Speaking solely as a concerned parent and as a former Catholic journalist, and not as a canon lawyer, someone needs to have a little talk with Jason Berry, co-author of Vows of Silence. Politely ask Mr. Berry – no, beg him for the good of the Church – to pop the following questions to his contacts and share their responses with the rest of us:
– Who in the Church and LC knew what about Maciel?
– And when did they know it?
Please get this information out now, before the Apostolic Visitation comes to an end next month. The information cannot be whitewashed if it is already public.
Tag: Christ
AP picks up Maciel incest allegations
The Associated Press has now picked up, in English, the latest scandal alleging Maciel sexually molested his son and adopted step-son:
During a radio interview Wednesday, Lara Gutierrez charged that Maciel, who died in 2008 at age 87, sexually abused one of his two sons with her as well as a son she had from a previous relationship. The sons, now adults named Jose Raul and Omar, said the abuse went on for years.
Click here to read the whole report.
If your stomach still isn’t turning, Giselle offers an additional update at Life-After-RC:
More from a friend who speaks Spanish. First son recounts his abuse starting at age seven (including photos, for Maciel to keep as mementos). It got so bad that he became sexually confused and asked his dad if he could see a psychiatrist. MM says he knew a really good one in Spain and sends him over (to stay with “Auntie Norma” the other wife) and he begins counseling.
As a canonist, I’m trying to look at this latest revelation as dispassionately as I can. As a Catholic, I trust Pope Benedict to do the right thing with the AV. But as a parent to children in the same age range as Maciel’s when the LC founder began to abuse them, I have only one reaction: SHUT. IT. DOWN.
Hiding one’s crimes under a bushel basket
Deidre Mundy of the Mommy Writes blog (aka Mouse at American Papist) offers some trenchant commentary about the latest scandal surrounding Marcial Maciel and the Legion of Christ’s handling of the situation. Particularly poignant is her following observation:
This is another place where the Legion is falling short. When faced with the evidence of Maciel’s crimes, they’re NOT providing a countersign. They’re not reaching out to the victims or engaging in public penance. Instead of shining a floodlight to illuminate the darkness, they’re trying to hide the crimes under a bushel basket.
Please read her entire commentary here.
Maciel sexually abused two of his sons, CNN reports
Some more bad news for the Legion of Christ, shortly after Juan Vaca (one of Maciel’s first victims to come forward publicly) reportedly dismisses recent LC/RC apologies as vague and mere media strategy (click here).
In a live Spanish-language radio interview earlier today, Jose Raul Gonzalez (one of Maciel’s alleged sons) accuses the Legion of Christ/ Regnum Christi founder of having sexually abused Raul and his brother. According to notes taken by Aaron during the interview, Raul also alleges that although Fr. Carlos Skertchly (the priest who met with Raul on behalf of current LC Director General Fr. Alvaro Corcuera) “talks about Christian charity,” Fr. Skertchly “rejects Raul’s requests for money as his inheritance and also in compensation for 8 YEARS OF SEXUAL ABUSE OF RAUL AND HIS BROTHER BY MACIEL.” You can read Aaron’s summary translation here and here.
Additionally, CNN Mexico has posted its report (in Spanish) here. Additionally, Youtube has uploaded part of the radio interview (Starts about 90 seconds into the first part):
Part 1
Part 2
Healing, forgiveness and the Legion of Maciel
This entry expands upon a comment I wrote at Life-After-RC.com:
A friend of mine is a spiritual director to Catholic professionals who work with abuse victims. My friend once asked a directee why some victims manage to move on with their lives, while others are stuck with the horror of what was done to them. The directee told my friend: “Those who heal and move on are those who find the ability to forgive.”
It’s not easy. Sometimes one must forgive more than once before one can receive God’s healing. Often one must also learn that forgiving one’s abuser is not the same thing as making oneself a doormat for the abuser or allowing the abuse to continue. Nor does it mean that one jettisons one’s quest for human justice, or throws caution to the wind. Which is why another friend of mine, a Catholic mother of many sons and some daughters in between, has forgiven Fr. Maciel and the Legionary priests who imposed their methodology on her older sons in the Legion’s apostolic schools. However, she will not send her younger sons to these schools, nor will she allow her daughters any further contact with LC/RC-sponsored apostolates.
Nevertheless, the road to healing lay through forgiveness. We need to pray for all of Maciel and the movement’s victims. We need to pray that the Holy Spirit – for the sake of these victims, for the sake of their healing – grants them the grace to forgive. We must encourage the victims to hold the movement accountable, to continue their quest for natural justice, but to do so in a spirit of Christian forgiveness – for their sake, not Maciel’s or the movement’s. This is the only way victims can break the bonds the movement holds over them.
Likewise, I would also ask LC/RC, both current and former, to personally ask forgiveness from those you wounded in the name of the movement, whether you did so intentionally or not. This includes spouses, children, other Catholics in the parish and the movement. You may receive a cold or angry response initially, but by asking forgiveness you show true charity of souls, since you make it easier for the person to forgive, heal and move on in life.
Similarly, I would encourage you who feel victimized by LC/RC to contact those in the LC/RC who you feel victimized you by the movement’s methodology – whether it be whisper campaigns, shunning, spiritual manipulation to put apostolate before family, being recruited into thinking ill of Maciel’s victims or covering up for his abuse, being misled about the true meaning of Maciel’s invitation to retire, etc. – and tell them that you forgive them, regardless of whether these individuals feel they have wronged you or not. Do NOT, however, allow yourselves to be drawn into debate over the rightness or wrongness of LC/RC methodology, or entertain temptation to go back, or agree to drop the pursuit of natural justice. Simply tell the members you forgive them.
As St. Paul says in Romans 12: 19-21: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Likewise, LC/RC charity will be overcome by true Christian charity.