A reader asked me why I thought the Pure Fashion threads seem to provoke such strong reactions. I think it’s because the issue touches many of us concretely. Whereas few readers were personally abused by Maciel, and none to my knowledge have fathered his children, many readers are mothers who have volunteered with the Pure Fashion program, or parents to daughters who have participated in it. So Pure Fashion is an example of how the Maciel scandal touches us – and more importantly to us as parents, our children – personally.
Which is why I appreciate CindyB, who describes herself as ex Regnum Christi and a six-year veteran of Pure Fashion, sharing her thoughts in this thread. Whether this was intentional on her part or not, Cindy expresses the internal conflict felt by many who have been part of this program. On the one hand, she left RC because of the way it elevated Maciel (who she can no longer dignify with the prefix “Father”) despite serious allegations against him. On the other hand, her own experience with Pure Fashion was good, and she sees a desperate need in today’s world for programs that promote modesty, purity, and “programs that can influence teenagers and young adults to make better choices through positive self-esteem.” Her concerns are legitimate.
Hence her statement that Priscella likely “meant that [Maciel]’s behavior needed the message of Pure Fashion.”
Here’s the difficulty. Knowing how many volunteer hours Catholic moms like Cindy and Priscella put into the program with only the best of intentions for their daughters, it breaks my heart to say this. However, it is a point long recognized by saints and media critics:
People look to the medium when discerning the message.
St. James knew this. As he states in the New Testament epistle bearing his name: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” He understood that one’s actions offered the best proof that one had received the Gospel message. St. Francis of Assisi clarifies this point further, stating: “Go into the world and preach the Gospel, but only use words when necessary.” And of course there’s Marshall McLuhan’s aphorism: “The medium is the message.”
In the case of Pure Fashion, the message of purity and modesty is contradicted by the medium of Fr. Maciel. The founder’s actions where anything but modest and pure. Teenagers know this. They may not piece it together right away, or they may not repeat it within earshot of parents while living under their roof. But they know. And eventually there’s the temptation to act upon it. If the founder can molest seminarians and father children through various mistresses – while still receiving public gratitude from holy priests, along with Mom and Dad – what’s a little premarital foreplay or displaying a bit of bellybutton n comparison? After all, Maciel engaged in much worse while building God’s kingdom.
Or the reaction may be one of anger, of feeling lied to or mislead for all these years. I’ve seen this happen. The relationship between parent and child is never the same afterward. The child will always second-guess Mom and Dad. Jezebel can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe from her comments that she was taken aback by the support she received from orthodox Catholic parents over her critique of Pure Fashion. We may disagree with her position on human sexuality, however, many of her criticisms of Pure Fashion have the ring of truth about them.
And if I can recognized this as a Nascar dad with no fashion sense, you can bet your teenage children will recognize it as well. It’s just a matter of time before the child google searches “Pure Fashion” or “Regnum Christi,” comes across a critique written by someone who disagrees with us on Humanae Vitae, and is struck by how strongly the critique resonates. Or the child may hear of Fr. Maciel’s duplicity from other children from orthodox Catholic homes while trying to recruit them to the kingdom. Who will the child blame for feeling misled, deceived or embarrassed in front of one’s peers?
Not Fr. Maciel. Not LC priests. But you, the parent.
Make no mistake about it. So long as Pure Fashion remains connected to Regnum Christi, which in turn continues to express its gratitude to the founder, Maciel remains the medium. And as the medium, he is also the message.
As for the other question, how can orthodox Catholic moms instill modesty and purity in their daughters, while having a little mother-daughter fun… Who needs a program? Here’s what a good friend of mine, who happens to be the mother of several sons formerly with the Legion, did with her daughters. Instead of dropping $450 on a program she purchased each teenage daughter a Catechism of the Catholic Church for $10. After putting the younger kids to bed, she took aside each adolescent daughter individually, and used the catechism to initiate one-on-one mom-and-daughter discussions on purity, modesty, fashion, sexuality, family, and marriage.
She was surprised by how each daughter opened up in this one-on-one atmosphere. What most of her daughters wanted, after years of apostolate and activity outside the family, was not another program. They wanted honest and open communication with Mom.
Every few months or so my friend and other homeschooling moms nearby would each pick a daughter (starting with the oldest), hop in the van, and head off to the big city Saturday morning for a Mom & Daughter shopping trip. They would find a hotel, each mom and daughter sharing a room, then all the moms and daughters would gather in the lobby and head off together for a mom and daughter supper. This was followed by Mass on Sunday morning before heading home.
How could the moms afford this? With the $440 they saved.
The girls could not have been more thrilled. Every time I visit it’s “Do you like this outfit? Mom helped me pick it out during our last shopping trip,” or “Next year I will be old enough to go on a shopping trip with Mom.”
And this, I believe, instills more strongly the message of modesty, purity and self-esteem in our daughters than any pre-packaged program. Why? Because it’s the medium of the heart. Mom, you are telling your daughter that she is so important to you that you willingly sacrifice time from your busy schedule to spend it with her. That her purity, her modesty and her self-esteem are worth these evenings and weekends together.
Mom, the medium is your message.
Category: Legion of Christ/ Regnum Christi
Maciel’s sins are proof of RC’s charism?!?
What would cause orthodox Catholic parents and sexually-permissive feminists to express agreement on a public blog? The following post by a reader calling herself Priscilla…
I comment both as a Regnum Christi member and board member of a local Pure Fashion program. Accept my sincere apology on behalf of the Regnum Christi movement for the scandalous behaviour and infidelity of Fr. Macial, founder of the Legion of Christ. All the more does his behavior indicate the need for Pure Fashion, an excellent program for anyone who wants to purchase it for their group, to support young women in their self-discovery. [Emphasis mine]
The comment is in response to a sexually-permissive feminist fisking of a recent Marie Claire article promoting Pure Fashion, a RC-affiliated apostolate that revolves around fashion and modeling. Before I link to the original blog entry, please be aware [WARNING!] that it is not safe for children or for work. Click here.
Two thoughts:
1 – As one of Canada’s most famous converts to Catholicism, media theorist Marshall McLuhan, once quipped: “The medium is the message.” What message is being sent to our daughters about chastity and modesty when Fr. Maciel is the medium?
2 – Come to think about it, what’s Pure Fashion’s message? In scanning photo and video galleries posted to their website, I’m surprised none of the feminist bloggers (or Catholic parents for that matter) picked up on the absence of more heavyset models (For previous discussion on this topic, click here). After all, this is a concern with the fashion industry that feminists and orthodox Catholics have often shared. And given the underlying context of character development, one would think all young ladies could benefit, not just those of a certain body type.
REPORT – Maciel didn’t tolerate lying among his children
New allegations from the Spanish-speaking world. Giselle has an unofficial translation here. In reading through, this part really stands out given all that has happened over the past eight months (emphasis mine):
[Maciel’s] three Mexican children -the oldest is 29, the middle one, Jose, is 27 and the younger one who is not over 15- have not yet been able to assimilate the multiple lives of their father. ‘He was very strict with them’ says Bonilla ‘He had many norms for them that should be followed strictly: no smoking, no drinking, no girlfriends until 20 or 21 years of age, and the most notable; no lying…’
Ironic, given that the LC/RC leadership’s failure to come forward with the truth, and the appearance of covering up for Maciel’s lies, are fueling the scandal right now.
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.
Advice for Spanish-speaking bloggers concerned with the LC
The scandal concerning Fr. Maciel and the LC/RC is now exploding on Spanish-language blogs, much like it did on American Papist and other English-language blogs last February. In glancing through the comments posted to Spanish-language blogs, I notice several references to the English-language debate, as well as similarities between the arguments put forward by LC/RC apologists in Spanish and what concerned Catholics faced during the English debates.
So here is some advice to Spanish-speaking Catholics concerned with the situation:
1 – Pray to St. Joseph, daily.
2 – The debate is about Fr. Maciel and the LC/RC. Don’t allow the debate to be side-tracked into one about Archbishop Lefebvre, Bishop Williamson or the SSPX. The latter is a separate debate.
3 – Demand an apology to victims, including alleged victims of sexual abuse, whose reputations were unjustly tarnished. There is no compromise on this point.
4 – Do not be intimidated by theologians or priests. Admitting to and apologizing for one’s wrong-doing, especially when it has harmed others, is so fundamental to Catholic teaching that most Catholic children’s catechisms clearly express this teaching.
5 – You have the right to approach your diocesan authorities with any questions or concerns.
6 – Express the truth in charity. The other person may not be ready to concede or face the truth right now, but he or she may come around later after giving the issues more thought. In expressing the truth with charity, you leave the door open to future discussion should the other person come around later.
7 – That being said, true charity is charity for souls. It can never compromise the truth. Your loyalty to the Church and to the truth come before your loyalty to any movement.
8 – For married members of RC, your vocation before God is as spouse and parent. Put your family’s spiritual well-being first.
9 – Whenever possible, ask pointed questions rather than accuse. A person who feels overwhelmed by the facts, especially when expressed in a relationship of opposition, may shut down mentally or revert to pre-conditioned defenses. This is natural when a person feels that he or she is being attacked personally. So don’t overwhelm your opponent with the facts. Rather get the other person to think about the facts by asking questions about the facts, and by allowing the other person time to think before answering. (For example, “Would a good priest not feel a deep obligation as a Catholic and as clergy to apologize to someone who had had harmed through his actions, even if he thought at the time that his actions were justified?”)
10 – For the guys, be men. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that part of manly virtue includes the moral courage to speak the truth, even when it is inconvenient, and the courage to stand up for injustice perpetuated against those weaker than oneself. You have heard Maciel’s story, and you have heard the stories of his alleged victims who were minor seminarians at the time. Who do you believe is closer to the truth in telling their story? Who was the weaker party when abuse allegedly took place? As a father, what example of Catholic manhood and manly virtue do you set for your sons and daughters if you ignore or coverup what you believe to be the truth?