Neo-Catechumenate

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Neo-Catechumenate. Roman Catholic movement for the renewal of traditional faith. The movement was founded in 1964 by K. Arguello, in order to resist the increasing secularization of society and the erosion of traditional understandings of faith and practice. Reverting to the practice of the early Church of training catechumens before baptism, the Neo-Catechumenate, more simply called ‘The Way’, establishes teams of trained people who are dispersed into parishes in order to train others. They in turn move into other parishes to continue the movement. While some (including the pope, John Paul II) welcome this as a renewal of informed commitment, others see it as destructive of parish community, because it creates an élite with its own structure (including separate activities and masses) in the midst of what might otherwise be regarded as a united church.