Neocatechumenal Way

[-SEEKING-]

Is anyone here personally involved with this movement? Or know about it?

At my parents church, they seem to be getting really big. To the point that some of the old traditional members have been pretty upset and have had several meetings with the head priest. Not sure if that's what he's called.

[-SEEKING-]

LOL. 38 views and not one comment. I guess it's not that well known after all.

[Slug1]

Never heard of it.

There, I said something at least.

[TrustGzus]

Never heard of it either.

[amazzin]

http://www.romereports.com/palio/mas...lish-6520.html

[-SEEKING-]

Thanks amazzin. That's one of the things my dad mentioned to me today. That the way they do the mass is something that's being looked at.

[amazzin]

There will always be a challenge to how worship services are run no matter the denomination or religion. We see that throughout history and it should not surprise the Catholic church when its tradition are challenged to meet a changing demographic. One must always remember that worship is unto God first and it must exalt Him. When worship becomes something else then it no longer is considered "ecclesia"

[Amos_with_goats]

It is not just the mass, it is a movement that is loosely within the RCC.

My SIL (and BIL) are heavily involved in it. Their 'community' has weekly bible study type meetings... last time I visited I had some really great discussions about what is actually in the Word. Some will say that this trend has little meaning, I disagree. The opportunity to study the Word is a good thing... even when done in the confines of a loosely sanctioned RCC gathering.

... Just one Goat Herder's opinion... worth what you paid.

[Telmahury]

Is anyone here personally involved with this movement? Or know about it?

At my parents church, they seem to be getting really big. To the point that some of the old traditional members have been pretty upset and have had several meetings with the head priest. Not sure if that's what he's called.

Hi there,
I realize this response is several months late, but I can't help but answer it anyway.
I am involved with :this movement, we worship and believe the teachings of the catholic church. We don't have our own priests, the priests of the surrounding catholic churches give us mass just as they do regular mass. There are a few key differences, I'll do my best to explain them:

• Every so often, a church that is involved with the way will host a series of catechism that introduces (or as in my case reintroduces) people to Christ. These are led by a team of catechists usually consisting of a priest, some seminarists and some other people. Each team member has their own community (will explain that part in a bit) and generally give their testimony.
• At the conclusion of the catechisms, the people that went are invited to be a part of the parish, and invited to be a part of the community that will be formed. The responsibility and commitment involved with being in a community is explained, and everyone decides what they want to do. Some people decide church in general isn't for them, some decide to just go to regular mass, and some decide to be a part a community. Those that choose to be a part of a community will get together.
• We have a community that we regularly worship with. Instead of going to mass on Sunday morning with many people that we likely do not know very well, we have mass with a small community (around 50 people or less) led by a catholic priest. There is more singing than at regular church, There is a babysitter that we have chosen and compensate to watch kids during the service, and it is generally more intimate than regular mass. Because of the catechism that were given, people understand the lectures and the word better, and a small team that changes weekly ensures that everyone will get to participate in preparing the mass (ie the altar, flowers, linen, buying the wine,preparing the bread, etc). During the mass after the homily (sermon) people can share how the readings of the week have affected them if they like, which is absolutely confidential. Also after the prayer of the faithful people can pray out loud and we as a group ask the Lord to hear our prayers.
• We sing a lot! Instead of having a traditional choir, we have a group of cantors. They sing and play instruments. Anyone can be a cantor, even if you don't know how to play an instrument, you can be taught. Singing is not reserved only for the cantors, the community sings the responses. All the songs are biblical, they are scripture taken from different books in the bible, the most used are psalms. We sing before the priest comes in, we sing Gloria in excelsis deo, we sing the psalm after the first reading, The priest sings the eucharistic prayer and the community sings the responses, when the priest is in the process of parting the bread we sing then too. We sing once more after the mass is over.
• In addition to the mass (liturgy) we also get together once a week to read the word. We will read scripture and share how it has impacted us, we pray during these meetings as well. The reason behind these meetings is that the bible speaks a lot about the importance of the word, we should not go too long without it. Some examples : http://www.bibleplan.org/whyread.htm
• The main difference (in my experience) is that when I was a growing up, going to church consisted of dressing up, going to the church, listening to people speak and I usually didn't understand what the heck they were talking about, standing up then sitting down a million times, then standing in line to drink wine and eat wafers, listening to 2/3 rds of the kids in attendance whining and or crying, then being relieved that it was all over and I had fulfilled my weekly obligation to make God happy. Not so here. Having this community makes for a more intimate experience. We worship, love and praise God together. We grow in Christ and share our faith with others through evangelization of the word and sharing our testimony with others. There are communities that have been walking together for many years, where their children are now grown and having families of their own. In my experience, mass is a celebration of the Lord, not a weekly obligation I groan to go to. I look forward to it, and my children do as well. We aren't good people showing how good we are by how involved we are. We aren't bad people trying to be good so God will love us. We are broken people brought together by God's infinite love grace and mercy .