Neocatechumenal Way, The

New Evangelization Status: The Vatican has established a special status for this organization. It is called “a method of Catholic formation”. The Neocatechumenal Way is confirmed in the new Statutes as a model of post baptismal catechumenate to impart, under the direction of the diocesan Bishop or, as John Paul II defined it in the words transcribed in Art. 1 of the statute, "as an itinerary of Catholic formation": a program of formation to the Christian life of a person, based on catechetical and liturgical instruction, imparted in a community and conducted according to the specific forms and methods. What is within the Statutes of the Way, and what the Holy See is approving is not an association of people, nor is it an "Ecclesiastic Movement" of faithful. The Church has given its approval not to what could be denominated as a "gathering of people," but rather to a "method of catholic formation," (Mon. Juan Ignacio Arrieta, Canonical Notations of the Definitive Approval of the Statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way, June 13, 2008). “By this very nature infant Baptism requires a post-baptismal catechumenate. There is a need not only for instruction after baptism, but also for the necessary flowering of baptismal grace in personal growth” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n.1231).