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Ethnographic Notes
Church Group: Bible Study Neocatechumenal way
-People bring food sometimes after study eat and talk to each other
-Read the bible then talk
-Sing a song after each reading is read
-After they read something from the Bible, they share their echoes which is what that reading
meant to them
-Quiet environment
-People wear nice clothes
-People listen
-There are no decorations on the walls
- Before each reading somebody gives a summary of what each reading is going to be about
-People clap while singing
-Every person is paying attention
-A person gets up and welcomes the people and asks them to listen
-Different bible study, more like a religious service
-The Neocatecumenal bible study does not take place inside the church
-Neocatecumenal bible study takes place in the activity center
- values,people

Gretel Maya
Ethnographic Report
Laura Knudson
UWRT 1101
Ethnographic Report
I decided to do an ethnography on the people who attend the Bible Study of the
Neocatechumenal Way group at my church. The Neocatechumenal Way is an organization within
the Catholic Church. The Neocatechumenal way meets every Tuesday at 8 pm to have what they
call the celebration of the Word. The Word is more like a Bible study. Every meeting there is a
different Word that they study. The Word does not take place inside the church. The Word takes
place in a different place. It can take place in the churchs activity center or even at a house of
one of the members of the group.
For my observation, the Word took place in the churchs activity center. As I walked in,
what I noticed from other groups is the way that they set up everything.The Chairs are set up
kind of the shape of an U. Some chairs are facing the front, where the altar is. The other
chairs are on the side facing to the right. The other chairs are facing to the left so the people from
the left side are facing the people on the right side. On the left side, the people who sing in the
choir sit. One of the interesting things is that they dont really have any decorations on the walls.
The only thing they have is an image of Mary and next to where they altar. They also have
flowers as a decoration. They put the flowers next to the image of Mary and next to the Cross.
One of the members gets up and gives the welcome to the people. He/she also mentions
what Word of the Bible they are going to be studying about and to open their hearts to pay
attention. After the person goes in front of the Cross and vows, people start singing a song. As
people are singing, they are clapping. After they finished with that song, they begin reading the

first reading from the Bible. Before each reading, a person gets up and gives a municion. A
municion is more like a summary of what the reading of the bible is going to be about.
After they finish singing the song, they read a second reading. Every time somebody gets
up to read, they vow in front of the cross. After they read the second reading from the Bible they
sing another song. After the song is finished the leader of the group gets up and reads a Gospel
from the Bible. The main leaders of The Neocatechumenal way has to be a married couple. The
male is the one who reads the gospel from the Bible. Sometimes there is a third reading from the
Bible but sometimes they go straight from the second reading to the Gospel.
After they finish with the Gospel everybody sits down and give their echoes. Their
echoes is what they feel like the readings meant to them. They either share an experience that is
related to the readings or just say what they like about the readings. After the readings, they sing
a song and give the peace to each other. After they are done giving the peace to each other, the
leaders of the Neocatechumenal Way get up and give announcements and updates about what
activities they are going to participate in or what events are going on.
After the leaders give the announcements, the people get up and sing one final song.
After they are done with the song, they are done with the celebration of the Word.What I noticed
was that the people are dressed like if they were going to church on Sunday. Men wear dress
shirts and dress pants. Women wear dresses or dress pants and blouses.
All the people in the group like each other. After the celebration of the Word is dome
sometimes they bring food to share with the other people. They talk to each other and they seem
like they care about one another. The members of the group are more like a very close
community. They look very happy after they end the celebration. Even though the celebration
ended late, people stayed to talk to one another.

What really caught my attention was that everybody is paying attention at the
readings.They seem so engaged during the Word Celebration. Even the little kids clap and sing
along with the adults. People are so respectful and they keep quiet while somebody else is either
reading the readings or giving an echo. These people really do look like they enjoy studying the
Word of God.
All these people have in common that they want to change and follow God. This Bible
Study is way different than any other Bible study. The celebration of the Word seems more like a
service. People sing and read from the Bible. Some people from the Catholic Church have argued
that the people from the Neocatechumenal want to become their own church. During my
observation, what I saw was how people cared for each other as a community.
My second observation was during the Celebration of the Eucharist. The celebration of
the Eucharist is like a Mass that does not take place inside the temple. The Celebration of the
Eucharist takes place in the activity center. Every member of the community is dressed as if they
were attending a wedding. The celebration of the Eucharist is very similar to the Mass. People
sing and clap. The Celebration of the Eucharist takes place every two weeks and people attend
the Celebration of the Eucharist instead of Mass that Sunday. The Celebration of the Word and
the Celebration of the Eucharist are very similar. People sing and clap. People do give personal
experiences. In the end, I really liked how everybody is more like a community and how every
person takes care of one another.