A Neocat New Evangelization

[The following is an adapted translation of an Osservatorio article from October 2018.]

The Neocatechumenals will often blather about the New Evangelization, abusing an expression that marked the entire pontificate of Pope St. John Paul II.

But what is the New Evangelization? The Holy Father explained on several occasions, and in particular on October 12, 1992 during a visit to the Dominican Republic:

The New Evangelization does not consist in a new Gospel…

The novelty of the evangelizing action to which we have been called affects the attitude, the style, the effort, and the programming–or, as I proposed in Haiti, the ardor, the methods, and the expression…

How can you give a response to today’s man that is accessible, penetrating, valid, and profound, without altering or modifying the content of the Gospel message in any way?

Inaugural Address of the Fourth General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate, §6 & 10

Previously, in 1991, in his message for World Youth Day in Częstochowa, he specified:

The mission lands in which you have been called to work are not necessarily located in distant countries, but can be found throughout the world, even in the everyday situations where you are. In the countries of more ancient Christian tradition today there is an urgent need to call attention again to the message of Jesus by means of a new evangelization, since there are widespread groups of people who do not know Christ, or do not know him well enough…

§3

Let’s stop here and briefly summarize:

1. the New Evangelization does not consist in a new Gospel but only concerns ardor, methods, etc.;
2. the ardor, methods, etc. must not alter the Gospel;
3. the “mission lands” are also our everyday situations and environments;
4. the “mission lands” are also the countries of the most ancient Christian tradition, due to the widespread ignorance in matters of faith.

When the proponents of the Neocatechumenal Way blather about the New Evangelization, they are deceiving you. Indeed:

• despite the big words and proclamations, the Way proclaims an altered and modified Gospel. The self-appointed “initiators” of the Way, Kiko Argüello and the late [and, disturbingly, Servant of God] Carmen Hernández, famously taught errors, ambiguities, and real heresies for half a century, which has been extensively documented by Father Enrico Zoffoli and numerous other authors. It is thanks to ambiguity and money that the Way dodges accusations and punishments. The two “initiators” have never in the slightest corrected the nonsense they have taught.

• for the Way, the New Evangelization consists only in setting up new communities of the Way; all their pompous proclamations (“the parish priest wanted us; we went a the request of the bishop; the Pope sent us!”) are just a pile of lies to hide this reality. They have relationships with dioceses and clergy only to the extent that “oiling” is needed, or there is an opportunity to make all the Catholic faithful pay for the self-organized Neocat initiatives.

• despite the misleading staging of the extractions by lot (the Merkaba), the ones “extracted” to go to distant and uncomfortable places are always the smallest and simplest brothers of the community; the Kikian-Carmenian aristocracy, on the other hand, always magically obtains the most comfortable, prestigious, and/or nearby destinations.

• the success of the Way is due precisely to the widespread ignorance in matters of faith. Neocatechumenal cancer has spread thanks to what John Paul II wanted to combat with a New Evangelization: ignorance of the Faith. Those not-entirely-ignorant Christians invited to the so-called “initial catechesis” of the Way sense the scam and do not join. The Way grows only thanks to the weakness of the Church and ignorance of the Faith.

• Kiko has a globe with flags stuck in the countries where the Way is present. It goes without saying that he, like a cartoon supervillain, craves to stick new flags and he would become a furious beast if he had to remove one. So, guess what? There is a Neocatechumenal “mission” even in the tax haven of the “Turks and Kikos” Islands, a country with just six thousand total Catholics which certainly did not suffer from a lack of priests… And do you really believe that the Kikos went there to “evangelize”? Ha ha ha!

• do not listen to the Neocatechumenal fanfare! Their so-called “missions” consist of amateurs in disarray–all smoke and no fire!

What alarmed John Paul II can be understood from his own words: if the novelty of the New Evangelization concerns the attitude, the style, and the effort, it means that he was accusing a wrong attitude and an un-Christian style. If the novelty concerns the ardor, the methods, and the expression, it means that he was accusing a lack of ardor, and bad methods and expressions that didn’t previously exist (otherwise they would have already been called out by his predecessors). Let’s try to guess: John Paul II really had it against “professional” priests, priests fed up with their “work,” sloppy, hurried, devoid of the ardor of faith (and therefore of faith itself!), and who had recently introduced vices and problems that weren’t there before.

John Paul II also had it against those “modern” priests and bishops who alter and modify the content of the Gospel message. Maybe they will also be full of ardor, but instead of curing they poison; instead of protecting they devastate; instead of promoting they debase. Anyone who carries on even a slightly polluted faith is not evangelizing, but is doing the devil a favor.

The temptation of the bishops to whom the speech of October 12, 1992 was addressed [and indeed of many bishops today] was [and is] that of trusting “modern” priests fresh from the seminaries such as the Redemptoris Mater. It is the managerial temptation of bishops: to delude themselves that one can turn a blind eye to doctrine and liturgy, as long as the priest is excited and perky and keeps the parish open. John Paul II challenges the bishops to reflect: “How can you give a response to today’s man that is accessible, penetrating, valid, and profound, without altering or modifying the content of the Gospel message in any way?”

Clear? John Paul II, in speaking of the New Evangelization, effectively condemned the missions of the Way.

The so-called “missions” of the Neocatechumenal Way are the wrong answer to a real problem. Poison is passed off as medicine. A parasite is peddled as an improvement and a cure.