life-after-RC

My Kingdom Come!

We've talked about the mission (which ostensibly was to "build the Church") and the methodology (which was toxic) but what of the end? A recent comment sheds light on this:

I know that [domination of the Church] WAS the goal - I have attended section formator meetings at which the leader enthusiastically related the time period when there was expected to be dozens of LC bishops, then cardinals, etc. It's not as if she was speaking off the top of her head or building castles in the air. We were involved in section planning and were hearing the highlights from the recent set of meetings with the territorial leaders. These thoughts and figures were coming from the DG's office and filtering through the territories as part of the overall planning process. Domination of the institutional church has been the entire reason behind the push for members and vocations.

I remember hearing about a team near Alabama who was told that EWTN would soon belong to the Legion. An exasperated RC member said, "But it belongs to Mother Angelica!?" Nope, soon it would be the Legion's; they had a plan. I can personally remember recruiting goals stated for us, how many had to be recruited, what our strength should be in the future and how it was to come about (all expressly in response to the "pope's instructions," of course).

If anyone doubts the Holy Spirit, please consider at least how this plausible goal is now so absurd that no one can hear it without a shudder. The Church at large has dodged a bullet--although there were indeed victim souls who bled. No doubt, God will take that into account, and we must remember them in our prayers.

 

[thanks, daniel!]

We are not Devo

Having lashed this mule for over a year now, I am sad to see the confusion in this post by Devo:

I too know very good people in the LC/RC. Indeed, I would say I know excellent people in them. However, I disagree that they are a cult. I have read various opinion pieces that say the Legion is a cult. I think that this kind of reasoning is not founded on solid research. I have read many comments on the LC/RC that I consider go beyond what the facts warrant. It is so important to adhere to the facts. And it is important to recognize that there are facts that may and, often do lie beyond anyone's but God's reach. There are practices in the Legion that I consider to be flawed. However, what I have seen is a system that has much good to offer. Of course, this is my opinion. In that sense I await the Holy See's position.

To summarise the ground we've covered

• Very good people (even excellent ones) unwittingly join cults;
• Whatever good that the Legion has to offer would be bound up in the the sacraments and truths of the faith. They existed before the creation of the Legion and will outlive the Legion;
• The Holy See is not necessarily investigating whether the Legion is a cult;
• Facts may lie solely in God's reach, but historically God has collaborated with the Church in a unique way -- we count on the Holy Spirit to guide;
• As for solid research, if anyone dispassionately looks at the criteria for cults, the Legion raises alarm bells;
• This seems like a classic case of confusing the "mission" with the "methodology."

Devo is free to disagree, but as a newcomer to this blog, perhaps he missed key information that has been presented over many months. Not to mention key testimonies that support the thesis that LC = Cult.

Helpful timeline

I just got back into town and am wading through scores of comments, and found that this one is a good synopsis of where we are now (not to mention an easy start of a cleaner thread).

• "In your rush to judgment of all things LC......" It's been a year since the news that Maciel was a fraud, womanizer, and child molester was revealed by the Legion.
• It's been over three years since Maciel was exiled by the Holy See, and the Legion vociferously defended him as innocent, like Jesus before Pilate (not sure if they meant to compare the Holy See to the likes of Pilate or not, seems a very weird analogy in more ways than one).
• It's been nearly 13 years since the Hartford Courant blew the lid off the Maciel fraud, and the Legion viciously attacked the victims as "enemies of the Church" and "workers of the Devil".
• It's been decades since the original victims first started blowing the whistle on Maciel by writing to the Pope to beg him to rid the Church of this evil fraud.
• It's been 60 years since the early complaints against Maciel (of drug use, embezzling, womanizing, and yes, pederasty!) caused the first Vatican investigation into Maciel and the Movement.

In what alternate reality is this "rushing to judgment"? And where is this "radical transparency" of Garza's? We work for the Legion, and we haven't seen one iota of such transparency. Garza must truly be moving in slow-mo, or maybe he's stuck in a freeze-frame someplace. It's been a year, and no public act of restitution of the good names and reputations of the original victims (you know, those "enemies of the Church") has even been attempted by the Legion. Making public restitution for having publicly maligned and ruined reputations isn't even Christianity 101---it's HUMANITY 101.

To even suggest Garza is working feverishly someplace to push the envelope of Legion transparency is beyond ludicrous. Comments like yours do nothing but reinforce that the Legion spin continues unabated, even now, after 60 years of lies and deceit.

MexRC adds a little depth to what may be motivating LG:

Bigtex, I agree with your assesment that this article is yet another effort to present a kinder, gentler Luis Garza, ready to reform and lead the New LC/RC. My informed take is this: Some time ago (in the 90's), Luis Garza invested his multi-million dollar inheritance and that of his 3gf sister, along with the (Spanish) Oriol family wealth, into the LC/RC financial apparatus, in hopes of getting higher-than-standard returns. This infusion of money allowed for the rapid growth and expansion of the LC/RC, and all was going well with the financial portfolio managed by Luis's infamous brainchild, Grupo Integer. But now with the LC/RC in financial and spiritual disarray and meltdown, the "Stanford Saint" (as Luis Garza is called in some Spanish-speaking circles) is desperately trying to position himself as innocent, heroic savior of LC/RC in order to save is butt, conserve his power, and -- above all -- salvage his investments.

CNA article is here. It simply points out the article, which I think is newsworthy in their eyes for the mere fact that a congregation under investigation is giving advice about priestly formation. The irony is obvious even to those who aren't considered cognoscenti.

Mystery article in OR

Trastevere notes that Fr Garza had an article in L'Osservatore Romano, which is perplexing on many levels. If it is about the Year for Priests, then we have a real problem, but with the paper endorsing praising both the Simpsons and Barack Obama, many are scratching their heads over its direction overall (not just the thinking behind this piece). I'm travelling again this weekend, so will leave this thread open if something should come of the OR piece. Otherwise, take it where you will.

References:

LC site and Aciprensa

Another Catch-22

As ex-LC is still in the painstaking process of translating the very long Spanish piece just published, I want to draw your attention to just these portions:

Whatever the case may be, someone must have seriously considered possession and had an exorcist called to his deathbed. Luis Garza himself had already had to deal with the founder's rebellion.

Concerning the appropriateness of going public with the fact that Maciel refused to confess and that there was an exorcist at his bedside, Fr. Torres advised: "Publish it. You have to make a living, and, it will also serve to make those involved reflect on their actions."

I know you're jaded when it comes to Legion spin and the suspension of disbelief that all members are asked to engage in when it comes to the charism, the founder and the mission, but I'll point out another straw they want members to grasp in order to remain: that none of it was manageable because of some sort of "devil made him do it" routine. Let's think about this:

1. This is not how possession works on a variety of levels (he was engaged in the sacraments, fully capable of managing his identities, etc.)
2. If the upper echelon found him hard to handle, then why did they insist he was a saint and still project the lie well after he was dead? Bad behavour must bring consequences, no matter what the root of it is.
3. If the upper echelon was pursuing authentic holiness (along with the rank-and-file) then why weren't they in great fear for his soul ( whether he was "possessed" or just obstinant in sin)? If they truly believed in God, this was the manifestation of grave sin.
4. Why are they floating it now, other than as a means of isolating MM as the sinner and exculpating themselves? Cui bono?
5. How very very gullible to they think Catholics are? Why aren't these comments exposed as an insult to every single Legionary and Regnum Christi member past and present? Where is the outcry from every section and team in existence? This is such a appalling and stupid ploy that the most zealous of members must be rattled from his/her complacency at the very mention of it. 

Thus we have the bind: Either MM was rebellious, possessed and a raving tool of the devil (and the Legionaries were wrong to present him as a maligned Christ-figure) or he was a narcissistic paederast (and set up such a structure as to feed his appetites). Either way, the upper echelon is complicit in grave deception; either way, there must be a decapitation as the least of the Vatican's responses. (And I would include in that severing action those in the Curia who enabled this Beast to remain and feed on the flock.)

UPDATE: OK, call me v e r y  slow, but I just mulled over the "you have to make a living" comment by Fr Torres. Since when does a Church official offer "scoops" for the sake of selling papers, consciously and openly, like this? Very bizarre throw-away line that reveals another portion of The Game. The excuse that people need to "reflect on their actions" can be taken in any number of ways, but coming after the previous words, the inclination is to put it in the darkest possible light. It could even be taken as a threat, given the admission of complicity.

What have we learned?

On this path towards healing (you are an amazing group, God be praised!) I think it's essential to look at the lessons. "All things work together unto good for those who love God." Imagine, as Bruce says, the potential that this chapter had -- yes, it could have been worse:

"If LC/RC were not a "parallel church", the first thing that would have happened at any hint of Maciel's double life would have been a need to stop all apostolate, recruiting" How true. The system would be in place to absorb the wound, if say, the leader of the Jesuits went off the deep end.  But not in LC/RC because it developed a parallel church to coexist and mirror her every move and this parallel church would remain in place of its leader should he be removed, or found out, or simply fade away.

Is this when we say "diabolical"?

Yes, but it's not that bad when one considers just how bad it could be or should have gotten as planned.  What if mm had continued with unchallenged authority, charism intact, and all considerations of his many sins just that, considerations? Then you would have the first step past baby step towards everyone's fulfillment of the anti-christ with the Holy Roman Catholic Church as the enabling agent of the monster in its side, LC/RC.

There is to be an anti-christ one day, and since the Bride of Christ is the vehicle of salvation, she will also suffer the greatest attack from the dark imposter.* It's highly doubtful that MM was that person, but he may have been a precursor. If we can learn from this bad experience, I truly believe that we will be less prone to follow false teachers in the future -- but the response has to be thoughtful. "I don't trust anyone" isn't helpful or prudent in the future, because God does send lamps to light our way.

The essential thing is to sift the wheat from the chaff (regardless of the outcome of the AV, friends!) and to make sure you don't get sidetracked by unhealthy groups in the future. Think of the red flags we discussed, the characteristics of team life, the problems you ignored, and seriously consider how we can move forward as healthier, more well-rounded and wise Catholics in the future.

Nota bene: if you have no faith left, if you're still in a cynical or angry mode, that's fine. Each to his own pace in this healing, but do recognise that wholeness is possible and that there should be good lessons on the debacle. God allowed it, and He has the grace to help in this. He wants you to bear His joy to the world -- eventually.

[this would also be a good place to list helpful resources that shed light on this recovery]

* amended from an earlier imprecise wording -- sorry!

Wii and mii, but not thii

It seems as though mid-January, the Regnum Christi members of Atlanta were invited to spend time together and fortify themselves amidst the trials of finding that MM was not what they were initially told. I simply find this event at Holy Spirit Prep sad.

The purpose of the convention was to “come together as a Regnum Christi family, to build and strengthen our community, and to support our priests and consecrated women,” said Bruce Carlisle, one of the organizers.

The participants commented on how the spirit of fellowship and family was what made the day.

“I was a bit skeptical about the turnout for the day and curious to see what the reception would be,” admitted Paul Young. “But it was a full room and there was a great family atmosphere.”

“We all need each other,” explained Bruce Carlisle. “The laity need each other and we all need to support each other: priests, brothers, consecrated men and women, and our young Regnum Christi members.”

“We are in this together, and when times get rough, we need to pull together and let Christ work in us and through us.”

There is the usual preponderance of first-person pronouns, and with it the normal myopia that frustrates outsiders. Lacking is the contrition, the anger, and the references to what those on the outside may be going through (or have suffered at the hands of the Movement). I don't discount the need for a "Poor me, I was deceived" response, but instead we have a "Poor me, why do others get so hung up on deception and walk away from my great plans?"

As I said, sad. Achingly so. These are fine people with great hearts. They were told a story by a diocesan priest who converted to the faith only to be confronted with scandal in the Church. Whither would he go? Of course. And Regnum Christi = the Holy Roman Catholic Church. And the Holy Spirit will never leave the Movement. And in following the methodology you can never go wrong. And God saw you from all eternity...

As one commenter has already noted:

The sad thing is - why are times rough? Not just because of Maciel's double life..that was horrible. What is even worse is that the LC hierarchy hid it, allowed it, continued it and lied to all LC and RC about it. Times are rough because the LC did it to themselves...that is so crazy to feel sorry for yourselves when your own leaders put you in a bad spot.

Absolutely no critical thinking skills whatsover.

A little distraction

If we remember high school/college English class, there were those exams that ended with "Choose one of the following topics and expand..." (which saved many a grade for those who weren't fully prepared). Along those lines, I offer two little projects -- you can choose one or the other (or both if you're in the running for Teacher's Pet).

TOPIC A: Consider the books and movies that you're familiar with that remind you of Legion World. Please list the title and 3-4 major characters who play roles similar to the people in the Legion hierarchy. Discuss briefly their motivation and modus operandi for those who may not be familiar with the story line.

TOPIC B: If Hollywood were to discover this potential blockbuster, which actors would you choose to play the major roles of those in the Legion hierarchy? If helpful, point to his/her previous roles that lead you to think they could wrap their skill around the part.

I do think that finding literary similarities in the limited premise of Good vs. Evil will help us to see the bigger picture, and perhaps to show us the shallow limits to The Lie. Good literature is excellent for the fact that it mirrors the life we know. If we turn it around to see what a drama we've been sucked into, at the appropriate time I think we can grab the remote and either change the channel or simply turn it off. God will not be mocked, and evil will not have the last word. You will not only survive this but you have the capacity to be a better person for this trial.

CAVEATS:

1. This is in no way meant to minimise the suffering -- serious suffering -- of those shredded by the Legion. I cannot know all your pain, but I have a deep respect for it;
2. Please know I consider everyone a victim -- even MM (as a victim of sexual abuse himself) -- and thus I have the utmost love for the souls involved. No one is past redemption given the awesome mercy of our loving Father-God. No irreverence is intended;
3. There is no guarantee that if someone in the wider culture picks up on this story and uses your suggestion that you will get a piece of the action. We cannot afford the legal representation that the Legion does, so if you have concerns about future royalties,then beware tipping your hand here.

Remember, as Readers Digest taught us, "laughter is the best medicine."

Another trademark looming?

Kindly excuse the cynicism flowing through this post, but I was notified that Legion World will benefit by the repackaging of another treasure from Catholic history -- the writings of Saint Alphonsus Ligouri. At least they identify the original author this time, but please excuse my violent response to peddling something that has been grievously abused by the methodology of the Movement:

St. Alphonsus Liguori, one of the Church's all-time great prayer masters, believed that sin could not survive in the soul of a person who practiced mental prayer. "He will either give up meditation," wrote Alphonsus, "or renounce sin." And a strong aversion to committing offenses against God is just the beginning of the benefits that flow from an even modest dedication to Christian meditation.

Join Father John Bartunek on an exhilarating how-to journey into this time-tested method whose ultimate aim is intimacy with God, the Author not only of life but also of the life of the mind. Taken from The Better Part; also includes "The History of Christian Meditation."

Surely, after we were all baited, hooked and reeled in, our ongoing relationship with the Movement -- despite red flags, warnings and occasionally very poor treatment -- was because of the manipulation of spiritual direction and meditations. How can one take any Legionary seriously who is still in good standing in such a group, especially given the grave concerns about dark forces in previous threads?

Would the Legion please just stop setting itself up as arbitors of God's will when they were either covering for MM (and that mask has been pulled off) or ignorant of MM (which makes them incapable of discerning anything of consequence)? 

"Exhilerating?" Not even close, friends. Rather the opposite. (I wonder what happens if you read it backwards...)

New article [with partial translation]

Article in Spanish here. Aaron describes it:

The style is somewhat creative and it is hard to know if or how  the "facts" have been verified, but it WOULD APPEAR that Maciel died in a room with about 12 people, including the two Normas - his daughter and her mother.

He refused confession, the LCs there had an exorcist present incase something happened (the article also contains details about Maciel sleeping in a coffin in one of the early LC houses, other things about balls of fire, explosions in the chapel and rabid dogs...).

The article seems to get this information from Fr. Alberto Torres, the only existing original and first generation LC. It is hard to know what to believe in this article, but it will have a lot of impact on the "right" people.

Americans have no idea how many sensational stories are carried in the Spanish language press about MM. These may be unsubstantiated (or exaggerated) details, but the point is that people thirst for them and know the Legion well. I'm just keeping you informed. A translation would be welcome.

The greater point is that it flies in the face of those in the Legion hierarchy who continued to beatify him after death, and to act shocked when damaging details leaked out. If that woman, her daughter and an exorcist were there, methinks it wasn't what they pretended it to be. Even if only one of those three were in the room, alarm bells should be going off.

UPDATE: Some translated material (from the French) which focuses on the secrecy about his death:

The day that Marcial Maciel died, like in Pedro Paramo, a insistent whisper was heard as that which the wind makes when it whips the branches of a tree in the night. When we tune our hearing, just like in the above mentioned novel by Juan Rulfo, this murmur, pressed like a swarm of insects, comes together as words almost empty of sound, and full of piety: "Pray for us."

The day that Marciel Maciel died [two years ago now], the luxurious Legionary house in Jacksonville (Florida) was converted into a constant flow of cassocked men. Even to this day, they have a strange look on their faces. A sign in which we can guess that the Marcial Maciel's end does justice to an excess laden existence, lived totally on the margin of any civil or divine law. Something horrible happened in the room where the founder of the Legionaries of Christ died.

More than a dozen people were chosen to accompany him in his last moments, and, from that day on January 30, 2008, they were left with only one certainty - and for some even a consolation - that the founder of the Legion of Christ was dead. What was the cause, what happened or even when did it happen are questions that have given rise to more than one answer.

Marcial Maciel was one, triune, or even quadruple. He had, at least, five different identities. He was Raul Rivas, Norma Hilda's lover and father of little Norma (both live comfortably in Madrid) and Jaime Alberto Gonzalez Ramirez, the partner of a Mexican woman and father of three children in Switzerland. Sometimes he was Juan Rivas. And he was always Marcial Maciel, founder of one of the most powerful religious congregations, fundraiser of incalculable fortunes of doubtful origin, and pederast punished by the Pope in 2006 with retirement and prayer. They all died on January 30, 2008, two years ago. His personal secretaries were incharge of killing them all. How, if they didn't, were they going to update all of the documents of "Nuestro Padre" as they still called him? There were million dollar accounts, properties scattered throughout the world, trust funds in the Bahamas.... An empire calculated at some 20,500 million euros between what he had in himself, in all of his versions, and what he had put in the name of his Legion.

This is how his gift of being in many places at the same time can be explained, and how Marcial Maciel died, at the same time, in Houston (Texas); Washington; Cotija, his hometown in Mexico; and in Jacksonville (Florida). A few hours after he left this world and much before the media came to know the news, Wikipedia reported his death in Florida. Just minutes later, suspiciously, the on-line encyclopedia eliminated the place of Maciel's death in his biography. Two days later, the first obituaries appeared in the press. The Denver Post and the El Paso Times reported that the founder of the Legion died of natural causes in Houston (Texas).

Were they natural causes? Some Legionaries affirm that he had liver cancer. Others talk of open heart surgery in Houston in 2003, And there are those who dare to say that he suffered from dementia. "They had to invent different ailments, each with its own cause, for each one of his identities," explains Jose Bonilla, attorney for the Mexican children of the Legionary.

What was the hook?

During this lull as we wait for some outcome to be announced (and it could be a long time, realistically) the only way to turn is inward: prayerfully and with a deliberate effort at healing, transformation and growth. To this end, this comment is very helpful:

I have been a participant of this blog for many, many months now -since the scandal of Maciel broke out- and I can tell you that it gets really tiring and discouraging to read these racist remarks that come up now and then. We were ALL duped. Americans, French, Italians, Polish (JPII....) and yes, Mexicans too. I think it's really rude and stupid to try to blame 'Mexicanity' for this huge tragedy within the Catholic Church. Each country brought its own characteristics that contributed for this monster to take off, and for a LONG, LONG time it was seen as a Godsend answer for the difficult times that run for Catholics today (..wasn't it the Pope himself who recommended Maciel to his first benefactors?... An he was Italian) If we're here, it's because we also participated gladly and found so many appealing qualities there (at least the vast majority of participants of the blog, starting by Giselle herself) On the other hand, I suppose we could also talk about Fr Donal Clancy -one of the big masterminds of the organization, or Fr Devlin, one of the big abusers, or Fr Bannon, or Nader, or the 'boys from Spain' -who were the real co-founders with Maciel... and so many other non-Mexicans who've had a 'stellar' career within the LC... I believe Anonymous, that circumstances come together to blend into a 'perfect storm'... (in this case you have the Spanish extreme right-wing political regime, the religious sentiment in Mexico after the years of persecution, the lax posture of the American clergy that made American Catholics search for another way, etc etc...) And if one wants to make an intelligent and objective conclusion from any given situation, one has to understand its history as a succession of events and persons that are linked among them and bring about a certain result. And yes... the Mexican legionaries (along with the American, Irish and Spanish legionaries...) are capable of anything.

The writer is absolutely right that tossing around simplistic jingoistic talk isn't helpful (because there are different personalities everywhere) but it points us to a characteristic of the Movement that is very instructive. Rather than looking at the [well-defined!] 'perfect storm' that allowed us to arrive at this point, the better path is to look at the consistent Legionary characteristic that does exist: the ability to define what the targeted recruit wants. Remember? It was a part of our list back in the day. Does this man/woman want to educate his children, learn his faith, receive reliable direction, take comfort in a reverent Mass, give money to a solid seminary, teach others, meet other like-minded Catholics, travel, be a part of a larger mission, join an elite group that will use specific talents, become part of a brotherhood that will save the Church ... ? In conversations, we were to listen for this "hook" and then use it to reel them in. Faithful Catholics (the target market) often had very different angles that needed to be worked.

Well, we were all hooked. That desire was sincere, but the manipulation of it was not. Some people have a natural ability to discern the hook and "sell" things, others can be taught. We were all swept into this mission of "selling the Movement" using the very technique that was used on us. Thus if the Legion could act differently in Mexico than in the US, it was because they were chameleons and we let them be -- we didn't have enough information to contrast and compare. But within nationalities, there are still all the usual personalities and desires, and this is what was used.

They weren't selling lemons or snake oil -- they were selling "Christ," but they were still selling. That is what is wrong, and for you to define what hooked you may be helpful in mentally backing out the way you came in.

Stunning revision of Regnum Christi

[Updates below]

If this post is to be believed (explanation below) then there has been a radical rethinking of the lay portion of this "Movement:"

[B]elieve it or not the manner in which a person declares his/her intent to incorporate has also been radically revised. You'd think they would have come up with a new way for members to leave, but that's a bit beyond the LC at this point. So here goes: Membership in RC is a personal decision/call and I have it on very good (non LC) spiritual advice that one can stay or leave as one pleases. It's not like you have taken vows for a sacrament like baptism or marriage.

My conclusion from that is that RC is really an apostolic club. Stay if you want, leave if you please, commit as you see fit and as you have discerned to be appropriate. Forget what your team leader says. An interesting tidbit is that the "means to spiritual growth" no longer includes attending encounter or team dialogue. That's my understanding of what's in the new, soon-to-be-released RC handbook. BTW, folks, many of you, including ex-members, are still taking a membership in RC much more formally than need be at this point - probably because it's been formed into heads and hearts and it's really hard to get that little worm out. I had the same problem till it was shaken loose from me last year by a great non LC priest.

 In short, the current understanding of membership that the leadership wants to get across to the members has been "lightened up" in the past couple years. Once the new handbook is distributed this "kinder, gentler" membership description will be unfolded.

Yes, we were taking it all rather seriously, weren't we? Where did we ever get those notions? The ever morphing RC "charism" has just been down-graded from a "vocation from all eternity" into a Catholic sort of Elks Club. Is there any wonder that some may find this laughable? Was this decided by committee, by a focus group, by a PR firm, or the Holy Spirit (and please don't even suggest that the last was seriously consulted).

So I suppose recruiting has shifted as well -- no more lists, no more "captivating" leaders and quickie incorporations after the brief weekend retreats. What about AFIRE teams and the inspired methodology -- all gone? Will the team leaders now be tasked with menu planning and table decorations, rather than consulting lists and checking off the "completes?"

As for "credibility," I mean no indictment of the messenger. She has proven reliable as an inactive member who has taken this entire year to help with the discussion and to shed light on various aspects of the Movement. I mean the credibility of her source. The Legion has been all thumbs when it comes to communication, and I still hear about egregious blunders that leave critical persons without essential information -- or conflicting data points. It is possible that she was told this in order to get her "off the fence" and back on the team? It's also possible that this is a trial balloon that goes nowhere. (Someone recently pointed out that the communications initiative begun by Fr Scott Reilly fizzled before it began, so you know what I mean.)

I find this assertion staggering -- and we must find out if others are hearing the same thing. If they are, I hope someone has the ability to look the nearest LC in the eye and ask him two questions:

1. by what authority can you do this when you told me my vocation was something else? and
2. what impact does this make on your own vocation, Father?

UPDATE: "Enlightened" brings up a brilliant point in the combox -- we were indeed told that being co-founders was special, because the charism could only be refined while the founder was alive. And yet, it seems that from 2005, there have been constant reforms. Apart from the founder, it seems that the LC inner circle has been not only rewriting history, but recreating the "charism" according to the shifting needs/inquiries of a variety of interests.

I should also point out that this "reform" seems to be exactly the loosening and relaxation of pressure that we've always wished for. That is not the point. The point is that one cannot change the movement if it was what they always claimed it to be. If it's given a facelift now for the sake of making it more palatable, it's mere window dressing to deflect criticism, not a sincere effort to find God's will. That effort is impossible with a group founded on fraudulency, manipulation and private ends.

UPDATE II: Another fine comment:

A sincere reform in a charism is not cooked up in the back rooms of the General Directorate where the Nomenclatura wax their pr and institutional genius. An honest reform in religious life is done through a General Chapter in consultation with the Holy See. Open, transparent and done in fraternal dialogue with the whole of the Congregation as brothers who have equal part and say.

"Charity" still means no rational thought allowed

Thanks to a faithful reader for pointing this out at CNA:

In a recent letter sent to members of the Legion of Christ, Director General Father Alvaro Corcuera, L.C., urged members to be charitable towards each other during their internal discussions regarding the future of the congregation.

In response to a growing exchange of emails between Legionaries about two main issues: the role their founder should play in the future of the congregation, and also the measures that should be put in place to prevent similar situations from happening, Fr. Corcuera called on members to “console each other and accompany each other mutually,” as Simon of Cyrene did for Christ.

Fr. Marcial Maciel is the founder of the Legion of Christ.  Though he died in 2008, revelations of his misconduct surfaced early in 2009.

Responding to criticism by some in the Legion who accused leaders of being accomplices in the misconduct of their founder, Fr. Corcuera asked members to help one another “live this gift of peace, mutually encouraging one another, understanding one another, truly loving each other, mutually forgiving one another, without recriminating or judging each other, much less humiliating each other.”

I guess the focus groups in Cotija still like the "charism = aquiescence (with a smile)" coda, but it's not playing well beyond the trinket stands and pilgrimage hostels. The article may claim that "revelations of his misconduct surfaced early in 2009," but critical minds want to connect the dots back to "why." And if Corcuera seriously wants his priests not to judge, then how can they be taken seriously as the moral arbitors that the flock needs to navigate this fallen world?

Unless he's speaking of a particular series of events behind closed doors (which shouldn't be aired in the national press) then we must take "humiliating each other" to mean the public departure of various Legionaries, or the revelations that things are not going well in Camelot. If that is humiliating, then so be it -- one cannot remain in Legion World so as to avoid hurting Corcuera's feelings, or pumping sunshine where it doesn't belong. A dose of honesty is exactly what some of the most mind-numbed members need, whether they like it or not.

He did not act alone

Translation of this piece posted by MM in one of the Legion houses many years ago:

"I am working, exhausted, to the limit of my strength. Far beyond my capacity. May Our Lord Jesus sustain me with His fortitude; may He encourage and comfort me with His close company! As a human being I cannot go forward anymore. But I am still standing because I gave Him my word that I would die on my feet and on the finish line for the Kingdom!"

The text was written in 1949, but the presentation was put up much later (given his age in the picture). What other adults/formators stood by and witnessed this in those days? Who helped him with the facade? Who handed out the "emerald glasses" which allowed the deceit to be swallowed by the poor young boys in his grip, far from home, unprepared in anyway to deal with a patient scam artist/paederast who was systematically constructing a mental prison for all, with a special bordello awaiting some?

What other saint ever allowed in-house bulletin boards in homage to himself/herself, ever? Who else made this possible?

UPDATE: In the comments to this post, there is an important link to Trastavere blog, which relates a letter from Fr Evaristo Sada. Make sure you read the comment below (in which the Legion says, "Whoops, an oversight, really!") or if you understand Spanish, please study the original remarks. This concerns a "accidental" blurring between the Statutes and the Norms, which has upset many 3gf's -- and rightly so. Furthermore, this has been revealed concerning the women, but what about the men, many of whom still live in darkness concerning the most basic facts about the "hard-working, exhasted" founder.

Our own "Project Rachel"

It's always Brothers Karamazov and Moby Dick with Gregorbo, in this case the latter, but I must admit -- he's sifted through all the pertinent questions and found this wisdom in the entrails of the mighty whale:

For those who have recently left, find peace in the knowledge that the goods that you saw and experienced in RC and LC really were goods. Goods are all that are available, after all. The evil is in the use of goods for ends other than those toward which they are intended. The fruits that you experienced were real fruits--but understand that they were used against you--to keep you in the Movement; to continually convince you, to confirm within you, the rightness of what you were participating in.

Now we know that all that time, talent, and money was funneled to finance a huge deception. Of course, locally, this was difficult to see--because so much of the grassroots efforts were spent in producing things one could touch (clubs, gospel-meetings, adorations, walks-for-life, fundraisers for schools, special masses, etc.). But all the while, the big money was being used to

1. finance Maciel's deceptive lifestyle;
2. pay for his concubines and their children;
3. buy influence in the Vatican and within the Church outside of Rome.

The "goods" of LC and RC were used to deceive--and you were used right along with them.

Don't forget that evil has no creative power. Evil has no "stuff" of its own making. Evil ever must use and manipulate what is always already a good. You were seduced by what appeared to be a great good and then you were manipulated and the fruits of your time and talent were literally stolen from you. And you were victimized either by someone with direct knowledge of the theft or, more likely, by someone who in turn was being used, manipulated, and stolen from (and never forget, these are the only two possibilities--that is why it will be impossible, I think, to "salvage" anything but souls from the wreckage of Maciel's monomaniacal megalomania--)

Ahab's effort in Moby Dick is not to come to terms with the White Whale (the evident but unrevealed mysterious truth at the center of Creation); his effort is to destroy that truth and to make of himself the (not a) master of reality. And he destroys himself and his ship in the process and nearly takes everyone with him. Ishmael survives the wreck and is gathered in by the "devious cruising Rachel" (the Church), "just another orphan" in a world of orphans. We are all orphans. But we've survived the wreck.

This is critical. Take it to your meditation this week, if necessary. Authentic catechesis is essential to parse this charade, and to come out intact and victorious. Thanks, Gregorbo!

The Shredder

Another new comment was buried on a thread , and it deserves wider attention.

I was an LC for only 22 months. Now I am a diocesan priest. I would never in a million years say to a young man the obnoxious things said to me by Fr. Owen Kearns and Fr. William Izquierdo. Eventually, things in spiritual direction got so bad that Fr. William said, "I thought I had explained that to you. Fr. Bannon corrected Fr. Owen for saying those things." Talk about an admission! But, by then, it was too late. I could not love the Legion because I had been too much hurt by her and especially by Fr. Owen. Thank God I got out before vows. Twenty six of us entered on the soccer fields of Cheshire. Only four of us made it to the altar, and then, by twisted routes. Only one is a Legionario de Christo. The other three found a diocese. They have ruined so many men's lives.

In light of this, we wonder:

• What is the status of faith in those 22 young men who left the seminary?
• What kinds of men do make it to the altar and into the ranks of LCs?
• What kinds of men make it into positions of authority in such a system?
• Whether the Legion remains in existence or not, what is the future of LC priests?

I don't want to paint these generous souls as tainted in any way -- at least not by their own fault, but if this young man could encounter such horrid experiences in less than two years in the ranks, what about those who are there 10, 12 and 14 years before ordination. To what end? To sit in a fund-raising office making cold calls and schmoozing donors? To be harried road teams trapped in a cross-country vehicle with someone who you cannot trust or even talk to?

Think back to when those road teams visited your home or parish -- most likely there was no indication of the stress and constraint, and yet the ones who have left now admit it was quite a painful time. We must continue to pray for vocations -- and I mean that God preserves those men he calls to the priesthood, that they be able to serve Holy Mother Church in freedom without scandal. Saint John Vianney, intercede for us!

ADDENDUM:  I made the comments above fully aware that many men return home from the LC seminary full of affection for their time there, the men they left behind and the system. For all who were scarred and left the Church, there are countless others who truly believed that they were deficient in some way, and some go on to serve ardently as members of RC for years afterwards. It is perplexing, until many make their way past the nonsense they swallowed (or take off the "emerald glasses" issued during their novitiate) to realise that their experience in Oz wasn't what they thought at first.

The Legion presents itself as an infallibly-ordained gift to the Church, which is made up of an elite squad of the most talented, most dedicated and most pious. Something in that twisted "anti-charism" leads men to believe that if they are sent home, they must not have measured up. Like the SEALS, or the like. I admire this testimony because -- through grace -- he looked the methodology squarely in the eye and called it "obnoxious." Bully for him!

A Stellar Post

As I've said before, you readers in the trenches have buckets of wisdom. Please read this post (by an anoymous contributor) carefully and really try to understand its implications for every facet of Legion World:

This 'self-focused growth' operation control is not just at the core of the problem with relationship between LC and RC, but it is at the heart of the day to day problem internal to the Legion itself. As an order it is the MOST centralized controlled group in the Church today. Territorial Directors are only local figureheads of the General Director. They are not elected in their own territories, but appointed by the GD. A genuine charism must first give witness, witness to a genuine spirituality that reside deeply in each member- THEN the fruits come. The goal is to give witness. However LCs are not set up to run that way- the goal is to get results and spirituality is instrumentalized for gain. The goal is not interiorization and conviction that gives witness, but total control of the actions of the members through the superior so that witness can be controlled by the organization, not humbly awaited as a genuine fruit of the Spirit. Every action that is co ntrolled by authority moves one one step away from interiorizing more deeply the virtue and wisdom that is intrinsic to the action- ie. real holiness and spirituality.

For the record...

Word from the inside assures us that there are still seminarians who do not know about MM's children and additional abominations. While RC members have the choice to read the internet or to continue to self-police, and the LC priests and 3gf's are in various stages of enlightenment, the seminarians are still very much at the mercy of their superiors for what they know and don't know.

This came to mind as I read a book review this morning.

In In Search of My Homeland, his eloquent and tragic memoir, artist Er Tai Goa records that as the Chinese government worked its prisoners to death, those in Mao’s gulags were continuously tested for ideological rigor. In fact, the inmates, much like the rest of the country, monitored each other through “mutual supervision,” complete with the infamous group criticism sessions and punishments. As Goa recounts, the prisoners were required to endure all this with a state-enforced smile on their faces, a strenuous effort that added another torment to their daily agony.

MM's methodology was only copied from the most oppressive of dictators. Please remember that it's not the mission but the means.

Reformation discussion

Deep in another thread is a discussion on a proposed sanitation of RC, which I'll move here for clarity.

White Tree asked Still RC for Now [an inactive member of the Movement]: "Do you mean it might be profoundly reformed so that RC lay members don't need to rely upon the LC priests anymore for guidance?"

Still RC for Now responded: Not a likely scenario at all White Tree but one possibility is that the relationship betw. LC and the laity is altered so that the "direction" is more spiritual than apostolic or organizational. We've seen some hint of that already with the creation of Mission Network and the appointing of lay section directors in some sections. Whether the LC would really be willing to relinquish diretional control of their apostolates is another question, of course. If they sincerely embrace a real change that would put a big monkey wrench in the fundraising/vocations machine.

I responded thusly:  Still: the problem is two-fold. Every program in Mission Network exists elsewhere -- causing a duplication of efforts which is a waste of energy (and divisive). Secondly, every program in Mission Network was created to recruit and raise funds for LC/RC. Not only did that create an animus (that somehow doesn't exist with Legion of Mary, Together, and other youth groups) but it means that the content of the programs is second fiddle to the core aims. If anything, they would have to be rethought and retooled -- but why? If they have a patina of slime on them (due to association with MM and those who either covered for him or dismissed the seriousness of the scandal) why not just go and assist with the long-standing progams that need a shot in the arm?

I still contend that anyone who thinks that RC apostolates are viable tools of evangelisation are tone deaf. I'm not impugning their sincerity or their motive to build the Church, but the means, which are so tainted that they imply an insensitivity of their own. I honestly heard a story about two "tone deaf" parents who were so insensitive and dysfunctional that the older of the two sons shot and killed himself. For Christmas the following year, they gave the younger son the gun wrapped up with a bow. Beggars belief, but true. There was nothing wrong with the gun and they were an avid hunting family, but under the circumstances, well, duh...

Toxic parenting

Most of us have encountered toxic forms of parenting -- there are many, but one in particular comes to mind: the sort whereby instead of instilling maturity and good judgement in a child, the parent causes the child to be unnecessarily attached to the parent for security. Two examples:

FATHER/MOTHER (to daughter): "All men are peverse and grasping. They only want one thing. Stay close to us and you won't get hurt. Don't talk to men (or dream of marriage) because guys just lie and then leave."

MOTHER (to son): "No girl can love you and take care of you like I do, sweetie. They'll only break your heart. Stay close to mommy, who has always done everything just for you, and you'll always be safe."

An example of the former is an episode of the Waltons where a father and daughter moved to the mountain, but he wouldn't let her go to school very often and taught her that the world was evil. (She really wanted to be a school teacher.) John-boy and the local teacher pleaded with him, but he was firm in his distrust of everything. An example of the latter was the twisted relationship in Sunset Boulevard, where the older woman weaves a web around the young male visitor and buys him everything in exchange for his companionship.

These thoughts came to mind as I reread the letter from the LC hierarchy to the people in Atlanta:

This will be a great opportunity to stoke the flames of the core charism of the Legion and the Movement, love for Christ, souls, our Church and each other. Make it an afternoon date to be enjoyed with some of your good friends. Your heart will be touched and your spirit will be moved. You owe it to yourself to be at this event.

Yes, it could be a harmless invitation, or it could be another example of peversity:

• remember our charism and your tie to it;
• remember we're your real family
• remember what you "owe" us in your faith walk.

To get slightly political, one might think of elements of the welfare state that become counter-productive. Food stamps for rough times are charity; shelters for homeless are essential. But at some point, the whole system oppresses those it's meant to serve by making them dependent on handouts in an unhealthy way, especially when it discourages responsibility and fatherly commitment.

I fully understand that the Church is our mother and we will always be dependent on her sacraments and the mercy of our Loving Father. The problem I'm addressing is the unhealthy way in which the "Legion as mother" has stepped into the mix and insists that the apron strings stay firmly tied around her "children." Playing on fears about heresy in the Church, suspect bishops, lukewarm congregations and the like is similar to saying: "outside the Movement, you really cannot trust people to love Christ the way we do." Like the toxic mother, the Legion says, "You owe it to yourself to stay close to us -- and it's safer in the long run." That's not authentic formation but a prolonged adolescence. Catholics deserve better.

Stoking the flames

The Atlanta section hosted an event this past weekend:

The Regnum Christi Movement in Atlanta cordially invites you to a special afternoon of inspirational presentations, fellowship, confession, music and a wine and cheese social. This “family reunion” is for all Regnum Christi members and their spouses, including members of the young men’s section and of the young women’s section.

This will be a great opportunity to stoke the flames of the core charism of the Legion and the Movement, love for Christ, souls, our Church and each other. Make it an afternoon date to be enjoyed with some of your good friends. Your heart will be touched and your spirit will be moved. You owe it to yourself to be at this event.

Our special guest, Fr. Evaristo Sada, the General Secretary of the Regnum Christi Movement will be joined by many local Legionaries and the Consecrated Women to present this convention.

Any information on how it went? Why it was needed? What was said? There is mention of the "core charism" (love for Christ, etc.) but that's peculiar -- besides the fact that it doesn't qualify as a charism, that is not the way it was explained to me in the time I was in the Movement (1992-1999). At that time it was phrased "charity and unity" and explained at length in the course we took after joining. Perhaps the charism has been party to the same facelift that has provided the pithy phrase (Love Christ, Serve People, Build the Church) that binds all the apostolates to the same bank account.

Nota bene: if the Legion disappeared, would the RC rank and file trust Holy Mother Church to teach them to love Christ? Can such an endeavor succeed without the Legion Magic? If MM's shadow interferes with "building the Church," doesn't it follow that the mission requires new wineskins? Hasn't Fr Gill's letter made it clear that "stoking the flames" is a myopic exercise in "circling the wagons?" Perhaps those still on the fence can explain wherein lies their hope with this group. And I make that request sincerely.

The AV and RC

From a concerned father:

I wish to share something significant regarding RC and I am not sure how else to do it. I sent an email to Archbishop Chaput very recently regarding my daughter's situation and mind control. I was amazed that he replied almost immediately. But he said that R.C. is not under investigation. He did finally accept the information that I sent after I explained that the two are inseparable, with same founder, same leader, very similar rules, etc. Had I not pointed out such an obvious connection I think he would have simply discarded the information I sent to him. I hope that others will let him know their feelings about not totally ignoring R.C. issues while checking up on L of C. Any letters or emails to him about RC need to be somehow related to L of C.

As a reminder, the Archbishop's address is shepherd@archden.org  The investigation is winding down, and with it a unique opportunity to give input on an important matter. Pray and write, if you think it appropriate. The Archbishop is a grown man with a delete button if he thinks the material irrelevant -- so let him make that decision.

Typical piggy-backing

"The pope loves us" has been the standard recruiting/fund-raising mantra for decades in the Movement. We've shown over the last year how the Legion has adopted the patrimony of the Church for its own benefit, even going so far as to trademark a standard work as its own (and plagiarise another). So what now, while in financial straits and charism-less turmoil? Why -- latch onto the Year of the Priest. Aaron offers the details:

A shameless "adopt a priest" funding campaign set up by Jesus Maria Delgado LC (territorial director, former rector of Salamanca) in Spain.

Website looks cheap [sorry, but the annoying cartoon fish undermines the dignity of the priesthood and denigrates a man's sacrifice to be an alter Christi in my book. Who is the target audience that would justify such a silly graphic? G.] and the primary links take you directly to payment plans which range from 6 euro a month (about $5) to 600 euro a month, or one-off payments.

Actually, looking at this website in more detail it is horrendous. "What do priests do for us?" hospitals, orphanages, hospitals, universities etc etc.... where there is poverty there are priests, where there are people in need there are priests etc if there were more priests there would be more light in the world...

In the efecto multiplicador link there is a photo of humanists studying in salamanca, I nearly jumped because I recognise the brothers as members of my community... that might even be me behind the red-head brother Alejandro Canales!

Funny, this reminds us of all those things most Legionary priests don't do. Interestingly, it was the paucity of solid priests and hunger of the laity for orthodox leadership that led to the rise of the Legion in this country. Now that the hierarchy is doing something about it, the Legion wedges its way into it to raise money for itself. Rich.

"More light in the world?" God bless the sincere fellows in this congregation, but there is more confusion than light, more utilitarianism than love. Folks may want to reread Fr Gill's letter.

Coming clean in 2010

As usual, a long thread often turns a corner and opens a new discussion that is only tangentially related. In this case, a conversation about the "culpability" of Fr Gill for staying in for so long (the "glass half-empty" view, vs. the "half-full" praise about his courage in leaving) led participants to consider what "warning signals" were ignored in each individual case.

To start off, I'll begin: I joined in 1992 after exactly two days exposure to the group. I did know previously that the Legion existed since a road team had come through Pensacola where my husband was stationed a few years earlier. Thus there was at least the memory of those "clean-cut young men" who seemed so orthodox. So in terms of where I went wrong, I must admit that I leaped with very little looking, I trusted the Church's endorsement entirely, I never stopped to think what it meant to my young and growing family, and I completely abandoned my oblation to the Benedictine Order. (Furthermore, I never even asked my husband, which is very different from how I operate now. I don't know that he would have suggested that I not join, but as a spouse, he had a vested interest in how I spent gobs of time, and should have at least been informed beforehand if not asked.) I can give many excuses in each case, but from the perspective of maturity, I've learned a lot since then. As for warning signals, at that time there were none, and when I learned of the allegations from the Hartford Courant, I dismissed them out of hand as vile detraction. Mea culpa.

Any other previously hard-headed, obstinate, uber-orthodox "church savers" want to contribute? Let it not be said that we haven't learned our lesson and regretted ignoring the concerns of others.

Minor detail

I'll be in Atlanta for the last weekend of the month (speaking engagement) and have given myself a generous amount of travel time (no, I'm not trying to escape the snow!) Please contact me if you want details, in case I can meet some of you at that time.  (gskineke [at] gmail [dot] com)  If you're a woman, you may want to come to the talk. If you're a guy, um, probably not.

Magnificent in its entirety

I am begging prayer for this heroic man whom I truly admire (letter is dated 9 Jan 2010):

Dear Regnum Christi Friends,

With my greetings for a very happy New Year for 2010 and assurance of my continued prayers and Masses for you and your families, I have some news to pass on to you. 

I’m writing to inform you that after 29 years, I will be leaving the Legionaries of Christ and will apply to become a priest of the Archdiocese of New York.

I leave with a heavy heart and as you can imagine, it is a very sad experience for me. But after long conversations and correspondence with superiors, and after having consulted with prudent and widely respected priests, I believe in my conscience it is the right thing to do.

The news of the various scandals regarding Fr. Maciel was truly shocking and horrendous for us and the whole the Church.  In dealing with them I have tried my best to be honest and candid whenever I have spoken to you all about them and never knowingly misled anyone. I have believed that a rigorously honest approach to this terrible series of events was the only way to proceed.  Furthermore, I felt that if done so, and counting on the help of the Holy See, it could even lead to true healing and renewal for the Legion and the Movement, even in spite of the truly serious questions it raises about the charism of the congregation.

I’m leaving more because the manner in which the Legion has handled the revelations since the Vatican took action against Fr. Maciel in 2006 has left me often frustrated and totally distracted.  I’ve tried my best to communicate with the superiors over this past year, and they have been gracious and generous taking the time to listen. I believe I have had the opportunity to get my point of view across to them.

I have participated extensively in the Apostolic Visitation and gave my best input to Abp. Chaput on multiple occasions.  He has been gracious, fair and objective.   I feel I have done all I can in that regard. 

My conclusion is that the reforms needed in the Legion (which the scandals have made clear) simply won’t happen in the foreseeable future with the current leadership’s approach to the matter.

I hope and pray the Apostolic Visitation somehow does bring about the needed changes, and remain ready to do whatever I can to help.  But anything the Holy See can do depends also on the willingness of the Legion to examine itself and work on its own problems.  Even in the most optimistic of scenarios, reform will take a great deal of time and will continue to be a very absorbing and frustrating experience.  I don’t want to live my priesthood in frustration, but serve the Church as best I can in another capacity.

Nothing I have said should be understood to take away in the least the gratitude I feel for all the good I have received from the Legion over these many years. There are so many things about the Legion and the Movement that are extraordinarily unique and wonderful.   It has been a privilege to serve among so many talented and holy brothers and priests, who have treated me with such kindness and charity.  There are so many treasured memories and many fruitful apostolic works I have had the privilege to be associated with, as well as generous and loving lay people who have always edified me with their example of faith and love.  Those are true blessings from God for which I will always be grateful. 

I hope to keep in touch and I encourage you all to continue in your own vocation, attentive to the Holy Spirit and growing every day in love for the Lord and his will in your life.  I will have you and your families very close in my prayers and Masses.

 Please let me know if there is ever anything I can do for you. 

                                               Sincerely in Christ,

                                               Fr. Richard Gill

The Fourth Vow

"Information," who has been very forthcoming in recent weeks (as well as rather defensive of LC practices) has offered specifics on the fourth vow, including the explanation of how it was intended to be used. (This includes the "consecrated" men and women, who live the same although called a "promise," intended to be equally morally binding but canonically invisible.)

Answers to "Love Christ:" Can you post the fourth vow which Pope Benedict made the Legion of Christ stop requiring - The one which required them to report any person who made a critical remark about Legion of Christ?

ANSWER: Here is an English translation of the private vows taken from a hopefully reliable website (the second vow has been abolished since then). Everyone who professes the evangelical counsels temporally or perpetually in the Congregation is also to take other, private vows on the same day. These are:

n314. §1. Never to desire, seek, nor scheme to obtain or retain responsibilities or positions in the Congregation for himself or for others, and to inform the General Director if he finds out another religious has done so;

§2. Never to criticize externally either the acts of government or the person of any Director or Superior of the Congregation by word, in writing or in any other way. And if he knows for certain that a religious has broken this commitment, to inform the latter's immediate Superior, unless he was the one criticized, in which case the Superior above him should be informed.

n.315. §1. The vow not to criticize does not deprive any religious of the freedom to approach the General Director, the Territorial Director, the Rector or his own Superior to disclose the possible or real defects that he finds in the Superior's way of governing, or of applying the norms and Constitutions of the Legion.

§2. If the Rector or Superior of the Center does not correct the defects in his performance to the detriment of the community the religious is to inform the Territorial Director and, if the problem continues, the General Director. If the problem is with a Territorial Director, he should only inform the General Director.

§3. Our religious should never comment on the defects or shortcomings of the actions of those who have positions of government in the Legion either among themselves or with Superiors who are not in a position to remedy them. [This is so that we never introduce into our communities disrespect for the principle of authority and backbiting which destroy the peace and internal charity that are the perennial source of the unity and effectiveness of the Legion.] I cannot tell if this last sentence is in the text or part of "information's" commentary. 

Also, do some Regnum Christi members take that vow?

ANSWER: Consecrated members had a similar one, but it has been abolished, too.

Also, how can a priest give spiritual direction, hear confession , or be pastoral at all if he has to report people who confide in him or even just remark to him?

ANSWER: The vow did not apply to confession or to spiritual direction and it was not about "just remarking."

Is that why so many people felt spiritually violated? This is especially true if a priest is in a Regnum Christi member working in a parish.

ANSWER: No idea, but for me it is a "non sequitur." Did the Pope expect them to stop living that vow if they had already taken it? They are not supposed to live a vow they to not have... and they are not supposed to do anything sinful or wrong.

Is it then just a matter of conscience for the LC priests and Regnum Christi members - consecrated and not?

ANSWER: I do not understand what you want to say. It seems that once it is part of the culture of the movement it would be hard to change but it seems like such a violation of anyone who crosses their path. NO QUESTION, NO ANSWER.

Two questions:

• How does this square with your experiences with it?
• How does this compare with how other congregations try to live "charity?"

The Amorphous Beast

Sometimes it's just best to let those who really know explain things:

The reason why everything about LC/RC seems so confusing and vague, and ever-changing, is NOT an accident or a consequence of poor management, or weak strategy, or even clerical bureaucracy. On the contrary, when it comes to all things LC/RC, secrecy, mystery, and vagueness are such BY DESIGN. Again, this is not a personal insight, but what I learned directly from Nuestro Fraude and my superiors during the very foundational period of RC in Mexico.

The essence of Nuestro Fraude's strategy, was like the CIA's inasmuch as revealing as little information as needed, to as few people as needed, and always on a per-need-to-know basis. The LC/RC beast thrives and it's at its "best" (in their eyes, of course) when it's at its most amorphous, at its most vague, and at its most mysterious, precisely because it is then free to become "all things to all people." You, Peter, want it to be ultra-orthodox? You got it. You, Mike, want it to be cutting-edge contemporary, you got it. You, Holiness, want it to by faithful to the Holy See and for us to become missionaries in Quintana Roo? You got it. You, Mrs. Millionaire Widow want it to be meek and for us to build a nice chapel with your generous donation? You got it.

In the mind of Nuestro Fraude, RC became the focus and the raison d'etre of the Legion when he realized that, through an eternally vague "movement," non-accountable to the hierarchy, he could get away with anything and everything. Of course, the reason he said this was a good idea, was because this way we could circumvent all the bad, evil, anti-Pope, elements of the Church ("evil bishops," etc.), and we could advance the Kingdom much more effectively.

Like the virus that it is, the LC/RC apparatus is in constant adaptation, and mutation, morphing into whatever allows it to survive and to thrive. The mantra fed to us was: "Adaptación a tiempos y lugares" (adaptation to the times and places). However, in the long run, this very strategy is problematic for them, because it also directly contradicts another fundamental LC/RC principle: CENTRALIZATION (crucial to maintain absolute and eternal control and power). The struggle between these two opposing principles (ongoing adaptation and uber-centralization of power), is already self-destroying the beast. Anyone who works at, or is familiar with an LC/RC apostolate/school/project, where INTEGER has taken control, will see this struggle at play. On one hand, you have the rank-and-file faithfully trying to accomplish their mission and adapting it to their circumstances, and on the other is the Integer apparatus trying to bring everything into its system meant to make everything perfectly uniform as if apostolates were nothing more than replicable McDonald's franchises.

One can go crazy trying to figure out why things are the way they are with LC/RC. But the only logic is this: The LC/RC powers will continue playing their mystery/morph/control game for as long as they are allowed, and for as long as they find naive, well-intentioned, poorly informed Catholics open to be wowed and wooed by their good looks and their shiny and impressive house of cards.

Why this explanation is doubly valuable (I'm not sure if the author intended it) is that it gives ample and respectful room for the very good intentions of the members who are sincerely trying to build the Kingdom. Often at a certain time they become somewhat complicit in the mind-game (depending on how deeply they penetrate the system or take on responsibilities beyond the rank-and-file) but it explains why their very good intentions are harnessed and how they project those good intentions onto the system that gives them room to build. Thank you, mExRC.

Update on "Statutes"

[Since the initial thread was getting unweildy, I'm starting fresh]

UPDATE II: a couple of links -- here is the RC announcement for the 2004 approval of RC statutes by Cardinal Rode; here is the Zenit article. Something has to happen here -- if Cardinal Rode doesn't step in to preserve his "reputation" then more heads must roll. Did he read the statutes before approval? Did someone abuse his authority without knowledge? Did he acquiesce to the scam and lend his name knowingly? There is no acceptable answer since his office was used in the deception.

Additionally, I have scoured this site for an old post that I cannot find. I know I blew a gasket when the approvals were announced, because we were always told that the methodology had been already approved (as a means for keeping us in line, doing things the Legion Way). When they boldly said that the statutes were approved in 2004, that meant that all those years of assurances were lies -- but no one pointed it out. Perhaps I wrote it in a different forum, but it struck me as deeply perplexing at the time that they saw fit to celebrate something that had been asserted as a given decades previously.

Finally, consider this snippet from a post last year. It was a letter from a young man on the inside shortly after the initial announcement about the founder:

I was blessed to be in spiritual exercises this past week, and God had been very close to us.  I received several spiritual insights that I would like to share with you about Fr. Maciel. 

Of course, the news was a bit of a shock when I learnt of it. It is so uncharacteristic of everything that he has been to us in his writings and exhortations. It caused confusion, doubts, anxieties, and even anger, as is natural. The fact that it could be a case of mental problem (possibly a case of multiple personality disorder, inherited or due to his brain injury) could explain it somewhat at first, but not totally. Only God who knows the interior of each person can be the just judge, and we will leave it in his hands whatever was in our founder’s life.

One thing we need to be assured is that Fr. Maciel, like each one of us, is only an instrument of God’s work. We are all imperfect, broken vessels called to be conveyor of God’s grace. It is like a pipe that could be rusty, but still carries crystalline water to its destination. We need to trust God that he knows what he is doing. What is said of the early church can equally be applied here, “If this enterprise, this movement of theirs, is of human origin it will break up of its own accord, but if it does in fact comes from God you will be unable to destroy them.”  (Acts 5: 38-39) 

We know that the Legion and the Regnum Christi movement are ultimately the work of God and not the product of a person, as guaranteed by the Church’s approval of the Constitutions and Statues... [bold added]

News from Saint Louis

In response to a query about the situation at Gateway Academy in Saint Louis, we have this account:

As of now, the lower school is on track for opening in the fall. A group of parents worked out a 3-year financial plan that will require an increase in enrollment over the next several years. There are to be 20 foreign exchange students who will help increase enrollment for next year. The Legion will no longer pay the annual note on the building debt, but the Legion did agree to commit $550,000 over the next 3 years (not per year) to help out with any operating budget shortfall. With the extra monetary help, there is a group that is hopeful that the 3-year plan will be viable. It will require a lot of hard work, not to mention luck. There was some talk of cutting ties with the Legion, but that will not happen. The Consecrated and Priest(s) will still be on campus. The Legion still owns the property, but they did put up some of their other assets in order to re-finance the building debt. That action, coupled with the 3-year monetary commitment, is billed as "hard evidence" that the Legion is committed to Gateway. The great unknown is how many families and teachers will return in the fall. The students were told that a new chaplain would be arriving from Canada to replace Fr. Thomas Maher, who left in the fall. However, they were told that this French-Canadian priest was having passport troubles, but he would arrive as soon as he could. This week, though, they have been told that the prospects for a new priest right now aren't good. What any of this means for the real future of the school, I don't know.

Obviously, if the AV results in significant changes to the Legion, the parents may have their school back (minus the $550K pledge). We'll just have to see what unfolds.