Soria, 05\/10\/2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The Neocatechumenal Way will remember Carmen Hern\u00e1ndez<\/strong> in a very special way – initiator of the Way together with Kiko Arg\u00fcello<\/strong> and who died in Madrid on July 19, 2016 – with a Symphonic-Catechetical Celebration in the Co-cathedral of San Pedro, Soria.<\/p>\n\n The initiative has been promoted by the diocese of Osma-Soria, and specifically by its Bishop, Mgr. D. Abilio Mart\u00ednez Varea<\/strong>, as part of the Jubilee thatPope Francis<\/strong> granted to the Poor Clares Sisters of Soria on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the permanent exposition of Jesus the Eucharist.<\/p>\n\n Furthermore, the intention is to remember this great woman on earth, from which she originated, and to thank her for her contribution to the universal Church.<\/p>\n\n The event will be attended byKiko Arg\u00fcello<\/strong>, Fr Mario Pezzi<\/strong>and Mar\u00eda Ascensi\u00f3n Romero<\/strong>, who currently form the International Responsible Team of the Way.<\/p>\n\n The Celebration will take place next \nSunday, May 27 at 5:00 p.m. The Neocatechumenal Way Symphony Orchestra \nwill perform the Symphony “The Suffering of the Innocents”, composed \nby Arg\u00fcello<\/strong> himself and with whom he wants to express the suffering of the Virgin Mary before the Cross.<\/p>\n\n The Orchestra and the Choir of the Way are \nformed by 110 trained musicians and by 90 chorus girls, all led by the \nprestigious and internationally recognized conductor Tom\u00e1\u0161 Hanus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n The composition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Kiko<\/strong> presents the symphony as follows:<\/p>\n\n “I present to you a small musical \ncomposition, which I would like to be celebratory, catechetical too, I would say, \nabout the suffering of the innocent, about the suffering of the \nVirgin. Maybe music manages to tell us something deeper about a subject \nso important?”<\/p>\n\n Kiko Arg\u00fcello<\/strong> invites \nto celebrate together “with these musical lines, how much did an angel hold \nthe Virgin, like Jesus in the Garden of Olives, when another angel\n helped to drink the chalice prepared for sinners. “<\/p>\n\n The work is made up of five \nmovements: Gethsemane, Lament, Forgive them, The Sword and Resurrexit, and \nsince it was composed eight years ago, it has been performed in places like\n the Vatican, New York, Jerusalem, Auschwitz, Paris, Budapest, Tokyo, \nBoston, Chicago. It will be performed soon at the Berlin Philharmonic.<\/p>\n\n You can learn more about “The Suffering of the Innocents” HERE<\/a><\/p>\n\n Invitation of the Diocease<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The Bishop of Soria-Osma, Mgr. D. Abilio Mart\u00ednez Varea<\/strong>\n has sent a letter to the entire diocese announcing as part of\n the Jubilee activities, this symphonic-catechetical celebration. \n“It will be one of the important moments of this Jubilee Year and will serve \nalso as a tribute to Carmen Hern\u00e1ndez<\/strong> \u201d.<\/p>\n\n “I am sure this celebration will be \na passing of the Lord for the entire Diocese, especially for the faithful \nde Soria and young people, as well as for the brothers of the Neocatechumenal \ncommunities from Soria, \u00c1greda, La Rioja and the entire \nCastilian and Aragonese region.\u201d, he says in the letter.<\/p>\n\n Carmen Hern\u00e1ndez, tireless evangelizer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Carmen<\/strong> was, along with Kiko<\/strong>,\n initiator of the Way. She was born in \u00d3lvega (Soria, Spain) on November \n24, 1930. She was the youngest of eight children – four men and \nfour women – and lived her childhood in Tudela (Navarra, Spain).<\/p>\n\n In Tudela, she studied at the Company of \nMary and had contact with the Company of Jesus (Jesuits). As \ninfluence by the missionary spirit of Saint Francis Xavier, from a very \nyoung age, she felt the vocation to go on a mission to India. <\/p>\n\n At the will of her father, in 1954 \nshe begins to study Chemistry in Madrid, where she graduates with \nhighest honors in 1958.<\/p>\n\n For a time, she works with her father \nin the food industry in a factory that the family had in \nAnd\u00fajar (Ja\u00e9n), but decides to leave it to move to Javier (Navarra),\n where she becomes part of a new missionary institute: the \nMissionaries of Christ Jesus.<\/p>\n\n After the novitiate, she studied theology at the house of theological formation for religious in Valencia.<\/p>\n\n In 1960, she was destined for India. For \nthis mission, she had to be prepared in London (at that time, India \nbelonged to the Commonwealth), where she remained a year. In that \ntime, there was a change of direction in the Missionaries of Christ Jesus \nthat limited her openness to the mission, so Carmen returns from \nLondon to Barcelona. There she meets Fr. Pedro Farn\u00e9s Sherer, professor in \nthe Liturgical Institute of Paris, which was working for liturgical \nrenewal prepared by the Second Vatican Council.<\/p>\n\n In his classes, Fr. Farn\u00e9s presented \nthe Easter sources of the Eucharist and a renewed ecclesiology that \nshowed the Church as the light of the nations. The direct contact of \nCarmen with the authors of this conciliar renewal had a great \ninfluence, later, in the formation of the catechesis of the Neocatechumenal \nWay.<\/p>\n\n In 1963 Carmen moves to the Holy \nLand for two years. Upon her return to Madrid, she began working in the\n shanty towns in the periphery, thinking of going to Bolivia as a missionary with other \ncelibate lay people. However, there she meets Kiko Arg\u00fcello, who lived in \nthe shanty towns of Palomeras Altas, and she decides to remain in the same area. In the \nmidst of the poor, they both discovered the strength of the Paschal Mystery and\n of the preaching of the Kerigma (the Good News of the dead and \nrisen Christ) and saw the first community born among them.<\/p>\n\n Thanks to the confirmation of this new \nreality by the then Archbishop of Madrid, Mgr. Casimiro Morcillo, \nCarmen collaborates with Kiko, taking to the parishes – first to Madrid, \nthen to Rome and thereafter to other cities and nations – this \nwork of renewal of the Church.<\/p>\n\n Carmen Hern\u00e1ndez died on July 19, 2016\n in Madrid. At her funeral, presided by the Archbishop of Madrid,\n now Cardinal Carlos Osoro Sierra, and attended by thousands of \npeople, Fr Mario Pezzi highlighted that with the Way, it is \u201cthe first time\n in history that an ecclesial reality is founded by a man and \na woman who have been collaborating constantly together for more \n50 years without being married \u201d.<\/p>\n\n In addition, the Pope sent a message in which \nhe assured that he received “with emotion” the news of Carmen’s death and \nhighlighted in her \u201ca long existence marked by her love for Jesus and by \na great missionary enthusiasm.”I give thanks to the Lord for the \nwitness of this woman, animated by a sincere love for the Church, who \nhas spent her life in the announcement of the Good News in every place, \nas well as those far away,<\/strong>never forgetting the most marginalized people.”, wrote Pope Francis.<\/p>\n\n Gathering of the 50th Anniversary with Pope Francis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n This tribute to Carmen Hern\u00e1ndez<\/strong> will take place shortly after the international meeting that Pope Francis<\/strong> presided in Tor Vergata (Rome) on May 5 and in which more than 150,000 people from around the world participated.<\/p>\n\n At the gathering, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Way to Rome, the Pontiff sent 36 new missio ad gentes<\/em>\n (each of them is made up of 4-5 families and a priest), and 25\n new communities on mission to parishes on the outskirts of Rome which,\n at the request of the parish priests and in agreement with the Bishop, they will maintain \nthose parishes and will call those far from the faith.<\/p>\n\n In his speech, Pope Francis<\/strong> stated that it is necessary to give “many thanks to those who started the Neocatechumenal Way 50 years ago.”<\/p>\n\n \u201cYour charism is a great gift from God \nfor the Church of our time. Let us thank the Lord for these 50 \nyears\u201d. “I accompany you and I encourage you: go ahead!” He added.<\/p>\n\n Currently, the Neocatechumenal \nWay is present in 134 nations on five continents, \nwith 21,300 communities in 6,270 parishes, as well as 1,668 families in \nmission of which 216 are missio ad gentes<\/em> in de-christianized cities of the five continents, and with 120 Diocesan Missionary Redemptoris Mater<\/em>seminaries<\/p>\n\n Kiko<\/strong>, Fr Mario<\/strong> and Mar\u00eda Ascensi\u00f3n<\/strong> ask that we pray for them and for this initiative. <\/p>\n\n You can learn more about the Neocatechumenal Way Orchestra HERE<\/a><\/p>\n\n