Thursday, January 9, 2014

WE WILL PRAY. BUT WE WILL ALSO RESIST.

On "Stinking Moles", an anonymous commenter leaves a link to a supportive news story on Zenit about the Neocatechumenal Way. Another leaves a long list of episcopal dignitaries who have visited the Neo shrine in  Israel. 

We could throw links back and forth at each other all day, but two simple questions still remain:
  1. Why do you regularly celebrate the Eucharist in places not consecrated for that purpose?
  2. Why do you not consume the sacred species immediately upon receiving it?



In regards to the location of the Eucharistic liturgy, Canon Law requires:

Can.  932 §1. The eucharistic celebration is to be carried out in a sacred place unless in a particular case necessity requires otherwise; in such a case the celebration must be done in a decent place. §2. The eucharistic sacrifice must be carried out on a dedicated or blessed altar; outside a sacred place a suitable table can be used, always with a cloth and a corporal.

The only exception to not conducting the sacred liturgy in a "sacred place" and on a "dedicated altar" (obviously a church) is when "in a particular case necessity requires otherwise." 

This shouldn't have to be explained, but let's do it anyway. "Particular case". PARTICULAR. That's different than REGULAR. The Neocatechumenal Way REGULARLY celebrates the Eucharist apart from the REGULAR space consecrated specifically for its celebration. 

Your Statute makes no such allowance. In fact, the Staute assumes your Eucharist is celebrated in a church by noting that the Neocatechumenal celebrations of the Eucharist are: "part of the Sunday liturgical pastoral work of the parish and are open also to other faithful." (Art. 13, § 2

And, as per normal magisterial instructions, whenever church norms are to be followed, nothing else is said unless there is an exception noted. There is no exception noted.

We simply ask: "WHERE IS YOUR PERMISSION TO DO SO?" Show us the document and we'll stand down. Otherwise we must assume that not only is your celebration of the Eucharist physically OUTSIDE THE CHURCH, the Neocatechumenal Way itself  IS ALSO. 

In regards to the reception of the sacred species "according to the liturgical books" (as you were commanded to do in your Statute: Art. 13, §3, Footnote 49):

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal requires: As soon as the communicant receives the host, he or she consumes the whole of it. (GIRM, par 161)

The Neocatechumenal Way teaches its members NOT to consume the host "as soon as the communicant receives", but to hold it until all have received, and after period of contemplation and upon a signal from the minister, to then consume. This would be the equivalent of the rest of us taking the host back to our pews without consuming. ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN!

We simply ask: WHERE IS YOUR PERMISSION TO DO SO? Show us the document and we'll stand down. Otherwise we must assume that you have a different pope and different liturgical books than the rest of us

We must now get to the real problem. They Archbishop himself hosts a weekly "Eucharist" at his home in apparent violation of Can.  932 §1, and distributes communion in apparent violation of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, par 161. 

If the Archbishop has some sort of special permission from Rome to do so, then please let the rest of us know, for it is a serious scandal not to do so. If in fact there is no permission, then it is a serious scandal to persist, and the Neocatechumenal Way, as practiced here in Guam, will continue to be in violation of another section of your Statute:

The Neocatechumenal Way will seek to foster in its recipients a mature sense of belonging to the parish and to promote relations of profound communion and collaboration with all the faithful and with the other elements of the parish community. (Art. 6, §3)

Let us say this again. SIMPLY PROVIDE THE DOCUMENTS and we will not only stand down, we will stand corrected. Otherwise we must assume that our own archdiocesan leaders are not in communion with Catholic Church that the rest of us belong to. We wait. 

Note: These practices may someday be permitted, but for now there is no evidence that they are. And even if and when they are permitted, there is, without the documents requested, no covering for the fact that the leadership of the Neocatechumenal Way, for many years, has chosen to ignore the directives of the Church the rest of us belong to. And so for now, "the rest of us" must resist and oppose you, and demand that at least our spiritual leaders honor the positions of governance for which they were ordained and consecrated. We will pray, but we will also resist. 

8 comments:

  1. Priests serve a sacred meal. Pastors feed a hungry flock. Ministers prepare souls for the eternal banquet of Heaven. And since the church is a family, it requires its members to share in the One Bread and One Cup. Despite our differences we become one family united around the commemoration of the Lord’s Last Supper.

    Couldn't resisted this comment posted by Father Leo on his blog Grace before meals. Thought it reflected what is being said all along especially the uniting under one body one cup.

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  2. Lima, Peru, Jul 28, 2011 / 01:56 pm (CNA).- Spanish Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera recently recommended that Catholics receive Communion on the tongue, while kneeling.

    “It is to simply know that we are before God himself and that He came to us and that we are undeserving,” the prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments said in an interview with CNA during his visit to Lima, Peru.

    The cardinal’s remarks came in response to a question on whether Catholics should receive Communion in the hand or on the tongue.

    He recommended that Catholics “receive Communion on the tongue and while kneeling.”

    Receiving Communion in this way, the cardinal continued, “is the sign of adoration that needs to be recovered. I think the entire Church needs to receive Communion while kneeling.”

    “In fact,” he added, “if one receives while standing, a genuflection or profound bow should be made, and this is not happening.”

    “If we trivialize Communion, we trivialize everything, and we cannot lose a moment as important as that of receiving Communion, of recognizing the real presence of Christ there, of the God who is the love above all loves, as we sing in a hymn in Spanish.”

    In response to a question about the liturgical abuses that often occur, Cardinal Canizares said they must be “corrected, especially through proper formation: formation for seminarians, for priests, for catechists, for all the Christian faithful.”

    Such a formation should ensure that liturgical celebrations take place “in accord with the demands and dignity of the celebration, in accord with the norms of the Church, which is the only way we can authentically celebrate the Eucharist,” he added.

    “Bishops have a unique responsibility” in the task of liturgical formation and the correction of abuses, the cardinal said, “and we must not fail to fulfill it, because everything we do to ensure that the Eucharist is celebrated properly will ensure proper participation in the Eucharist.”

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  3. 161. If Communion is given only under the species of bread, the Priest raises the host slightly and shows it to each, saying, The Body of Christ. The communicant replies, Amen, and receives the Sacrament either on the tongue or, where this is allowed, in the hand, the choice lying with the communicant. As soon as the communicant receives the host, he or she consumes the whole of it.

    Taken from the national conference of Bishops article

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  4. Archbishop Apuron in humility please resign the Archdiocese of Agana Guam. you are no longer respected by the priests and people of Guam.

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    Replies
    1. Speak for yourself and not for others please

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    2. It'll never happen, but if this were put to a vote among all active Catholics and clergy in this Archdiocese, I think it'd be easy to guess the results.

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    3. I'm all for it....resign or find go to china

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  5. Adulation of their Founder

    Another clear sect-like characteristic of the Neocatechumenate is their adulation of their founder and their zeal in carrying out whatever he orders. Everything absolutely must be signed by "Kiko", the paten, the chalice, the cross, the lectern, and whatever else is used! Kiko's writings, while kept strictly secret from outsiders, are treated as if they were sacred texts inside the Way. In this they are not dissimilar to the Mormon Sect, which also treat their founder as a latter-day prophet and his writing as sacred text.

    I cannot think of any other Catholic leader in history who had such hubris that he felt that he had the right to arrogate to himself the authority to rewrite the Mass to accommodate his dissent from the faith of the Church. Nor can I think of any other movement in history whose followers were so slave-like in their mentality that they would have gone along with it without a whimper of protest.

    The Neocatechumenate's liturgies and Masses are liberally infused with his music. Kiko is a flamenco guitarist and writes all his music and hymns in this style. Which is fine if you are a flamenco buff, but if your taste is a little more catholic and runs to Palestrina for instance, it is more likely to wind you up than raise the heart and mind to God.

    Even there catechesis is clearly by rote, carrying out Kiko's or Carmen's instructions to the letter. This is given away by the fact that their apologists, who work in small teams, frequently turn to one another for prompting and will quietly interject if someone has forgotten something that was in the script.

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