Category Archives: The Neocats

Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez, perpetrators of the Neocatechumenal Way,
in the company of gullible others [original image found here]

Call for Neocatechumenate testimonials
The Church Mouse is compiling a dossier on the activities and impact of the Neocatechumenate movement on ordinary Catholics, in particular (but not exclusively) within Australia.
If you have an experience that you would like to share with others affected by this sect, please email the Church Mouse.

Japan’s bishops want Neocatechumenal Way to leave for five years

  Japan
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By Alan Holdren, Catholic News Service Rome Correspondent Vatican City, Dec 16, 2010 / 07:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Citing years of “trouble,” Japan’s Catholic bishops have asked the Neocatechumenal Way to cease activities in the country for the next five years.

Archbishop Joseph Mitsuaki Takami of Nagasaki told CNA on Dec. 15 that the bishops’ proposal, made directly to the Way’s founder, Kiko Arguello, has so far not been accepted.

Archbishop Takami was reached by phone at his home in Nagasaki. Four other Japanese bishops took part in a Dec. 13 closed door meeting in Rome with Pope … Continue reading →

Pope meets with Japanese bishops to discuss Neocatechumenal Way

  Japan
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By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Japanese bishops, including the president of the bishops’ conference, met with Pope Benedict XVI and top Vatican officials to discuss the Neocatechumenal Way.

The Dec. 13 meeting with four Japanese bishops had been called by Pope Benedict, said the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan, Archbishop Leo Jun Ikenaga of Osaka.

He told Catholic News Service that the meeting lasted nearly two hours and included the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and "several other cardinals."

While the archbishop would not comment on the substance … Continue reading →

One Day at St Vincent’s – what they didn’t do for Sr Pat Durnan

  Our pastors
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The following is a detailed account of the Neocat "memorial" for Pat Durnan by Peter Griffin, who was present last Tuesday.

The recent passing of (Sr) Pat Durnan has been an occasion for yet another eruption of dysfunctionality in the relationship between the church community of St Vincents Redfern and the incumbent priests – both members of the internationally established and Vatican approved group known as the Neo Catechumenate.

Pat was, of course buried with due respect and celebration in Melbourne. Nonetheless there are many in Sydney who remember her with fondness and wished to mark her loss to … Continue reading →

Political?

  Our pastors
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Sunday 11th July 2010.
St Vincents Redfern.

The Church Mouse has reported infrequently in recent months on the blatant abuse of clerical authority at St Vincent’s, not because things are settling down between the community and the Neocat clergy, but in the interests of providing a less incendiary space for all concerned.

From time to time the ever present tensions erupt and sometimes the story simply must be told. Last Sunday was such an occasion; it left the community doubting the very validity of Clesio Mendes’ 10am Mass.

The Mass began uneventfully enough after the customary argie-bargie between Clare … Continue reading →

Trouble in the Phillipines

  General
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The Neocatechumenal Way in the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan

Lights and Shadows
The seeds of the NEOCATECHUMENAL WAY were first sown in the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan in 1981 in the Parish of Saint Gabriel the Archangel in Bonuan Boquig. Since then, it has been born in other Catholic communities in the archdiocese – Bonuan Gueset, Calasiao, Calmay, Dagupan, Laoac, Lingayen, Mapandan Santa Barbara and San Jacinto. The Neocatechumenal Way has brought innumerable blessings to the Christian faithful in our archdiocese. It has profoundly changed many lukewarm lives. It has rebuilt many wounded families and has yielded many religious and … Continue reading →

A couple of letters

  Our pastors
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Here are a couple of letters sent to Cardinal George Pell 5 or 6 weeks ago.

10 March 2010

The Archbishop of Sydney
Cardinal George Pell
Polding Centre
133 Liverpool St
Sydney 2000

Cardinal Pell,

At Mass last Sunday, only the host – no consecrated wine – was distributed at Communion. The Eucharistic minister approached the altar and was dismissed. This sort of thing happens regularly at St Vincent’s Redfern, but I just can’t get used to it.

I spoke to the celebrant, Fr Miguel Zavarese, after Mass. In six long years he is the … Continue reading →

SMH report – Jan 19

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The following article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this week.

Two Catholic worlds collide as church disagreement deepens


Hot spot … Ralph Townsend, a long-term Aboriginal parishioner of St Vincent’s in Redfern. Photo: Edwina Pickles

The fight, ostensibly, is over a baptismal font and some words in chalk on a wall, but the latest in a series of rows at St Vincent’s Catholic Church in Redfern shows the conflict runs much deeper.

A recent clash … Continue reading →

Wreckonciliation

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This report has been assembled rather hastily in the interest of exposing the latest unpleasantries at St Vincent’s. Given that a detailed submission regarding the restoration of the Baptismal Font was lodged with Cardinal George Pell earlier last week (and copied to Mendes), a question needs to be asked: Was this an act of revenge?

Sunday Mass-goers yesterday were saddened to find that the church had been defaced.

The Neocats had acted to remove Jim Considine’s iconic words chalked across the front of St Vincent’s church:

crucified on every city sidewalk
the aboriginal Christ should be free
in … Continue reading →