Following the Vatican’s expression of support for the Neocatechumenal Way, which was reported on last Sunday in this column, the president of the Japanese bishops’ conference has strongly criticised the controversial ecclesial movement.

“In those places touched by the Neocatechumenal Way, there has been rampant confusion, conflict, division, and chaos,” Archbishop Leo Jun Ikenaga of Osaka, said.

The archbishop urged those approached by the Neocatechumenal Way to recount their experiences to the Church official who has been appointed by the Vatican to look into the matter. “The fact is, it’s very difficult for the real state of affairs to be conveyed to a place as far away as Rome,” he said.

“We hope (the Neocatechumenal Way) will take a look at why things haven’t worked out here so far and, for the first time, help us root out the cause of the problems, so that we can find the path to a solution.”

...or a ‘precious instrument’

Pope Benedict said the Neocatechumenal Way is a “precious instrument” that can bring new life to the Christian duty of evangelisation.

The Church has recognised that the Neocatechumenal Way has “a special gift that has been called forth by the Holy Spirit,” he told members of the movement during a audience at the Vatican last Monday.

The Pope noted that in June 2008 the Vatican gave final approval to the statutes for the Neocatechumenal Way, and that just a few days ago the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith gave its approval of the Way’s catechetical material.

Support traditional family model – Pope

Pope Benedict said “the approval of forms of union which pervert the essence and goal of the family ends up penalising people who seek to maintain stable emotional ties which are juridically guaranteed and publicly recognised”.

The Pope said this in an appeal to the mayor of Rome and the presidents of the Rome and Lazio regions to support the traditional family model “founded on marriage between a man and a woman”.

Fundamentalism in Pakistani curricula

The increasing fundamentalism in Pakistan can be attributed in part to curricular changes made in the country’s schools during the regime of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq between 1977 and 1988, said Peter Jacob, executive secretary of the justice and peace commission of the Pakstani bishops’ conference.

“If we want our young people prepared to live as responsible citizens, law-abiding, and not growing up as bigoted and biased, Pakistan must radically change the substance of public education,” said Jacob.

Myanmar Catholics face suppression

Archbishop Charles Bo of Yangon, Myanmar, said “every person must be able to freely exercise and to manifest, individually or as a community, their religion or faith, both in public and in private, in the teaching, in the practice, in the publications, in the worship and in the observation of rites”.

The archbishop lamented that Christians are forced to abandon their faith in order to receive promotions, and that crosses are being removed from churches in some areas of the country.

Only 1.2% of Myanmar’s 53.4 million people are Catholic.

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)

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