Charisma and Institution: Integrating the Neocatechumenal Way into the Structure of the Roman Catholic Church

Abstract

“The Neocatechumenal Way” (“Neocatechumenate”) is a movement emerged in the Roman Catholic Church after Vatican II Council on the wave of attempts to bring the Church back to the spirit of early Christianity. Its main task was the conversion of baptized people who are far from church life. The movement is considered as an example of ‘charismatic associations’ because it emphasizes the religious experience of the charismatic leader, their liturgical and catechetical practices largely contradict the Church traditions and reveal a clear tendency towards “protestantisation.” At the same time, there were attempts of the Catholic hierarchy to incorporate some Charismatic features of the movement into the structure of the Church, though this trend was sometimes negatively received by the clergy. The article attempts to analyze the process of integration of the movement into today’s Roman Catholicism. The authors explore the nature of the relationship between the Catholic hierarchy and the charismatic leaders of the Neocatechumenal Way in the context of the development of theological conceptions of charisma. The hypothesis of the authors suggests that the reception of the movement was conditioned by a new theological understanding of “charisma”.