Published by Chirico, Neocatechumenal Way: 60 Years of Christian Initiation of Adults by Fr Ezechiele Pasotti retraces the history and charism of the Neocatechumenal Way, from its beginnings in the shanty towns of Madrid in the 1960s to its presence today in 138 countries, with more than 20,000 communities.
Drawing on his decades of missionary and pastoral experience, the author presents the essential stages of the Way’s development and its relationship with five Popes.
At the heart of the book is the Neocatechumenal Way’s understanding of Christian initiation for adults and permanent Catholic formation. Its community life is built around the “tripod” of Word, Liturgy and Community, reflecting the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. The rediscovery of Baptism is closely linked to evangelisation and mission.
The English edition has been translated by Fr Pietro Poggiali and edited by Dino Furgione, responsible for Southern Africa, who explains: “This book is not for the members of the Neocatechumenal Way, but for the whole Church, so that it may give glory to God for the many vocations raised up in service of the new evangelisation.”
Dino Furgione adds: “The catechumenate is currently, just as it was in the early Church, an instrument of evangelisation, personal conversion, and the formation of the Christian community.
The experience of individuals, renewed in many Neocatechumenal communities in South Africa and throughout the world, bears witness to the fact that, as one progresses along this journey, a living and powerful symbiosis develops between personal faith and ecclesial faith. A sense of the Church is born and grows within the participants, fostered by life in the community. The Church is not reduced to a mere affiliation, something more or less external to the individual, but is internalised through an experience that arises and is consolidated as the journey unfolds”.
Ultimately, the book offers a concise account of an ecclesial reality whose history, according to Fr Pasotti, has been marked by a profound experience of faith, forgiveness, communion and mission.
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