
• We will never post information related to priests' current assignments (i.e. if they work in parishes, have chancery or seminary jobs, are unassigned, are working outside the diocese, etc.). We leave it to the reader to determine where a priest might be working at the particular time of reading.
• This list is purely informational and does not intend to make commentary on the personal character and/or priestly ministry of any given man. That commentary, for better or for worse, is left to other times and places as warranted.
• Because this is an American-based blog, this list will concern only priests in dioceses in the United States (not including territories, such as Guam, or dependent international missions, such as the Turks and Caicos Islands).

If you have names (or even dioceses) you would like to provide for the list, please reach out or comment and let us know.