Sex, marriage and family are primary means by which political and religious powers have exercised authority over people; and although much of that power has weakened in modern society, these lay movements are actively working to reestablish it.
Focolare's basic premise is that a human's highest spiritual calling is to celibacy. Because of that, the organization practices strict segregation of the sexes, even among married couples when they are in the organization's communities. Married members are not regarded as a couple, but as a single individual, and they are required to renounce their affection for each other. Yet even then, they are regarded as having a much lower status than unmarried and celibate members.
Neocatechumenate doesn't have a much better attitude towards marriage, which is described as a state of "two enemies living together." Members are taught that marriage, spouses and family are little better than idols which distract one's attention from the true object of love, which is God. Neocatechumenate must be put first, even if that means neglecting the children.
Contrary to Vatican teachings, even natural means of birth control are forbidden, and members are taught that they must be fully open to all the children God wants to send them.
If one spouse joins the community without the other, heavy pressure is put on the member to recruit the unaffiliated spouse rather than having them engage in the more typical prosyletization of other people in the parish. Until the other spouse joins, the member is not allowed to attend any group events except on special occasions; and if they aren't successful within eight years, the member is permanently exiled from the Neocatechumenate community.
When it comes to putting the community before the individual, Communion and Liberation is no better. Their literature does not say very much about sexuality in an explicit manner, but the term "moralism" is often used. This refers to secular morality which is relative, and therefore has no claim to being a "true" moral system. A true moral system involves submitting every aspect of a community member's life to inspection and evaluation by competent authorities.
In keeping with this ideal, even the emotional lives of C&L members are subject to strict scrutiny by religious leaders. If a person is attracted to someone else in the group, or if two people are drawn to each other, these feelings have to be told to a priest so that this leader can interpret them and determine in which direction they must go. The goal is for the relationship to be integrated into the group - it must not be a personal or private experience, but must instead exist as a communal experience, open to everyone. This prevents it from becoming a private distraction from the greater goals of a "true" Catholic.
There are only two pieces of good news in this book. First, these movements are mutually antagonistic. This is hardly surprising - it is not just that their lifestyles and spiritualities are distinct (though the distinction may not be so obvious from the brief description I've given here), but that each claims to be the *only way to live the Catholic faith in our modern world.
The second bit of good news is that these groups, despite having such heavy backing from the upper echelons of the Vatican, they do not have much support from the Catholic leaders "in the field" - that is to say, among the priests and bishops. One leader in particular, the bishop of Clifton in Bristol, England, went the farthest, having Neocatechumenate disbanded in his diocese. Unfortunately for him, he had to admit privately that this action almost certainly eliminated any possibility of his future promotion.
Urquhart is able to demonstrate that these oganizations represent a threat both to wider society and, perhaps even more so, to the Catholic Church itself. Just how much of a threat is open to question - Urquhart sees it as serious enough that he would like to have the groups disbanded entirely. But their threat is probably diminished by books like this which seek to expose their works and beliefs to the light of public scrutiny.
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