Legion of Christ/ Regnum Christi – Page 11

13-year-old faces damnation

Former LC seminarian/brother Bonum, Verum and Pulcrum recently blogged several allegations surrounding his experience of being shipped off to a Legion apostolic school as a young teen. Particularly gripping is the following, which I’ve broken up into paragraphs. The first paragraph describes Bonum’s homesickness, the second how communication reportedly was cut off between the teen and his family, and the third delves into what many would consider spiritual extortion:

I was thirteen years old and I was heartbroken. First day on the ground there in New Hampshire and the first of many heartbreaks had arrived in full force. I was so homesick I felt physically ill for the first four months or so. To make matters worse the fathers and brothers intercepted phone calls from my parents for the first two weeks, telling them not to call for awhile in order to let me settle in. They also opened all my mail before I got it in order to “safeguard my vocation”. As if my “vocation” was so fragile that I wouldn’t be able to handle a bit of bad news from home.
My letters to my folks were also screened before being sent. I submitted a letter to my mom and dad and the brother returned it to me and chastised me for submitting it closed. He told me that there were no secrets here and that from now on I was to leave all my envelopes open in order for the priests and brothers to read them first. This was a crucial time for them to start indoctrinating me and the other boys that had arrived.
We were told from the get go that our discernment process was over. God had led us to the Legion and it was safe to assume that was how he let us know that we all had vocations, all of us! We were told, in no uncertain terms that Christ had entrusted souls to our care. We were told that failure to remain in the Legion would result in the loss of those souls and certainly our own as well, was that something we could live with?

Read Bonum’s entire story by clicking here. I believe Bonum’s experience also answers former Legionary Jack Keogh’s (aka Monk) protest that “it’s gross overstatement to suggest that [LC/RC] ‘stake their souls’ on Maciel’s spiritual path.”
Anyway, I’ll leave it to readers to judge what’s ‘beyond the pale” for a 13-year-old receiving religious instruction while away from his family. At that age, my biggest worry was that the neighbors would think I’m a geek because my parents prohibited me for religious reasons from listening to Iron Maiden:

UPDATE: Recognize what was done to victims, says Holy See

[UPDATE: Zenit has published an excellent, fair and balanced story on the Holy See’s press release. The story even stresses the paragraph that I had quoted below. You can read the Zenit story by clicking here. What’s curious is that in searching Zenit’s archives, I find no coverage of Fr. Sada’s apology earlier this year. Nor can I find any mention of the Legion’s recent, widely-distributed news release concerning their letter to Maciel’s son. Thus I’m pleasantly surprised by the good coverage Zenit gave to the Holy See’s press statement on this topic.]
Original entry:
There was no direct mention of the Legion of Christ in yesterday’s press statement by the Holy See “concerning cases of the sexual abuse of minors in ecclesiastical institutions.” However, in addressing the scandal in other parts of Europe – namely, according to the statement, “the German Jesuit Province (the first to be involved, through the case of the Canisius-Kolleg in Berlin), the German Episcopal Conference, the Austrian Episcopal Conference and the Netherlands Episcopal Conference – the Holy See Press Office offers us insights into Pope Benedict’s thinking on the issue:

The main ecclesiastical institutions concerned […] have faced the emergence of problem with timely and decisive action. They have demonstrated their desire for transparency and, in a certain sense, accelerated the emergence of the problem by inviting victims to speak out, even when the cases involved date from many years ago. By doing so they have approached the matter ‘on the right foot’, because the correct starting point is recognition of what happened and concern for the victims and the consequences of the acts committed against them.

To read the Holy See’s press statement, please click here.

March 10 – St. Bruno, hope for LC/RC, their families and former members

Found this on Jean Heimann’s excellent Catholic Fire blog. It is an excellent bio of St. Bruno, founder of the Carthusians, and includes important information such as:
– Bruno was one of the most remarkable scholars and teacher of his time: “…a prudent man whose word was rich in meaning.”
– His Order enjoys the distinction of never becoming unfaithful to the spirit of its founder, never needing a reform.
– St. Bruno is the patron of diabolic possession and Ruthenia.
You can read the entire bio here. Here is a translation of St. Bruno’s famous letter to his friend Raoul Le Verd. And this link takes you to several prayers to St. Bruno.

March 10 – Prayers for James’s brother

I hope you will join Giselle and me today in praying and fasting for Maciel’s victims. Today is particularly significant as Maciel’s birthday, since in previous years the movement went all out in celebrating the founder’s birthday movement-wide.
Reader James Bremmer pipes in with some good information in the comments section of a previous blog entry:

March 18, is the anniversary of Maciel’s baptism. Traditionally, in the Legion, this day was also celebrated as a first class feastday. I just spoke with my brother in the Legion’s house of formation in Connecticut, he has been doing a Eucharistic hour everyday since the apostolic visitation began, praying for the success of the visitation. Not all Legionaries are bad and should not be painted with that brush, some are there to serve the church.

You are not the first concerned friend of family member to whom I have spoken. Over the last couple weeks I have heard several stories of people on the inside who “get it,” and who are praying that Rome successfully sorts everything out. I am told that the incest allegations have shocked even many who had remained serene up until now.
As the old cliche goes, I have some good news and I have bad news if the the Holy See refounds the Legion. FIrst the bad news: It will be priests like your brother who have the toughest road ahead. While those priests who played a major role in Maciel’s coverup will likely find themselves sidelined, while other priests in the rank-and-file leave for dioceses or other orders, priests like your brother are left to pick up the pieces.
It’s a demanding task as they will be required to simultaneously bring justice to Maciel’s victims, restore trust among the laity, reassure their own concerned and disappointed laity, show obedience in letter and spirit to legitimate Church authority, and win over hard-core and old guard Maciel loyalists among their priestly ranks. Not an easy task.
However, the good news – according to Pope Paul VI in Mysterium Fidei – comes from the fruits of daily Eucharistic hour. Christ will be with your brother to strengthen him, and the Church present to guide him along. However, if I may be so bold as to make a recommendation, your brother will likely need his hour of daily Eucharistic adoration even more after the AV than during it.
So let’s add James’s brother to the list of people we pray and fast for today. Let us also agree to March 18 as another day of prayer and fasting for Maciel’s victims and members currently caught in the system. Let us pray that God gives current members the opportunity to see this scandal through the eyes of the victims, as well as the humility to sincerely apologize and offer these victims restitution. And let us pray He grants the victims the grace to heal and forgive.

Q&A on refoundation

In the comments’ section on another thread, Eric asks me some important questions:

Pete, some have said the Legion might be refounded. How would that work?

Only the Holy Father would know for sure, since he is the one who would have to approve it. That being said, here are some possibilities, in no particular order:
1 – A name change
2 – A new set of constitutions
3 – New leadership, likely a combination of overseers imposed from outside the movement and new leadership inside.
4 – A particular apostolate and specific devotions.
5 – Some sort of renunciation of Maciel.
Of course one would also expect an apology to Maciel’s victims, however, this is not directly tied to a refoundation.

If the Legion were to actually repudiate Fr. Maciel, wouldn’t that be admitting that Fr. Maciel didn’t impart a genuine charism of the Holy Spirit?

It would become a moot point at the time, given that a new movement would be founded and Maciel would no longer be recognized as founder.

And if that’s so, what would the refoundation be based on?

A need in the Church identified by the Holy See.

Can you start a congregation without a charism?

The Holy Spirit can provide a charism through the founder, or He can provide a charism through the Holy See, or through the Bishops if the Holy See decides to break up the order into several smaller orders.
As for the charism of the movement, I see three possibilities, depending upon the AV recommendations and how the LC reacts to them.
1 – The movement decides to cling to Maciel or their way of life, paying the Holy See lip service only. In this case the spirit of the movement remains Maciel’s. The Holy See would likely continue to tighten the noose until the movement collapses or goes into schism.
2 – The movement accepts the reforms half-heartedly and/or the bulk of the membership bolts. In this scenario the LC becomes a sort of “half-way house” to contain current LC members until they can find another order or diocese to go to. In this scenario, the charism is that of the half-way house, to provide pastoral support for and reintegrate former members back into the Church mainstream.
3 – The members decide to embrace the reforms whole-heartedly, in both letter and spirit, give it an honest attempt to make things work, and in the process discover a particular need within the Church that they are capable and willing to fill. In this case the fulfillment of the need becomes the charism.