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Workshopping Memo
-I really liked how you compared the church group to outsiders, I would say if you could explain
a little bit more how the two groups are similar and how they in the end do the same thing would
be better to understand. Otherwise I really liked how you compared your group to outsiders and I
learned something new today
Brittany Tarbush
I decided to use the feedback Brittany gave me because I want to make it clear how different
groups do different things but in the end, their ultimate goal is the same.

I really liked your paper. It really gave me ideas on how different groups do different things. I
would just make it longer so it reaches the 5 pages.
Cassidy Davis
I will use her feedback because the ethnography is supposed to be at least 5 pages and right now
I only have 4. I will also add more information so the everything is easier to understand.

Gretel Maya
Ethnography
Laura Knudson
UWRT 1101
Ethnography
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 Roman Catholic Church. The Neocatechumenal way was founded in Madrid, Spain by
Kiko Arguello in 1964. The goal of the Neocatechumenal Way is to become more of a
community and return to the examples of the early Christianity. My mother is a part of this group
so I wanted to learn more about it. I also wanted to learn more about it because this group has
been so badly criticized even by the same Catholic Church. Many people think that the
Neocatechumenal Way is a cult within the church, but in reality it is not. The Neocatechumenal
Way has the Celebration of the Word, Celebration of the Eucharist, and has a convenience every
month, but it is no different than the rest of the groups and organizations within the Catholic
Church.
The Eucharist of the Catholic Church is the Celebration of the Mass and the Liturgy. A
Mass in the Catholic Church is the central act of divine worship. The Mass has four basic parts.
The beginning, which is called the Introductory Rite, is when the priest walks in accompanied by
the altar servers. The second part of the Mass is the Liturgy of the Word. During the second part,
the people listen to the Readings from the Bible which would be the First, Second and Third
Readings. The third part of the Mass would be the Liturgy of the Eucharist.The word Eucharist
itself means to give thanks, in this case to God. This is the part where the priest makes the

offertory and offers ourselves to God. The final part of the Mass is the concluding rite. After the
Holy Communion, the Priest says a small short prayer and then Blesses everyone. After the
Blessing, the Mass is over and the Priest tells everyone to go in Peace.
The scene for my ethnographic study was during the Celebration of the Word in the
activity center of Saint Joseph Catholic Church located in Kannapolis, NC. The Celebration of
the Word for them is like a Bible study. Every week they meet to study a new Word from the
Bible. The location where they meet to celebrate the word is different every week. They can meet
in the houses of the members of the group or they can meet in the activity center of the church.
In the Neocatechumenal Way group, there are 3 subgroups. Each week during the
Celebration of the Word, different groups are responsible for different readings. During the
celebration of the word, there are 3 readings that are read from the Bible. Before each reading, a
person from the group, that is responsible that week, talks about what each readings are going to
be about. After each reading, they sing a song. The leader of the Neocatechumenal Way then
reads a Gospel from the Bible. After they have read the readings, they give what they call the
echos. An echo is what the readings have meant to them or how the readings have changed them.
This group is more like a community. They trust everybody with personal experiences and
testimony during their echos.
During my observation, I got to hear some of their echos. The echos are very difficult to
listen to. People go through so many life threatening situations that make them rethink their
whole lives and their lifes purpose. These situations are what make them come to church and
follow God. For me, some of the echoes gave me goosebumps because I would have never
thought that people actually do go through bad situations. Personally, I always think that I have
so many life problems, but my problems are nothing compared to what people go through. These

echoes made me realize how lucky I am. They also made me realize that I waste my time
complaining about the things I dont like when I should be enjoying life just because of the fact
that I am healthy and that I am alive.
The Neocatechumenal Ways Bible study is very unique. People trust each other with
different personal experiences. Unfortunately, other groups have criticized the Bible study to be
more like a cult. Every group in the Roman Catholic Church participates in some sort of Bible
Study. The only difference in the Neocatechumenal Way is that the Bible study is more like a
religious service in community. The Neocatechumenal Way has its own choir. Members of the
Neocatechumenal way sing songs and clap. They read readings of the Bible and then have to
reflect on them. At the end, they are studying the Bible, which is what other groups and
organizations within the Church also do. The Neocatechumenal Way is not a cult.
My second observation scene was the Celebration of the Eucharist which also took place in
the Activity Center. The celebration of the Eucharist is very similar to a Mass service. The people
from the community dress so elegant. They are not dressed like they are going to church on
Sunday, they are dressed like if they were going to attend a wedding. The Celebration of the
Eucharist is led by the Priest. The subgroups of the Neocatechumenal way serve during the
celebration. For the Eucharist, there are way more decorations than for the Celebration of the
Word. There are so many flowers around the altar. The altar looks as if a couple was about to get
married. There are also lots of candles around the altar, as if there was no light and the candles
were the only light illuminating the Church. You can even smell the candles from the parking lot.
What really caught my attention was the bread and the wine. For the Eucharist, the
community prepares the bread. The bread is not in the shape of a waffle. The bread is made by
the people of the community. The priest then prays and starts to cut the bread in pieces. The

priest then goes around and gives the bread on the hand of those who are going to take the
communion. After everybody has their bread, the priest sits down. When the priest sits down
then everybody , in silence, eats the communion. The Neocatechumenal Way is different because
it goes back to the customs of the early Christians. They take the communion together in
community. At the end of the mass/celebration, people sing and dance. The members of the
community dance around the altar table. Sometimes, like for the Celebration of the Word, the
community does an agape. The community brings food to share with the people from the
community.
The Celebration of the Eucharist is very similar to the Roman Catholic Mass. One of the
differences is that the celebration of the Eucharist is way smaller than an actual Mass. Also the
communion bread is actually bread. Some people think that the Celebration of the Eucharist is
totally different from the Catholic Mass, but it is not. During the celebration of the Eucharist, the
first and the second readings are read from the Bible. Also, the priest reads the Gospel like in any
other Mass Celebration. The Neocatechumenal Way is different because they have a different
way of Celebrating the Eucharist than the rest of the Catholic Church, but in the end the religious
service is the same concept.
The Neocatechumenal Way also has conveniences once every month. People from one
community or different communities gather to study the Word of God. These conveniences are
like mini retreats. People go and celebrate the Word of God as well as give personal reflections
or experiences on how the Neocatechumenal Way has changed their lives. Other groups in the
Catholic Church like the Charismatic group also have conveniences. Their conveniences may not
be like the conveniences from the Neocatechumenal Way, but they are the same concept.

Some people think that the Neocatechumenal Way teachings are different from the Catholic
Church. The Neocatechumenal way does celebrate their own liturgy every week, but they also
participate in the parish's liturgy. Members of the Neocatechumenal group still participate in the
churchs Mass every week. Members of the Neocatechumenal way are also active members of
the church. At the end of every Word Celebration, the leaders of the group give the
announcements on what events of the church they are going to be participating in. The people of
the community volunteer to participate in events and also financially contribute to the church.
Members of the Neocatechumenal way also participate in the missio ad gentes. People
from different communities of the Neocatechumenal way accept to go in missions to places
where the church does not exist or where the church cannot reach the people. Last year the
creator of the Neocatechumenal Way came to Maryland. A lot of people from different
communities went to the meeting with Kiko Arguello. My family attended the meeting and it was
incredible to see how many people went. Towards the end of the meeting, Kiko asked what
families were willing to leave everything behind and go in mission. It was incredible how many
families stood up to go in mission. These families were willing to leave everything behind to go
evangelise people that do not have access to the Church. I was very surprised because, to be
honest, I would not be willing to leave everything behind and just leave.
Other groups within the Catholic Church also go evangelise other people. When I was in
my churchs youth group, we would go out of town and do mini missions. We would go and read
segments of the Bible to other youth groups. After we would read the segments of the Bible, we
would do a mini dramatization. The Neocatechumenal Way has a different way of evangelising
people. People go in missions and the rest who stay behind support in any way they can to bring
more people to the church. In the end, every group has different approaches on how to do things.

During the announcements, the leader mentioned something about the teenagers who are
going to Poland to meet the Pope this summer. The Neocatechumenal Way does World Youth
days. During the World Youth days, teenagers around the world that are members of the
Neocatechumenal way meet in a city and meet the Pope. Teenagers and young adults also get to
meet other people their age from around the world that are in the Neocatechumenal Way. These
kids dont go and stay in hotels, rather they stay in the houses of the people from the
Neocatechumenal Way. They sleep on sleeping bags on the floor and eat anything the people
give them. This is a mission to get to know people from all over the world. This year the
meeting will be held in Cracow, Poland.
In my opinion, I think that different organizations within the church do things differently.
Every person does everything different and different does not mean against or incorrect. I think
that outsiders to any group should first find out what the group really does in order to conclude if
the group is good or bad. I think that some groups have better approaches in doing things but I
dont think that any group is better than the other. Any organization within the church seeks to
study and find God. In the end the goal of every group is the same. The Neocatechumenal way is
not a cult. A cult is a religious veneration towards a particular object or figure. Outsiders may
think that The Neocatechumenal way is going against the teachings of the Church, but The
Neocatechumenal Way is not going against the Catholic teachings. The Neocatechumenal Ways
mission is to evangelize and spread the Word of God. They value and care about their
community. Everything they do is because they want to become better people. They do the
Celebration of the Word every week because they believe that in order to evangelize people,
there needs to be conversion in them first. In the end, different groups do things in many
different ways. Outsiders to the Neocatechumenal church group really will not understand what

the group is really about until they are a member of the group. In the end what really matters are
the values of the group,how they see themselves as a community,and how they keep going strong
even if people have the wrong image of them.

Works Cited
"Clearing up Misconceptions about the Neocatechumenal Way." CatholicHeraldcouk. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 02 May 2016.
<http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2014/12/15/clearing-up-misconceptionsabout-the-neocatechumenal-way/>.
N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Apr. 2016. <http://www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/The-Catholic-Faith/FAQ-onFaith/1-10/What-is-a-Catholic-Mass>.
"WYD Cracow 2016." WYD Cracow 2016. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2016.
<http://krakow2016cnc.pl/?page_id=63>.