Neocatechumens in Milan

On the afternoon of Sunday June 3, more than 100,000 members of the Neocatechumenal Way attended a Vocational Meeting for Families in Milan, with Kiko Argüello and Carmen Hernandez, the initiators of the Way. MARCO CAVAGNARO  reports on the event.

Under a gray north European sky, the Neocatechumenal families are not afraid of the rain. They’ve experienced it in Madrid, in Toronto, and on many other pilgrimages around the world, following the pope. All forecasts say that is going to rain, and if it has to rain, then let it rain. But the joy on the faces of the children, tired but still smiling, encourages their parents to face any odds.

100,000 members of the Neocatechumenal Way came to Milan from all around the world, to testify to their calling to form a Christian Family. In a time of economic crisis, why spend money on a pilgrimage? Why leave everything behind, facing the difficulties of a weekend abroad, traveling with little children – which we all know are sometimes not that easy to guide? It is the Sunday of the Holy Trinity, a week after Pentecost, and maybe it’s the work of the Holy Spirit, that gentle breeze which can be strong as a tornado when it brings everything and everyone in movement.

Buses are coming from all European countries. Many have travelled during the night, their eyes bearing the marks of an uncomfortable ride. Yet they are here, marching together towards the area of the new Milan Fair, singing. In every family there are one or two children who carry a guitar, proud to imitate their father, the cantor.

Every group bears a cross and an icon of the Virgin Mary, painted by the initiator of the Neocatechumenal Way, Kiko Argüello. On the painting, Mary is looking in the same direction as her Son, while whispering these words, written on the canvas: “Make Christian communities like the Holy Family of Nazareth, that may live in simplicity, humility and praise, where the other is Christ”.

During his homily on this same Sunday morning, the Pope addressed these families with words of encouragement that confirmed them in this mission: “Dear married couples, by means of a special gift of the Holy Spirit, Christ gives you a share in his spousal love, making you a sign of his faithful and all-embracing love for the Church. If you can receive this gift, renewing your ‘yes’ each day by faith, with the strength that comes from the grace of the sacrament, then your family will grow in God’s love according to the model of the Holy Family of Nazareth”.

The Furgione and Eckard families with Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria in front of Milan's Dumo cathedral.

In the third millennium, the New Evangelisation needs the testimony of the Christian family, especially in those countries in which secularisation has caused the Church and Christian values to disappear from the horizon of people’s lives. The Christian family that “grows in God’s love according to the model of the Holy Family of Nazareth” is an icon of the Church herself, making the love of God present and visible.

Kiko Argüello, the initiator of the Way together with Carmen Hernandez, rejoices at the sight of the crowd. Many are the bishops and the cardinals that want to participate in this vocational meeting; among them is the Archbishop of Pretoria, William Slattery, happy to join the Neocatechumenal families that came with him: Dino and Roberta Furgione, who are responsible of the Way for Southern Africa, together with their six children; and Michael and Natalie Eckard from Belhar, Cape Town, with their six children.

After a liturgy of the Word, and the proclamation of the Gospel, the crowd listens attentively to the words of the Cardinal George Pell of Sydney: “The Way is showing us that a family can’t live its faith alone, isolated, but needs to be inserted in a community of families.”

While the sky turns to dusk, the emotion of the families grows deep and the silence is stunning. After some words of encouragement, Kiko asks all the families who feel the call to follow the Lord in the New Evangelisation, to stand up and confirm this calling by coming on the stage, to receive a blessing from one of the bishops.

An unbelievable crowd of 2,000 families, together with all their children, begins a procession to the stage, some in tears, some struck by an incomprehensible joy. It is like a river, flowing on the stage. Among them, also the South Africans Michael and Natalie chose to give their “yes” to the Lord. These young families are willing to go in mission to the earth’s remotest ends to live their faith in the midst of today’s secularised society, announcing the good news without fear.

These families are going to undergo a profound discernment of their vocations, and when the time is ripe – and especially when the parents will be in communion with all of the children – the family will sail away towards the ports of the New Evangelisation, the mission ad gentes (‘to the nations’) of this new millennium.

Kiko also announced a special vocational call for the evangelisation of the far eastern countries: 300 young men gave their availability to serve this mission by entering a seminary; and 200 girls responded by accepting the call to consecrated life.