The Church and Her Movements

Recent tensions between Catholic clergy and the Neocatechumenal Way (NW) bear striking resemblances to the more serious break between Newark’s Archbishop Gerity and The People of Hope, a charismatic covenant community, in 1985. These features are probably emblematic of constitutional aspects of enthusiastic renewal movements that inevitably make for conflict with the established Church of parish, seminary, and chancery. The covenant community movement of the 1980s and the Neocatechumenal Way share these features: 1. A highly negative spiritual evaluation of the broader dominant secular culture against which they take a more stridently counter-cultural stance. The Sword of the Spirit got in trouble with our Archbishop for emphasis on traditional distinctive gender roles. Likewise, a NW priest is likely to inflame fires of controversy and resentment by preaching against contraception. 2. Similarly, they hold a relatively low opinion of the spiritual health of the established Church in the face of such a hostile culture. Their premise is that a stronger antidote is required than normal parish life. 3. An exalted self-consciousness that God is doing something previously unprecedented in their specific way or movement. In this they resemble Joachim of Fiore, the 12th century Franciscan who perceived the mendicant movement of St. Francis as initiating a new stage in Salvation History. Interesting, Father Joseph Ratzinger’s second dissertation was on St. Bonaventure’s rejection of just this view of history. While less extreme than Joachim, the enthusiasts resemble their liberal theological antagonists in this sense of discontinuity: “spirit of Vatican II” enthusiasts who see in that council a radical rupture with the past, the liberationists who find definitive redemption in some combination of Marx and Freud, and of course post-moderns who worship at the altar of Nietzsche. 4. Flowing from this ecstatic embrace of what is seen as a radically new and profound divine initiative, be it Kiko or Marx, is a discontinuity with the Church of the past as well as the actual, concrete Church of the present. These various forms of enthusiasm have little interest in the teachings of the Popes Pius, of St. Teresa of Lisieux, Father Garrigou-LaGrange or even Romano Guardino. Likewise, they are strongly tempted to sit in harsh, rash judgment of the normal Catholic parishioner, cleric and institution as spiritually challenged. 5. Like the Protestant reformers, the return to the “origins” of the early Church affects a sense, more or less explicit, that the Church lost its way, usually with Constantine. The Church of the centuries, that of Aquinas, Augustine and Pascal, has little to offer in comparison with that of the Apostles and their contemporary imitators. This calls to mind the Mormon belief that the chosen people disappeared for a few millennia and showed up in North America after a period in limbo. 6. The efficacy of the sacraments themselves, operating ex opere operato, becomes de-emphasized in comparison with the more empirically effective dynamics of the renewal process whether that be baptism in the Holy Spirit, prayers of healing and deliverance, scrutinies and steps along the Way, or the political and psychological liberations of the left. 7. An alternative hierarchy emerges which is imbued with greater spiritual authority than that granted the institutional representatives with whom they compete. 8. An extraordinary degree of spiritual authority is granted to lay, non-ordained and minimally trained leaders in the form of “shepherding and headship,” scrutinies, and a range of counseling and group dynamics. This spiritual intimacy can bear great fruit especially in comparison with progressive infatuation with individual autonomy and initiative. But it often operates without the safeguards in place for centuries in the Church (e.g. the seal of confession, the practice in religious communities that a spiritual director or confessor not decide on the status of a candidate, etc.) 9. An element of secrecy can emerge as the lay leaders try to shield their precious charism from a hierarchy that might misunderstand and even destroy it in its fragility. This is more pronounced in The Way, with its mysterious processes, than the Charismatic Renewal which expressed itself more normally in publically open conferences and more readily available literature. 10. An anti-intellectualism can develop as the teaching of the founder(s) is granted a prophetic authority, docility and obedience are expected, and skepticism and criticism are perceived as disloyalty. This is ironic since the founder(s) (specifically Kiko himself and charismatics like Ralph Martin and Steve Clark) are themselves brilliant thinkers and self-educated in a manner that is broad, deep and eclectic. Their thought is spiritual, intuitive, practical and fruitful in a manner not available in the academy. Notwithstanding the intellectual brilliance of the leadership elite, the followers are hardly encouraged in critical thinking as part of the catechetical process. The comments here are offered by one who deeply loves both movements and views them as the hope of the Church of the future. They are movements of the Holy Spirit but also human endeavors and therefore in constant need of criticism and conversion, like all of us and like The Church herself.