Cult or Sect?
- Are we dealing with a cult? – Thirteen signs of a cult-like organization.
- Charting the Cult-like Nature of the Way – If we are ever to convince influential and possibly compromised churchmen that the Neocatechumenal Way is a cult or sect, we must be very precise and use prevailing, well-respected models of mind control to help us.
- Discussing the Cultish Aspects of the Way on the Radio – August 7, 2014 on Travis Coffman’s Big Show on K57, Guam.
- Unsalted, Unenlightened. We’re Judas! – The third circle, those who criticize the Way. The development of the NCW’s persecution complex.
- The “Prophet” Kiko Arguello – Catechists of the Neocatechumenal Way are teaching members that Kiko Arguello is a prophet.
- “the Prophet of our time” meme – Why are we starting to hear members of “the Way” call Kiko a prophet?
- “The Way Shows Signs of a Cult or Sect”, Op Ed piece published in the Pacific Daily News, August 4, 2014
- Guam’s Pacific News Center, 8/4/2014 – VIDEO -A brief discussion on the cult-like tendencies of the Neocatechumenal Way
- Is your Family your idol? – At the Neocatechumenal First Scrutiny, you will certainly be pressured to consider this possibility.
- A Turn of the Screw – listen to the lead Neocatechumenal catechist for Micronesia chide his senior leaders about their participation in a recent convivence.
- Kiko Forbids the “Horrors of the Computer” – What is the real reason? And will members comply?
The Initial Phase of Catechesis
- Jesus’s Clay vs. Kiko’s Mud – Kiko twists a famous bible story in order to provide a principle of his catechumenate.
- “Excuse me, may I ask a question?” – Details about Kiko’s troubling teaching about “natural religiosity” taken directly from the first volume of the Catechetical Directory
- Critiquing Kiko’s Kerygma – Why does Kiko’s kerygma seem to deliberately exclude the possibility of purgatory?
- Kiko’s Last Judgment – a critical look at Kiko’s teachings and iconography on the General (Last) Judgment
- Unsalted, Unenlightened. We’re Judas! – The third circle, those who criticize the Way. The development of the NCW’s persecution complex.
- Judas is saved! – A critical look at Kiko’s Doctrine of the Necessary Judas, and another esoteric teaching.
- Kiko’s History of the Catholic Church – Something, or quite a lot of things are missing in his version…
- Judge Not? – Three problems with teaching about judging others.
- Kiko’s Trouble with the Trinity – Kiko tends to avoid mention of the Holy Trinity in his teach and in his art. Why?
- “Do Not Resist Evil.” Part I – Here’ the first of two posts on Kiko’s egregious half-truth teaching, “Do not resist evil.”
Sacramental Issues
- Kiko’s Tabernacles – Do these tabernacles indicate Kiko’s true beliefs regarding the Eucharist?
- Kiko’s Passover Problem, Part I – If Kiko is wrong about the celebration of the Passover in first century Palestine, how could he be right about the worship of the first century Christians?
- Kiko’s Passover Problem, Part II – Wherein Kiko’s teaching is found to contradict that of four Doctors of the Church.
- Taking a red pen to heresy – An example of a grave error about the Eucharist that was removed from the original Catechetical Directory prior to its “approval”.
The Scrutinies
- Scrutinizing a Scrutiny: A critical look at the Neocatechumenal Way’s First Baptismal Convivence
- Is your Family your idol? – At the Neocatechumenal First Scrutiny, you will certainly be pressured to consider this possibility.
- Secrets of the Second Scrutiny Revealed, Part 1 – an outline of the Neocatechumenal Second Scrutiny Convivence and the Rite of Admission to the Catechumenate.
- Secrets of the Second Scrutiny Revealed, Part 2 – a close look at the questionnaire members complete prior to the individual scrutiny.
- Secrets of the Second Scrutiny Revealed, Part 3 – take your seat in the “Chair of Mercy” and let’s get your individual scrutiny underway, shall we?
- Secrets of the Second Scrutiny Revealed, Part 4 – Savings accounts, retirement accounts, jewelry, heirlooms, titles to automobiles and land. All laid at the feet of the catechists…
- Secrets of the Second Scrutiny Revealed, Part 5 – The second scrutiny initiates a substantial revenue stream for the sect, and, as in any true sect or cult, anything that might dissuade others from joining, such as coerced donations and psychological abuse, must be kept strictly secret.
- Secrets of the Second Scrutiny Revealed, Part 6 – Kiko obligates members entering the Catechumenate to give a tenth of their earnings to the community.
The Traditio Symboli stage
- Kiko’s Mud, Part II
- Kiko’s Mud, Part III: Kerygma Bullying
- “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of evil…”
Rene Girard and the Neocatechumenal Way
- The Xiphias Gladius Project: Details about the team of Neocatechumenal academics teaching the thought of Rene Girard at Redemptoris Mater seminaries around the world.
- Contaminado! – A close look at the mission statement of the Xiphias Gladius project team.
- Covering His Tracks – A Neocatechumenal professor’s attempt to remove his outrageous writing from the internet doesn’t quite work out.
- A Neocatechumenal Seminary Professor’s View on Chamorro Prayers for the Dead
- An Academic Hack – a criticism of some work by a Neocatechumenal professor published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Kiko’s Eschatology
- Kiko’s Last Judgment – a critical look at Kiko’s teachings and iconography on the General (Last) Judgment
- Critiquing Kiko’s Kerygma – Why does Kiko’s kerygma seem to deliberately exclude the possibility of purgatory?
- A Neocatechumenal Seminary Professor’s View on Chamorro Prayers for the Dead
Kiko’s “New Aesthetic”
- Kiko’s Icons – It is common for painters of icons to copy the work of the great masters of the past, and Kiko Arguello is no exception…
- Kiko’s Curious Cripta di Sant’Ilario – Let’s take a look at how Kiko’s “New Aesthetic” is applied to a certain chapel in Rome. You’re in for a surprise…
- Coming to a Parish Near You! – Kiko’s Neo-Byzantine art and his curious “Buen Pastor” icon.
- Kiko Inc.: A Look at the Big Business of the “New Aesthetic” – The NCW’s cookie-cutter approach to liturgical aesthetics: does it have a deeper purpose?
- Kiko’s Songs
- Get your parish Kiko-fied!– Many of you are undoubtedly very eager to expedite the adoption of Kiko Arguello’s New Aesthetic into your parish’s church building. Bear with me, please, and let me suggest some steps you should take to accomplish this.
The Way in Asia
- Why “the Way” will Fail in Asia– The NCW says “disobedient bishops” are the cause of their problems in Japan…
- Half-baked Priests for Asia– We learn of a plan to reduce NCW seminary training to 5 years, with no formal seminary…
- Kiko tells us why he needs girls for China… – video with translation from Kiko Arguello in Naples, May 20, 2012.
Other Problems and Practices
- The Bloom is Off the Rose – A quantitative critique of the Neocatechumenal “numbers” using Google Trends
- Diaconate Candidates taught: Jesus “became a sinner”– Where on earth did this Neocatechumenal professor get this idea?!? And why is he allowed to teach it?
- Giuseppe’s Islands – Has the opaque Neocatechumenal Way avoided the temptations offered by the compromised banking infrastructure of the Turks and Caicos Islands?
- Nowhere. A call for post-baptismal catechesis free of the errors and problems endemic to the Neocatechumenal Way.
- This Spells Trouble – four big problems with a Neocatechumenal Seminarian’s testimony during Holy Mass.
- Dear Archbishop Cordileone – the Neocatechumenal Way seems to shuffle priests with troubling pasts around the world…
- A Church In Trouble – a critical look at some recent scandals in the Church on Guam.
- Kiko, are you listening? – Pope Francis has some strong warnings for certain leaders of Church movements.
- Kiko’s Fairy Tale – Is the Neocatechumenal Way constituted, in large part, by former “atheists and communists”?
- Trouble in Denmark – Like Guam, the Catholic faithful in Denmark are suffering from the devastation wrought by the Neocatechumenal Way.
- La Riqueza de la Familia Hernandez Barrera – Carmen Hernandez, the foundress of the Neocatechumenal Way, is a member of one of the wealthiest families in Spain.
- God Demands Nothing! – says Fr. Edwin “Pius” Sammut OCD, the lead Neocatechumenal Catechist for Guam.
- Kiko and the Twelve – on Mt. Sinai. Messianic pretensions?
- “Preaching That Alters the Gospels and Darkens and Saddens Life” – Kiko Arguello frequently twists and deforms the meaning the Sacred Scriptures in order to manipulate his followers and further his sectarian goals. Here is another example.
- Bishop Ballin’s Angry Reply – the Apostolic Vicar of the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia certainly does not like to be challenged regarding hiding a priest with a problem!
Other Resources
Tags: Camino Neocatecumenal, Cammino Neocatecumenale problems problemas, Archbishop Anthony Apuron, Carmen Hernandez
The more I read about the Neocatechumenal Way, the more I see symptoms of coercion. Pope Francis reminded the so-called Neo-Cats: “The freedom of the individual must not be forced, and you must respect even the eventual choice of those who should decide to look outside of the Way” .
I was a member of the Neocatechumenal Way for more than five years starting 1995. Contrary to your observation, the catechists always invite the members to walk freely and do not hesitate to leave if they think God is not calling them to be in the community.
Hello Wilberg,
What stage in the Way did you reach before you left? What did they say to you when you left? They exerted no pressure on you at all? It was just, “Bye, bye and Mabuhay!”?
And i was a member of NCW for 6 years. And even though the catechists always repeat “you are in freedom” they generally say this right after they said something like:
“Something bad might happen to you if you leave”
“You could lose Gods mercy”
“You can leave but you will never be happy”
People in NCW loose their freedom by 4 ways:
1 It is moral to be obedient , thus it is immoral to be free.
2 Rule of Arkana (rule of silence) prevents younger members to know what they are getting into. If a person does not have all the information it cannot make informed decisions and if decisions are not informed they are guided by the person providing the information and if they are guided they are not free.
3 Demonizing outside world and celebrating the community. After a few years of listening to this you get the feeling that everybody outside of the community are unhappy and you think that if you leave you will be unhappy to. So this choice does not come into question.
4 outright manipulation by fear.
“go outside of the community and see what is going to happen”
“the devil will deceive you”
To conclude , a place where its moral to be obedient, where information is manipulated , where you are made to believe bad things are going to happen if you leave that place is a place without freedom.
Free choice is a choice that is not influenced…
A choice that is influenced is not free choice…
Its amazing how much influence Catechists exert onto their members and still dare to say they have free choice.
hi chuck, i’m from beirut, lebanon. i’ve been walking in the way for 18 years in my parish(syriac maronite rite). i definitely do not agree with ur interpretation and thoughts about the neocatechumenal way, but i enjoyed reading ur blog. peace
It would seem to me, Issam, that the liturgical practices of the Neocatechumenal Way would clash disastrously with the reverence and beauty of the Maronite rite. Kiko’s antipathy toward the sacrificial aspects of the Eucharist clash tremendously with the perspective of all the Eastern rites.
Dear Chuck White
I have been walking in a community for 9 years. It makes me sad to read your views because you seem so angry.
I can only share my experience which is that it is only through this Way that I have met Jesus Christ! I am grateful to God for the gift of the Neocatechuminal Way. It has kept me off the streets. God has rescued me through this Way!
Peace and Love to you!
Kathleen,
I have always presented my criticism of the Neocatechumenal Way with quotations from your Catechetical Directory and even recordings of your leaders, so instead of replying with your testimony, please pull out your own copy of the Catechetical Directory, and counter my assertions.
And while you are at it, please feel free to defend this “fruit of the Neocatechumenal Way” on Guam:
Fr. Luis Camacho, a Neocatechumenal priest on Guam and the first indigenous man from Guam ordained by our Redemptoris Mater seminary, got himself into a bit of trouble with a teenage girl on March 17, 2015. Read about it here. And here’s more front page news on Fr. Luis Camacho, a Neocatechumenal priest from the Redemptoris Mater Seminary here on Guam: “Priest allegedly had sex”.
“A little bit of trouble” is far too polite. The 17 year old girl was his altar girl and a member of his parish and Neocatechumenal community. He took her from school and brought her to a beach where the police caught him performing cunnilingus on her.
i believe you have become shortsighted chuck
do you really believe the people of NCW are saints to not commit such sins? in the history of the church of any religion, such profanity and abuse happened.
has it not happened in your church?
why are you so angry with the NCW chuck? got bad experience with them talking about How Christ love you sinner as you are as we all are?
May you find peace in what you are doing chuck.
It’s not anger that drives me, Albert, but a zeal for the truth. Click here to read about a young Neocatechumenal priest on Guam who picked up one of his altar girls from school, and took her to a beach park for oral sex. Or click here to listen to a Neocatechumenal priest and seminary professor teach that Jesus was a sinner. Guam is my home, Albert.
I’ve been a Catholic my entire life. In Colombia, Spain and in the United States I’ve known of several priests who have fallen from God’s grace. None of them from the Neocathechumenal Way. Sin happens in priests, evangelical pastors, monks, nuns, average lay people. Are you free of sin that you are so free to condemn? Let he (or she) who is without sin cast the first stone.
I have been in The Way twelve years. It’s not perfect. I have even left a few times. Tried other avenues to grow in the presence of Christ and develop my faith. But I keep coming back to the community. To my family in spirit. The catechists get on my nerves, but I also get on theirs…and I have a husband that is on the same boat with me. Sometimes he gets aggravated, sometimes I get aggravated, sometimes it’s us both and we both don’t go for months at a time. Our longest stretch of “I ‘m done with the way” was a year. But we miss the liturgy, the brothers/sisters of the community, the word, and the amazing thing….our children miss the church and beg us to go back! When I was ten years old mass was a boring hour in the week that I spruced up w my little sisters by playing under and around the pews. The Easter vigil is a life changing event as well…if you open your heart to it. Zealots, cult members… We may seem like that on the surface. We are just passionate about what we do. Btw, I’m ok with being incorrectly labeled as I’m carrying my agape crockpot into church at 9pm to start a scrutiny. I was called a lot worse before I walked in the way!
Olga from New Jersey, You accuse me of “condemning” a priest. Show me where I’ve done that.
I have only presented a critique of the Neocatechumenal Way, along with evidence to back up my assertions. You have not addressed a single one of my assertions. Please do so.
Chuck, it’s interesting the way you talk about the NCW.
“Sin happens in priests, evangelical pastors, monks, nuns, average lay people. ”
Its ironical that communities which are made of sinful people are also made of catechists who were those exact sinful people but somehow became infallible sacred cows that should be obeyed.
Rule of obedience implies that they cannot make mistakes therefore you should obey them.
The fact that they never take responsibility for anything implies that they never made any mistakes to take responsibility for them.
The fact that they explicitly say they speak in the name of God implies they cannot make mistakes.
Sinning is basically making mistakes. Which catechists are seemingly unable to do.
The point is that catechists are treated almost as though they are without sin. And saying “The Way is full of sinful people” is a cop out because it simply does not apply to them, not in any meaningful way at least.
They even ask for special treatment. They ask that we see “Jesus in them”.
How is it possible that there exists a place where people think that they should see nothing but sin on themselves and associate themselves with Judas, Pontious Pilate, the pharisees and so on but they should see only Jesus on their leaders who were also once like them…
That place is about satisfying the need for power , control and superiority of the people who run it.
The point is its all lies. The story the tell is not consistent, its only for us, not for them. Because if the result of all that supposed humility and auto criticism NCW is so proud of, is a person that thinks he is like Jesus , wants others to see him as Jesus and says he speaks in the name of God, then that is not humility , it is arrogance and pride beyond any measure.
It is not something that occasionally happens. It is the desired end result. Although i am willing to concede that this does not happen in every community or even most, perhaps it did not happen in yours Olga, but it happens in too many communities including mine. Not because of sin, but because of damaging psycho social mechanisms that the basic structure and beliefs of NCW support.
The more I read bad comments about the Way the more it becomes clear that cultural marxism has take over peoples mind.
I feel sorry. I believe that in some places things may be wrong. A lot. What I say and think is: if the sign of love is visible then the Holy Spirit is there, and thats’s the church. If it’s not there, it is not. It’s not the Way, it’s not the church. Like in any parish. If the sign is visible, Jesus is there, and you have the Church, if not, there’s no Church as the body of Christ! It’s just a body, but not the body of Christ.
So Nelson, for you, any criticism of the Way is due to “cultural marxism”? Real Catholics would never criticize the Way?
Many of the apologies for neo cathecumenal way comes from flawed ideas and flawed worldviews that somehow justify NCW behavior. Like if a tree bears good fruit it means that it can only be a good thing.
A “tree” or in our case a group of people can have good and bad things at the same time just like NCW does. Having one good thing does not release it from responsibility for everything else.
” if the sign of love is visible then the Holy Spirit is there”
And what if the sign of abuse is visible from the behavior and the responses of present neocats, what does that mean?
Cultural Marxism…?
What?
I can’t believe so much time and energy is being spent criticizing the Way. I’ve been walking for more than 13 years and I’ve encounter nothing that has been been not in accordance with the teachings of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. It is one charism of many. It is not for everyone. Some are called to Cursillo, Opus Dei, Charismatics, etc. The Holy Spirit acts in mysterious ways in leading each of us to salvation.
Ed, you say that you’ve encountered “nothing that has been been not in accordance with the teachings of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church“?
How about this: Neocatechumenal priest and guest lecturer at a Redemptoris Mater Seminary teaching that Jesus was a sinner who experienced God’s forgiveness: https://thoughtfulcatholic.com/?page_id=42576
Where in the catholic church is asked from ordinary believer to be obedient to his priest?