Better than 72,000 souls impaled

In his response to The monk who stole juxtaposition, Monk writes:

Nor do I indulge in speculation about the “final impenitence” of MM. That, I believe is truly beyond the pale and unbecoming of someone whose opinion seems to carry some weight for so many on this and “related” blogs.

For those just tuning into the conversation, the “final impenitence” (note Monk’s use of “scare quotes”) is a reference to the Like Founder, Like Sons thread.
To answer Monk’s question, is it beyond the pale to speculate about Maciel’s visible actions alleged on his death bed? I would agree if Maciel was merely a lone individual acting out his perverse fantasies – or nightmares, when one looks at the situation through the eyes of his victims.
However, Maciel was the founder of a large religious order and its lay auxiliary. He offered the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christ his (not His) methodology as a sure means of holiness and path to eternal salvation. Let’s assume, for the sake of the argument, that LC and RC are reporting accurate membership numbers. That’s 72,000 souls who have staked their eternal fate on the spiritual path revealed to them by Maciel.
Of course nobody but God is competent to judge Maciel’s eternal destination. And given that Maciel’s canonization is unlikely in the future, we will never know in this lifetime where he ended up in the next. Let us pray that he made his peace with God in his final moments. More importantly, let us pray that his victims make their peace with God before going on to the next life.
Yet with 72,000 souls at stake, the rest of us would do well to heed Maciel’s alleged signs of deathbed impenitence. What’s beyond the pale is that we would risk losing one more soul to his methodology.
SHUT. IT. DOWN.

Doctrinal confusions in ten Medjugorje messages

While Mons. Ratko Perić, bishop of Mostar, is going to Rome this week (according to the Croatian press), I’m going to catch up by presenting his most recent article reviewing problematic aspects of the alleged supernatural messages from the Medjugorje phenomenon.

(Translated from the Italian version published on the diocesan website.)

 

The deviations of Medjugorje
Bp. Ratko Perić, January 25, 2010

Introduction. Recently, after his “private” visit to Medjugorje, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna, stated that in the discernment of the phenomenon, beyond the positive elements, it is necessary to take account also of “some open questions“. [1] In this article we report some “dubious” things, erroneous answers or heresies, that is, doctrinal errors written in the Chronicle of the apparitions of the parish of Medjugorje and in some other writings connected with the “Medjugorje phenomenon”. The original of the Chronicle is located in the archive of the parish office of Medjugorje, and a copy at the diocesan curia of Mostar. It is not surprising that the “young people of Medjugorje” at one time attributed their imperfect doctrinal knowledge to the Blessed Virgin Mary, but we are surprised at how priests, parochial vicars of the era at Medjugorje, Fr. Tomislav Vlašić (who edited the Chronicle from September 11 [1981] to August 31, 1984) and Fr. Slavko Barbarić (who continued from September 2, 1984 and died in 2000) could have recorded such suspect and heretical phrases. How could they have supposed, not only that there was new knowledge that was supposed to be adopted by individual persons and by groups of the faithful who yearn for “miracles” and “healings”, but that the Church herself would also change her biblical and magisterial doctrine! We have already seen various “games” about the “great sign” as well as the innovation about the change of the liturgical calendar relative to the Nativity of the Madonna. Bishop Pavao Žanić wrote several times, with arguments, about these remarks or obvious lies in the context of the Medjugorje phenomenon:

  • In the supplement to the diocesan newsletter of 1982;
  • In the “Current (unofficial) position of the diocesan curia” from 1984;
  • In the “Declaration on Medjugorje” at Medjugorje in 1987;
  • In the booklet “The truth about Medjugorje” in 1990 (in Italian, German, English, and French)

Here we will limit ourselves only to the self-evident deviations that are recorded by the chroniclers of Medjugorje as “revelations” and “messages”, delivered through the individual “seers”.

 

Continue reading Doctrinal confusions in ten Medjugorje messages

Catholicism is out there

Another excellent reflection by Deidre Mundy (aka Mouse at American Papist) on the whole Legion fiasco. This time she tackles the secretive nature of Maciel’s practices, as opposed to open nature of Catholic teaching. Here’s a pithy snippet:

I keep hearing that I can’t really understand RC/LC, because I’ve never been on the inside. And ex-members have blogged about secret books (some plagiarized!), books only available to members, books that were supposed to be kept hidden in back bedrooms or at retreat centers.
THIS IS NOT CATHOLICISM. We don’t have ‘secret teachings.’ There are no ‘secret books of the Benedictines.’ Heck, even the ‘secret archives’ of the Vatican aren’t really secret–they’re just poorly catalogued and you have to make an appointment to work with them (like most archives). Heck, even the ‘secret’ parts of the Mass aren’t secret. Anyone can get a Sacramentary and see the parts the priest is supposed to say silently.

Read Deidre’s entire post here. The whole ‘special knowledge from being on the inside’ reminds me of the Church’s struggle with gnosticism during the early centuries of the Church. It’s another good reason to…
SHUT. IT. DOWN.

The monk who stole juxtaposition

Former Legionary priest Jack Keogh (aka Monk) has a new post up in which he touts the Charter for Compassion. Says Monk while discussing the principles of compassion defined in the Charter:

I invite my readers to adopt the charter as your own, to make a lifelong commitment to live with compassion. I think the principle is especially relevant when discussing the life and times of Fr. Marcial Maciel and the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ.

This request was preceded two days ago by a post Monk titled: Did Fr. Marcial Maciel’s “son” ask for $26,000,000?
Notice Monk’s use of the reverential prefix ‘Fr.’ despite all we now know about Maciel. Notice also how Monk’s headline zones in on the amount of money requested by Maciel’s alleged victim, without mentioning (in the title) the context in which this compensation was requested. And notice how Monk includes “scare quotes” around the word son. This is followed by more scare quotes in the blog’s third paragraph, where Monk states:

The congregation published a letter written by Fr. Carlos Skertchly to Carlos Raul Gonzalez Lara on January 12, 2010, in which he says that Raul demanded up to 26 million in compensation in order for him no to reveal “the truth”.

So it’s my turn to be confused here. Is all Monk’s talk about “compassion” merely cow patties?

No go for Jo

Several readers have pointed me to this post criticizing critics of the Legion, authored by Jo Flemings at the Just Jo blog. I will not slag her for venting her heart. I believe I read somewhere – though I may be mistaking her for someone else – that she and her husband are converts, that her husband is a former Protestant minister, and that together they have around a dozen kids. From glimpsing through her blog I noticed her oldest daughter graduated from Southern Catholic College, that her husband and at least one child is RC, and that one of her sons is a Legionary brother (seminarian) while another son is at the Legion’s apostolic schools. Sounds to me like she was recruited.
She seems like a sincere and prayerful Catholic mom, which is why I believe God will honor her prayers vis-a-vis the LC/RC. When He does, the scales will drop from her eyes. And Jo will likely find herself in a world of hurt. Seen it dozens of times with other sincere Catholic moms in her position – including Giselle. Nothing we tell her now can prepare her for the pain of this particular cross is revealed. When one’s children confront one with the truth about their experiences in the movement. Pray that her children not lose their faith over it.
That being said, a good fisking is in order when it comes to her reader D.A. Burke’s response to her posting:

Jo – I couldn’t agree more with your sentiments. I am currently reading “Pope Fiction” which deals with the question of how and why we can stay confidently committed to a Church that has regularly been subject to scandal, and abuse, and… has regularly overcome its own sin enough (by God’s grace) to do more good in the world, time, and eternity, than any other institution known to man.

This book was written by Pat Madrid, a dear friend of mine. In fact we even co-authored another book together on extreme forms of conservative Catholicism. When we started writing More Catholic Than the Pope, Pat was a supporter of the LC and tried to recruit me to RC. By the time the book was published, he had left RC and come to share many of my reservations of the movement. Today Pat is openly critical of Maciel, the Legion, and how the movement has treated Maciel’s victims.

Those who would have us abandon the Movement because of the grave sins of the founder would find themselves in a completely untenable position under many of our past Popes.

This is called hyperbole. Outside the Legion no salvation is not a defined dogma of the Church, despite the best attempts of Maciel and his supporters to make it one through their mantra Lost vocation, sure damnation. The Church can exist without the Legion of Christ or Regnum Christi. The Church existed for 19 hundred centuries without either movement. Thousands of saints were canonized without the intervention of Maciel. Dozens among the Jesuits alone.
On the other hand, Maciel’s death reportedly showed all the visible signs of final impenitance – which Catholic theology traditionally holds to be the unforgivable sin mentioned by Christ in Holy Scripture.

Would they apply the same logic and leave the Church?

No.
The Church was founded by Christ. Christ is God. Christ is perfect. Christ guaranteed the Church’s indefectibility when He promised us the gates of Hell would not prevail against the Church. No such promise exists for any order within the Church. Especially not one founded by an incestuous and unrepentant pedophile. In fact, Christ makes other promises about incestuous pedophiles who harm children, not to mention religious authorities who abuse their office, and these promises are not nearly as cheery or reassuring.

Peter denied Christ! Is there any worse sin than that?

Yes, stating that one has never denied Christ (or the Holy Spirit) when one in fact was a serial child molester. St. Peter never molested or photographed himself molesting his eight-year-old child. He was, however, sorry for his sins.

Paul was a murderer before his conversion.

The word “before” here is key. Paul was not a murderer after his conversion. That’s why we speak of Paul as a convert.

Yes, they repented. Many of our corrupt Popes did not. What are we to leave?

Our false comparisons. Maciel was head of a movement. It was a movement he founded to feed his various perversions, by using the guise of Catholic piety (i.e. Vow of Charity) and orthodoxy to acquire, abuse, conceal and protect his access to unsuspecting victims. Thus the entire methodology is corrupt.
On the other hand, no Pope is head of the Church. Christ is. The Pope is merely the visible head. The Pope assumes a vicarious role on behalf of Christ. Yet Christ remains the true head of the Church.
In contrast, the longer this controversy drags on without proper apology or restitution to Maciel’s victims, especially for the role played by individual supporters in covering up for Maciel and persecuting his victims, the more it becomes clear that the movement is truly headed by the spirit of Maciel. I believe this is what other orders refer to, when speaking of the spirit of the founder, as the founding charism. In the Legion, however, the founder’s spirit has become a curse.
SHUT. IT. DOWN.