Tag: Christ

TIME Magazine: Is the Legion possessed?

Time Magazine has weighed in on last week’s scandal involving the Legion of Christ and allegations Maciel molested his eight-year-old son. Particularly pointed in the concluding paragraph:

While the Legion’s website message last week was sympathetic to Lara and her sons, the order made a point of exposing José Raúl González’s private demand earlier this year that the Legion pay him $26 million to keep quiet about his father’s sexual abuse. The order insists it did not pay, suggesting that as the motive for the tell-all radio interview. Masferrer says the Legion has also circulated reports that Maciel was surrounded by exorcists in his final days, suggesting that his immoral acts were the work of demons and not the priest. That’s a Hail Mary ploy at best. And it does little to obscure the fact that it’s up to Benedict now to decide whether Padre Maciel’s Legion is itself possessed of enough demons to warrant more severe penance.

To read the entire article, please click here.

Apostolic Schools vs. Vatican II vs. Hockey

The blogger Bonum, Verum, Pulchrum sounds like someone I would normally enjoy sharing a beer with. We both like Gregorian Chant, have served in the Canadian Forces, are critical of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, share a distaste for Gangsta Rap, and are big literary admirers of JRR Tolkien. As a Northerner, I can tolerate him being from southern Ontario if he promises to keep quiet about the spring bear hunt. (Unless he supports us, in which case I’m all ears.)
However, Monsieur Bonum reveals a serious flaw in his character when he proclaims himself an unrepentant fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs. For American readers, this is Canada’s equivalent to cheering for the Buffalo Bills.
For non-sports fans, Leafs fans are hockey’s equivalent to Regnum Christi members. We’re not actually sure if they’re fans of the sport. They’re always making excuses for their team’s poor performance, either by diverting the discussion to individual Leaf players or by slagging everyone else’s team. (Just substitute Montreal Canadiens for Jesuits and even the conspiracy theories match.)
So it pains me to be a good sport when it comes to theological insights proffered by a Laughs’ fan. However, Monsieur Bonum has done an excellent job contrasting the alleged practices of the Legion’s apostolic schools with the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. I encourage every concerned parent to read his entry by clicking here.
In the interest of fair play, I’ll omit the “SHUT. IT. DOWN” tag for this blog. There’s no hope of making the playoffs when you’re trailing every other team in the league except the Edmonton Oilers by at least eight points.

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.

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?