Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Freyer of the Diocese of Orange was among the more than eight thousand U.S. pilgrims who gathered on the Mount of Beatitudes in Galilee on July 19 for a vocational meeting of the Neocatechumenal Way.
“God has been very good throughout this week for me,” Bishop Freyer said after witnessing some 250 young men express their openness to discern the priesthood and 300 young women do likewise for the religious life during a “vocational call” that brought them to the meeting stage for a special blessing.
Bishop Freyer said he made the trip to Israel to “encourage and support” the young pilgrims present from his diocese, as well as those from the neighboring dioceses of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Diego….
The July 19 meeting took place outdoors on the grounds of the Domus Galilaeae, an international retreat center on the Mount of Beatitudes overlooking the Sea of Galilee, where participants braved sweltering humidity and temperatures over 100 degrees. The event took place six years to the day after the death of Carmen Hernandez, co-initiator of the Neocatechumenal Way with Kiko Argüello. The diocesan phase of Hernandez’s cause for beatification is set to open soon in the Archdiocese of Madrid.
Pilgrims prayed, sang, and heard a preached announcement of the kerygma — the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ — and listened to a sung recitation of the beatitudes from the Gospel of Matthew before remarks by His Beatitude Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who presided the encounter….
Apart from the young men and women who answered the vocational call, some 200 families also came to the stage at the end of the meeting to express their availability to be sent anywhere in the world as missionary families. Those who responded to the calls are now invited to begin a period of discernment in their parish-based communities on whether to enter the seminary or convent, or be sent as missionaries.
Bishop Freyer called it a “delight” to get a front row view of the response to the vocational calls.
Two days before, Bishop Freyer had celebrated Sunday Mass with 700 pilgrims from Southern California at the Domus Galilaeae. Throughout the week, he accompanied different groups from Orange to holy sites, including at the Mount of Transfiguration (Mount Tabor), the Primacy of Peter on the Sea of Galilee, and Magdala.
The above comes from a July 22 story in Angleus News.
The Neocatechumenal Way is a cult. It’s especially appealing to Asians, for some reason.
It is a Church-approved movement and does not have the characteristics of a cult. We have some extended family members who are part of it and have grown greatly in their Catholic faith (and they are not Asian, although I don’t know how that’s relevant). Many priestly vocations (and other vocations) have arisen from the Neocatechumenal Way. Instead of a serious and anonymous charge, can you provide specifics of how it is a cult? While any of us may agree or disagree, prefer or not prefer, to call it a cult is a serious allegation, including against all the bishops, priests, lay faithful and others involved in it. (Have there been some bad leaders in the movement? Of course, but that’s true of all the movements, religious communities, parishes, dioceses and Catholic schools, but we don’t shut them all down because of some bad leaders.) Again, can you provide specifics of how it is a cult? Thank you.
Or you could use something called a “search engine” to look up articles with the search terms “neocatechumenal way, cult”. Here’s some starters:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Catholicism/comments/e8i7oc/i_was_in_the_neocatecumenal_way_for_five_years/
https://thoughtfulcatholic.com/?page_id=766
https://culteducation.com/group/1302-neocatechumenal-way/27727-the-way-shows-signs-of-a-cult-or-sect.html
This is the start of a pretty good opposing view. I am not about to spend a lot of time researching this. But red flags pop up for me when over 500 young people got the “vocation call” and over 200 families presented themselves “to go anywhere in the world as missionaries”. It all sounds “suspect” to me.
Search, just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true. (And, yes, I am capable of doing an internet search.) “Culteducation” isn’t using the term in a neutral sense and it seems nor was the first poster. There are ex-Catholics, including those abused by some in the Church, who call the Catholic Church a cult (in a sociological, negative sense). No movement, parish, diocese, religious order or Catholic school is above criticism. And, it’s terrible whenever anyone is harmed, especially by someone in the Church. That said, I find that critics can’t simply point to things the NeoCatechumenal Way teaches or practices that are wrong. If serious wrongdoing is inherent in the Way, then bishops should not allow them in their dioceses and seminaries and the Church should remove its approval. That young people and families respond to vocational calls and are willing to be missionaries shouldn’t be suspect. It happened in the early Church and has happened since. I know some who have done so. I’m not an apologist for the Catechumenal Way. But, I’d sincerely like to know of any teaching or practice of theirs contrary to Catholic Faith. Can anyone simply point to such teachings or practices of theirs? (As with Opus Dei, Communion and Liberation or Regnum Christi or other movements, the criticisms are often vague, generalizations, related to some specific poor leaders or even virtual name-calling.) Thank you. Maybe someone involved in the Neocatechumenal Way would like to respond? And, have critics warned Bishop Freyer?
What happens if they try to leave?
What happens if they question teachings?
They don’t have to teach something wrong to be a cult.
You seem really defensive for someone who is not even in it.
Defensive, fair questions you asked. Apparently, neither of us know. So, why assume the worst? I am not involved with the Neocatechumenal Way, Opus Dei, Communion and Liberation or Regnum Christi or other such movements. Yet, I’ve known people in those movements who’ve experienced conversion, been solidly catechized and are very good Catholics. Sometimes we Catholics fail to recognize some of our brother and sisters as allies, let alone brothers and sisters. Many have joined those movements because they found a way to live as committed disciples of Christ that they simply didn’t find in one of their local parishes. The Church has long recognized such movements. Think of the Franciscans and others when they started. We may have different preferences or charisms or ideas, but I’d caution against forming a circular firing squad among ourselves when some in the world are out to destroy the Church entirely.
If you (or others) would like to have further discussion about this, please reach out to me at [email protected] and we’ll find a time to talk. May God bless and guide us all.
There is a lot of information on the link from thoughfulcatholic.
I am not interested in joining this group.
As a deacon, you should read and watch all the material you can so that you can spot problems.
Many years ago, I attended a Rosary group and became very concerned with some things that were said. When I told the pastor that he should check what this group is doing, he said “that is the last group I am worried about.” I went one more time and prayed the prayer of St. Michael. The people causing the problem eventually left and those who were there for the Rosary, stayed.
You really can’t know what is going on in a group unless you are a part of it..
Please read the material. I see videos where there are allegations and responses.
Satan will attack a faithful group.
He just stated his opinion. It is not a serious allegation.
In the Catholic Church, cult is not necessarily a pejorative (as in the cult of Mary, or the cult of St. Olaf).
Click the link and read the whole story.
There are 1100 youth in California that belong to this?
That is a lot of leaven.
There is a change a-comin”.
I’d rather join the Neocatechumenal Way than a TLM community.
Is this what “Orange man bad” refers to?
Trump
The laying on of hands should not be done for that reason. Are all those young men now priests? Bad choice of ritual act.
In answer to your question, they are not now priests (or deacons). Imposition of hands is not limited to ordination. It happens during Baptism, Confirmation and Penance as well. As the Catholic Encyclopedia notes, “Apart from the sacraments the rite is also employed in almost all the various blessings of persons and things. Abbots and virgins are thus blessed (cf. Roman Pontifical and Ritual). In the reconciliation of public penitents and the reception of schismatics, heretics, and apostates into the Church, hands were formerly, and still are, imposed (cf. Duchesne, “Christian Worship”, pp. 328, 435, St. Cyprian, De Lapsis 16). Those obsessed by evil spirits are similarly exorcized (cf. Roman Ritual, Titus, x, cl).” And, of course, during Mass, during many of the prayers according to the rubrics of the Roman Missal. I’m pretty certain none of those young men thought they were being ordained and that was not the intention (nor the words) of the bishops praying blessings for them. Many of those young men will likely “discern out.” Yet, many will become faithful priests of Christ and His Church. And, for that, thanks be to God.