Excerpt from An Anthology of Texts of the Catholic Church 1986-1994, edited by the Working Group on New Religious Movements in the VATICAN. For full text, click here.
Note: New Religious Movements is abbreviated as NRMs.
It is important to recognize certain distinctions and not to inaccurately group all movements together.
At least seven major headings can be suggested:
DOCUMENTS AND DISCOURSES OF POPE JOHN PAUL
Some of these groups call themselves Christian; others take their inspiration from Eastern religions; others still echo some of the most revolutionary ideologies of our day.
Message for World Migration Day, Doc. 5
Religious syncretism is a truly complex phenomenon, and has not yet been fully studied. With the development of industrialization in Brazil and the consequent internal migration from the country to the cities, the influence of spiritualistic practices becomes easier, as does folkloristic investigation, undertaken sometimes as a form of tourism, into the symbols, rites and popular festivities with which these new cults are maintained and developed. And the result is well known: certain mythic and demiurgic aspects arising from beliefs with the most diverse origins and meanings have intermingled in a confused fashion with the basic mysteries of Christian faith.
To the Bishops of the North-2 Region of Brazil, Doc. 4
Those who are set apart for the work of preaching (cf. Acts 13 :2) must not fail to read the signs of the times, both positive and negative (cf. Nm 22-23). Significant among the latter is the growth of sects and other new religious movements, which often appeal to alleged apparitions, prophecies and miraculous cures. The attraction of these movements sometimes lies in their apparent success in responding to the spiritual needs of people—the hunger of their hearts for something deeper, for healing, consolation and contact with the transcendent.
To the Bishops of Ghana, Doc. 12
OTHER DOCUMENTS OF THE CHURCH
"Sect "
The word "sect" seems to refer more directly to small groups that broke away from a major religious group, generally Christian, and that hold deviating beliefs or practices.... The word "sect" is not used in the same sense everywhere. In Latin America, for example, there is a tendency to apply the term to all non-Catholic groups, even when these are families of traditional Protestant churches. But even in Latin America, in circles that are more sensitive to ecumenism, the word "sect" is reserved for the more extremist or aggressive groups. In Western Europe the word has a negative connotation, while in Japan the new religions of Shinto or Buddhist origin are freely called sects in a non-derogatory sense.
Cardinal Francis Arinze, Doc 25
"New Religious Movement"
The term "new religious movements" is more neutral than that of "sects" when referring to these groups. They are called "new" not only because they showed themselves in their present form after the Second World War, but also because they present themselves as alternatives to the institutional official religions and the prevailing culture. They are called "religious" because they profess to offer a vision of the religious or sacred world, or means to reach other objectives such as transcendental knowledge, spiritual illumination or self-realization, or because they offer to members their answers to fundamental questions.
Cardinal Francis Arinze, Doc. 25
"Sect" or "Church"?
It is important to keep clearly in view the distinction between sects and new religious movements on the one hand, and churches and ecclesial communities on the other. The tendency in some parts of the world to use the word "sect" for all non-Catholic groups is evidence of serious misunderstanding.
Cardinal Francis Arinze. Doc. 25
The question of the definition of those new movements or groups as distinct from church or legitimate movements within a church is a contentious matter. It will help to distinguish sects that find their origin in the Christian religion from those that come from another religious or humanitarian source. The matter becomes quite delicate when these groups are of Christian origin. Nevertheless, it is important to make this distinction. Indeed, certain sectarian mentalities and attitudes, i.e., attitudes of intolerance and aggressive proselytism, do not necessarily constitute a sect, nor do they suffice to characterize a sect....
The criterion for distinguishing between sects of Christian origin, on the one hand, and churches and ecclesial communities, on the other hand, might be found in the sources of the teaching of these groups. For instance, sects could be those groups that, apart from the Bible, have other revealed books or prophetic messages; or groups that exclude from the Bible certain protocanonical books, or radically change their content.
Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, Secretariat for Non-Christians, Secretariat for Non-Believers, and Pontifical Council for Culture, Doc. 23
With reference to background knowledge system, four types can be distinguished
Cardinal Francis Arinze. Doc. 25
With reference to Christianity: From the doctrinal point of view, the NRMs that operate in traditionally Christian regions can be located in four categories insofar as they distance themselves from the Christian vision of the world: those that reject the Church, those that reject Christ, those that reject the role of God (and yet maintain a generic sense of "religion"), and those that reject the role of religion (and maintain a sense of the sacred, but manipulated by man to acquire power over others or the cosmos).
Cardinal Francis Arinze. Doc. 25
Fundamentalist sects are religious groups that insist that only faith in Jesus Christ saves, that the only basis for faith is Scripture interpreted personally in a fundamentalist manner, and hence excluding the Church; they emphasize the end of the world and the proximity of judgment.
IV General Conference of Latin American Bishops, Doc. 39
· Para-Christian or semi-Christian forms, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons. Each of these movements has its own characteristics, but they share a proselytizing approach, millenananism and an organizational style similar to those of businesses.
· Esoteric forms that seek special enlightenment and share secret
items of knowledge and a religious concern for the occult. Such is the case of spiritist, Rosicrucian, gnostic, theosophical, and similar currents.
· Philosophies and kinds of worship that have some oriental aspects but are rapidly adapting to our continent, such as Hare Krishna, Divine Light, Ananda Marga, and others, which offer mysticism and a communal experience.
· Groups that spring from the great Asian religions, whether Buddhism (e.g., Seicho no Ie), Hinduism (e.g., Yoga), or Islam (e.g., Baha 'i), which are not only a manifestation of immigrants from Asia but are also taking root in some sectors of our society.
· Socio-religious enterprises, like the Moon sect or the New Acropolis, which have clear ideological and political aims along with their religious expressions ....
· A vast array of centers for "divine healing," which deal with the spiritual or physical ills of people who have problems or are poor. These therapeutic cults serve their clients individually.
IV General Conference of Latin American Bishops, Doc. 39
The New Age movement might be described as a quasi-religious subculture that is widespread but not in any way sharply defined. It is said to aim at making individuals come in touch with the light of their inner self and all manifestations of the divine inside and around them through a variety of exercises or techniques involving the mind. Actually, the New Age movement does not conceive of a personal God. God is within everyone. New Agers refer to this as a "good-force" or "pure consciousness".... New Age calls for a radical shift in the way one looks at life: It questions our Western, scientific approach to things and proposes an Eastern, quasi-magical intuitive path. The bedrock of New Age thought is the fulfillment of human potential with the end result of ushering in the "Age of Aquarius."
Most Rev. Edward Anthony McCarthy, Doc. 46
In this phenomenon of new religiosity, long-standing groups by now established and characterized by the force of their proselytism and anti-Catholic polemics converge from the point of view of the social dynamic. Although some of these have a Christian matrix, like the Jehovah's Witnesses who spread in Italy after the Second World War, they have drifted so far from genuine faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that they scarcely deserve to be called Christians.
More recently they have been joined by movements deriving from the Asian religions or with a syncretistic orientation that promise recipes for peace and inner happiness as well as movements the focus on the development of human potential, while nevertheless preserving some religious aspects. The ancient esoteric-occultist trend has re-emerged and split into many small groups whose influence goes way beyond the circle of the initiated, thanks to the commercial distribution methods often practiced.
Episcopal Conference of Italy Secretariat for Ecumenism and Dialogue, Doc. 5
Africa is characterized by a great variety of sects and religious movements of diverse origin: [Christian-based groups] coming for the most part from North America; Western, non-Christian philosophies of life; new religious movements with their origin in the East some of which entered the world scene because they have first bee implanted in North America; movements of Islamic inspiration The thousands of"African independent churches," mainly offshoot of missionary churches and bearing certain aspects of African traditional religion, represent a confused picture: some are clearly to b regarded as "ecclesial bodies," while others seem to have all the characteristics of sects properly so-called. Some groups within the Church degenerate into sects.
Synod of Bishops Special Assembly for Africa, Doc. 3
From Sects and New Religious Movements
An Anthology of Texts from the Catholic Church 1986-1994
edited by The Working Group on New Religious Movements in the VATICAN.
Last updated August 20, 2000 0:00