THE NEO-CATECHUMENAL WAY

Abstract

The Catechism of the Catholic Church not only highlights a need for
growing in baptismal grace but in view of this growth it also draws
attention to a post-Baptismal catechumenate.1 This has become even
more relevant today in the face of growing desacralization,
dechristianization and crisis of faith. In 2005 Cardinal Ratzinger
highlighted the need of an “adult faith”2 in today’s context of
relativism, in which even the Church’s mission is considered with
relativistic categories or is even opposed. As all the reforms in the
Church have given rise to new initiatives inspired by the Holy Spirit,
so also, after the Second Vatican Council many realities have been
generated by the Holy Spirit. One such example is the Neo-
Catechumenal way. With the original aim of making the sign of the
missionary Church visible in parishes, through the renewal of
Baptism in stages (using rites which belong to the catechumenate) lived
in small communities, the Neo-Catechumenal Way has grown over
the years and today is spread in over 120 countries with nearly 45,000
communities made up of brothers and sisters who are rediscovering
their baptism.