Paging Mgr. Palud

Received this from a reader last week, which I am just getting around to now. Please note I haven’t had time to verify the Envoy quote, but I trust the reader who sent it to me:

I also opened up an Envoy today (Fr Maciel’s writings) […] and found this in Envoy II Letter 98. It is scary theology! Fr. Maciel is talking about the Blessed Mother and says:

I have placed you in her heart, asking her to give you the gift of fidelity and perseverance so that, like her, you will also become co-redeemers of humanity along with Christ. [Emphasis Pete’s]

What is hitting me is that RC making us think our role was even bigger and better than anyone and we had to take is serious and be faithful to RC till the end to play this important role for Christ. I would be a co-redeemer of humanity along with Christ

This would make an excellent topic for Mgr. Palud to address, if he weren’t so swamped with missionary work in Jamaica and his role as prior of the Mission Society of Mandeville. For those new to this blog, Mgr. Palud is the canon lawyer and missionary who oversees the Journey of a Young Priest blog. He’s blogged a number of thoughts on the Legion of Christ, having formerly been a religious and canon lawyer with Les Fils de Marie. For non-Canadian readers, the Fils de Marie was in many respects a Canadian home-grown version of the LC. Former LC and former Fils de Marie tell me the two orders were permitted to socialize freely prior to the the Fils de Marie meltdown, which was unusual for either order when it came to outsiders. The Fils de Marie worked hand-in-hand with the Armee de Marie (Army of Mary), much like LC work hand-in-hand with RC. One difference, however, is that the movement’s founder was a woman, Marie-Paul, so she could never officially be a member of the movement’s clerical branch.
The similarities between the rise and fall of each order are uncanny. Mgr. Palud will blush at reading this – perhaps even protest in my combox – but I was speaking to another canonist today, who has followed the history of both movements. This mutual acquaintance described Mgr. Palud’s actions during the Fils de Marie meltdown as “similar to Fr. Berg’s in many ways.”
The attraction to the Fils de Marie was their reputation of orthodoxy, loyalty to the Holy Father, and fervent Marian devotion. Its priests were educated in Rome at some of the most reputable pontifical universities. However, their founder began to compare herself to Mary as co-redemptrix, and she also proffered some strange theological comparisons of herself to Christ’s Real Presence. Additionally, her followers maintained during the Church’s crackdown of the movement that she was suffering like Christ on the cross.
Mgr Palud had been one of the higher-profile priests in the movement. He challenged these theological irregularities. This led to the movement devoting an entire issue of its magazine to his condemnation, misquoting him, attributing all sorts of nasty and worldly motives to his departure, questioning his orthodoxy and commitment to the movement, etc. He was accused of acting out of pride and ignoring the voice of God! For those who read French, you can find out for yourself what a nasty person Mgr. Palud is by clicking here. (This despite the Army of Mary/Fils de Marie’s incessant preaching about “love” – much like the the LC/RC speaks of charity).
So I would be interested in hearing what Mgr. Palud has to say before voicing my own opinion. He’s been there, seen that, and made the nominal role of Canonists Who Became Traitors to Their Own Movement (a bit of an inside joke among canon lawyers, given that canon lawyers within movements often side with the Church when the movement begins to melt down and/or the Holy See intervenes). In return, perhaps we can raise a few bucks to help keep his school open.