The following was left as a comment on the PDN online.
It's a bit sad to see members of the Neocatechumenal Way continually grasping to be validated by the public. Melvin Quinene gives another example of this self-absorbed exercise in yesterday's Pacific Daily News.
It's a bit sad to see members of the Neocatechumenal Way continually grasping to be validated by the public. Melvin Quinene gives another example of this self-absorbed exercise in yesterday's Pacific Daily News.
However, sad as it is, it gives the rest of us an opportunity to publicly expose what is really going on. Here's a few points.
1. The pope's blessing of the members of the NCW is not unique. He blesses every group which comes to see him. And if they are a formally constituted group, as is the NCW, then he also reminds them of their mission and expresses his support.
2. If there is some controversy with a group, as there was for years with the Legionnaires of Christ, the pope does not use a public audience to address it. In the case of the LOC, after years of very public support by St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict quietly deconstructed it, taking great care not to harm those who were innocently attached to it.
