June 3, 2009

Picasso-trained artist now uses his talents for the Church

By Elizabeth Deline

Spanish artist Kiko Arguello, an initiator of the Vatican approved Neocatechumenal Way, a parish-based catechumenate, came to Denver over Memorial Day weekend to put  finishing touches on icons in the new chapel of Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary. 

The Holy Family of Nazareth Chapel was dedicated by Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., during an evening Mass May 25. Redemptoris Mater is one of two seminaries operated by the Archdiocese of Denver and located in south Denver at the John Paul II Center.

Arguello remained in Denver for little less than a week, during which time he painted the face of Christ Pantocrator in the central icon of the Mystery Crown series in the chapel.

Denver’s Redemptoris Mater is the first such seminary in the United States to have a Mystery Crown, which is a series of 12 icons depicting the main events of salvation history. 

Arguello said he prayed a year before painting the image. He emphasized that to paint Christ’s face is to paint the face of God. 

“He is man but also God and so the painting must be transcended, with the help of prayer and fasting,” said Arguello.

Arguello was a professional artist who studied with Pablo Picasso before co-founding the Neocatechumenal Way some four decades ago. The Way forms small communities in parishes through which people undergo spiritual formation that aims to bring them to mature Catholic faith.

Fortunately for the Church, Arguello didn’t cease using his artistic gifts after entering into the ecclesial realm. 

Explaining how he went from being an atheist to a lay catechist, Arguello spoke about the  “profound crisis” he suffered as an atheist, thinking that life was an absurdity. 

“God let me experience this, perhaps to make me more humble,” he said.

Arguello explained how after delving deep into philosophy, his inner-most being did not want to accept that God didn’t exist. 

“A small light began to appear,” he said, “and that light was the hypothesis that God did exist and that he was creator of everything.

“And so,” he added, “I began to talk to God and call out to him, asking for his help.”  

Arguello began studying the Eastern traditions of iconography, as an expression of the faith.  He began imitating the famous Russian iconographer, Andre Rublev, applying to his method techniques found in Western tradition, such as impressionism. 

Arguello started implementing this new form of art in parishes where the Neocatechumenal Way was present and he began calling this the “new aesthetic,” which he would define over time as being one of the saving attributes of the Church in her confrontation with the world and modernity. 

He stressed that the “new aesthetic” was not only the artwork but also the community itself where Christ is really manifested through the love of the brothers. Arguello added that this new aesthetic, or beauty, is a new “language” that speaks to man in the depths of his soul through the images that he encounters and the relationships he shares with other people.  

Perhaps Arguello’s most famous icon is that of the Madonna and Child on which he was inspired to write, “Let there be communities like the Holy Family of Nazareth that live in humility, simplicity and praise.”  Arguello said the statement is an outline of the Neocatechumenal Way.

“This small idea has an enormous social impact on society,” he said, pointing to the early Church.

“It is enough to look back at the early Christian communities that defeated the Roman Empire,” he said. “That was because they loved one another.” 

Arguello explained that the Neocatechumenal Way consists of small communities within a parish where everyone knows and loves each other, making visible the mystery of the Church as a sacrament of universal salvation.  

Giuseppe Gennarini, a native Italian and spokesman for the Neocatechumenal Way in the United States, was also in Denver for the chapel dedication. Gennarini said he met the Neocatechumenal Way in Rome 39 years ago.

“I had left the Church and I believed that somehow Marxism was the answer to man’s questions,” he recalled.  “On the other hand, I wasn’t happy about the shallow and false relationships that I noticed pervaded the left-wing movement.  Out of curiosity I went to listen to a catechesis and I discovered the good news of Jesus Christ for my life.  I thank the Church for the life she has given me through this Neocatechumenal Way.” 

Redemptoris Mater is one of six such seminaries in the United States. There are more than 70 Redemptoris Mater seminaries throughout the world. Men in formation at Redemptoris Mater seminaries come from Neocatechumenal Way communities across the globe. The men at Denver’s Redemptoris Mater Seminary are formed as priests to serve the archdiocese but they also receive missionary training and can, at the discretion of the archbishop, be sent anywhere in the world.

Gennarini describes the Redemptoris Mater seminaries as being “under the jurisdiction of the bishop, and complementing the other diocesan seminaries.

“Whereas the diocesan seminaries serve the Church ad intra, meaning inside the diocese,” he explained, “the Redemptoris Mater seminaries serve the Church, ad extra, in missionary activity. ”

Having two seminaries in one diocese, Arguello likened to having two lungs.  Both are necessary and both have a fundamental role within the Church. 
Asked if there were plans for more Redemptoris Mater seminaries in the United States, Gennarini responded, “There are some bishops who are very interested, but we must wait and see what God will do.”