Problems with The Neocatechumenal Way
A Brief Summary

* That the Mass is a sacrifice is central to Catholic teaching. The Neocatechumenal Way don’t believe the
Mass is a sacrifice, hence they use the term presbyter instead of priest.
* Transubstantiation is also a central Catholic doctrine which The Neocatechumenal Way reject.
Transubstantiation means that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus. The NCWay believe that the bread and wine is merely symbolic, like protestant churches.
* They have communion seated, using cask wine and a loaf of bread baked by one of their members. Because they don’t believe in transubstantiation, the scattered crumbs are ignored.
* They don’t use an altar (no sacrifice – no altar), but all sit around a table with vases of flowers on it.
* They also teach that:
Jesus has not brought about redemption by liberating man from his faults and reconciling him with God.
Man cannot avoid committing sin, in the same way as he can neither accomplish good nor acquire merits for himself.
Conversion is possible only as recognition, by everyone, of their own moral poverty, not as a determined wish to correct one’s faults which sanctity tends to realise.
Sin cannot offend God, and man does not incur the duty to expiate it by satisfying the requirements of His justice.
* They don’t recite the Creed in their masses.
* They have private masses in parishes on Saturday evenings, other parishioners are not able to attend. This often results in divisions within parish communities.
* They don’t have their “mass” in a church, but in any buildings on parish property.
* They have a secret manual, which contains their catechesis.
* They maintain that their’s is a higher form of religion than the regular Catholic faith. Hence, often, when members leave, they give up religion altogether, because they have been “brainwashed” that there is no salvation in the “regular” Catholic Church.
* At certain stages members are required to confess their sins publicly.
* Members are required to give 10% of their income to the NCWay. They publish no accounts. None of this money goes to the parish. Consequently the organisation is quite wealthy.
* Growth has been accompanied by controversies between the Way and diocesan bishops. In Clifton diocese in Bristol, England, and two dioceses in the United States, disputes have led to bans by bishops. Complaints have usually centred on the NCWay’s programme of formation, which critics say divides parishes by appearing to promote a parallel and competing parish community. The Japanese bishops wanted to suspend their activities for 5 years, but were overruled by the Vatican. Bishop Anthony Sharma, the apostolic vicar of Nepal, has suspended their activities.
* To complete their entire program takes about 20 years, and people at a particular level have no idea what lies ahead in future levels.
* They receive a lot of support from Rome. (They have deceived both John Paul II and Benedict XVI.)
* Perhaps the most worrying aspect is that they are setting up their own seminaries all around the world - over 75 have been started. They are getting many vocations – turning out hundreds of priests with their heretical theology. Their rapid growth is seen by the Catholic Hierarchy as a
sign of the spirit at work – however such fervour is usually seen in cults and sects.