Legion of Christ/ Regnum Christi – Page 30

JPII, Maciel’s children, and Christian loyalty

One of the things that amazes me about this blog is that most of the readers are smarter, holier and more eloquent writers than I am. So it behooves me that you come from all over the world to gleam what little insight I can offer. Nevertheless, it does have its perks.
For instance, I was struggling over how best to defend Pope John Paul II from allegations he knew of Fr. Maciel’s children, when shmikey chimed in with the following well-written explanation::

It occured to me […] that since the Legion insisted on addressing Marcial Maciel [MM] as [Nuestro Padre], that this may have been how [Maciel’s] children may have addressed MM as pappa, and the Vatican would not have suspected that these were his own. This may have been all part of his deception. Many priests travel with family members, and no one suspects a thing. Many priests have nicknames that are familial and are used by only their family. This is just my suspicion as to how the Vatican could be innocent if these things happened as they are revealing in this summary.

I agree.
Nevertheless, I can understand why people are suspicious and raising questions. They trusted Fr. Maciel because of his perceived closeness to Pope John Paul II. Moreover, they were taken in Fr. Maciel’s appearance of holiness, orthodox and living sanctity. And how could nobody at the top have noticed, either in the Legion or at the Vatican? Add to this the fact the Legion spent decades denying Fr. Maciel was anything but a saint, and that the Legion has not been forthcoming publicly with answers to these question, and people – including many within the movement’s middle ranks – are going to grow suspicious.
Which brings me to another point. Many blog commentators, particularly those who understand Spanish, are discussing Lucrecia Rego’s recent Catholic.net article. This is the one in which the high-profile RC member blasts former Maciel followers for disloyalty (click here) because they believe the allegations and are discussing them openly.
While she speaks passionately about loyalty to her priest friend, absent from her article is any discussion bout loyalty to the Church. I find this troubling. Loyalty works two ways. One should not expect loyalty if one is not oneself loyal.
Which raises several questions:
– How is it loyal to Christ to lead a movement bearing his name, and not apologize publicly to those who were seriously harmed by the movement’s founder in Christ’s name?
– How is it loyal to the Church when all Catholics are tarnished by a Catholic movement’s founder, including those who are not part of the movement, and the movement’s lack of public disclosure allows the founder’s “double life” to be dragged out indefinitely in the media?
– And how is it loyal to allow the name and reputation of a deceased pope to come under dark suspicion, because the movement is not more forthcoming about who knew what, when and how?
So in one sense I agree with Lucrecia. Most of this scandal could be avoided is those calling themselves good Catholics showed more loyalty.

The Return of the Jesuit

“If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat;
And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;
For so you will heap coals of fire on his head,
And the LORD will reward you.” (Proverbs 25:21-22)
“The hands of the King are healing hands, and thus shall the rightful King be known.” (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King)

As many have noted, Fr. Maciel spent his life warning his followers about the Jesuits. For their part, the Jesuits have mostly ignored Fr. Maciel and the Legion – at least in public – secure in the knowledge that centuries of canonized saints is proof of the Ignatian charism.
Which is why it’s surprising to read Fr. Orlando Contreras, S.J. weigh into the controversy. For those who understand Spanish, you can read his reflection here. For those like me whose Spanish is far from perfect, Babelfish offers an uncharacteristically clear translation of key points. (Click here).
What’s noticeable in the cyber-translation is the Jesuit knack for discerning spirits, speaking the truth through Charity. What’s also noticeable is the clarity of his thought. Even the babelfish translation for the most part sounds like normal English.
So here are some of Fr. Orlando’s thoughts, courtesy of babelfish:

“The truth, however painful, help, purified and cries out for justice for the victims, their relatives […] Truth also asked for forgiveness and mercy to the victimizer, first, of their victims, as seen in the same report-and of God that God is more than ever when you can show and reveal his infinite mercy. And because the P. Maciel did not believe that, as Church, we have to apologize to victims for the damage he did this brother of ours.
“Truth also does justice to the Church and the Congregation founded by Fr Maciel: The Legionaries of Christ. This is because many would not see or hear what was happening in the intimate environment of its founder. So the sin of one step to be the sin of many who have hidden and silent truth.
“No doubt that all who are part of the Legionaries of Christ (priests and laity) must be suffering a lot with this painful truth. Many of them have been cheated by hiding the truth. They also should apologize to them.
“The mercy of God with Father Maciel, the Legionaries of Christ and the Church leads to the personal and communal conversion. This conversion makes us think, first of all victims of these abuses and to seek, as far as possible, [to] repair the damage. We say as far as possible because we know it is impossible for humans to repair the damage. But what is not possible for us is possible with God. So we have more confidence in what God can do that in what we do because the latter, always fall short.”

If Fr. Orlando is any indication of what his brother Jesuits are thinking, it would seem that the Jesuit conspiracy is centered around truth, forgiveness, and abandonment to God’s mercy. No wonder Fr. Maciel feared the Jesuits.

Legion knew of children 15 years ago, CNN interview alleges

UPDATE: RC Is Not My Life has now posted English summaries of part 3 and part 4 of the CNN Spanish-language interview with the lawyer representing Fr. Maciel’s children.
Initial Post
ExLC has posted the youtube (in Spanish) here, with an English summary of key points here.
RC Is Not My Life is also providing a more detailed English summary of the interview here. Apparently Fr. Maciel concealed his true identity from his mistresses and children until 1997, when he became the center of media attention:

Q: At what point do the kids know who MM really was?
Jose, who was the one closest to MM. In June or July 1997, he gets a phone call from his father saying someone was coming to give him some money. He was to then take a cab and go and buy all the newspapers he could. This was the first time MM made it onto the cover of newspapers (probably included were all the allegations of abuse that were swirling in 1997, but they don’t say that). It was at this moment that Jose discovered MM’s double life. He didn’t tell his mother or brothers b/c he didn’t know how they would handle it. He keeps it a secret. Some people came later and took all the newspapers/magazines (he doesn’t say who).

Click here to keep reading part 1, and here to read part 2. (And check back with RC Is Not My Life later today for summaries of parts 3 and 4).

Fr. Neuhaus – from apologist to prophet

A quick blog entry while on lunch break. Over at ExLC, readers are discussing the Holy See’s 2006 communique “inviting” Fr. Maciel to retire to a life of prayer and penance. (Also posted is a youtube of a recent 40 minute CNN Spanish edition interview with the lawyer representing three of Fr. Maciel’s alleged children.)
Says first anonymous reader: “If it was a suspension, why didn’t they just make that clear? Why leave it open to spin by the LC? And who the hell tacked on the ‘Apart from the founder’ clause? That has caused more confusion than anything the LC could have done.”
“I hope a canonist could help us,” adds a second commentator.
Around the time the communique was published, one of the best explanations came from Fr. Richard John Neuhaus. This is ironic given that up until its appearance Fr. Neuhaus had been one of Fr. Maciel and the Legion’s most able defenders. Father even goes so far as to employ the expression “moral certitude” in his belief of Maciel’s innocence.
Nevertheless, Fr. Neuhaus is an honest man. And thus he is forced to admit in the August/September 2006 edition of The Public Square:

I do not know all that the CDF and the Holy Father know and am not privy to the considerations that led to their decision. It is reasonable to believe that they concluded that Fr. Maciel did do something very seriously wrong. To censure publicly, toward the end of his life, the founder of a large and growing religious community is an extraordinary, perhaps unprecedented, measure in Catholic history. Moreover, because the only public and actionable charges against Fr. Maciel had to do with sexual abuse, the clear implication is that that was the reason for the censure. In view of the public knowledge of the charges, it is not plausible that he was censured for some other and unknown reason.

Now Fr. Neuhaus still did not believe Fr.Maciel’s accusers. But it’s clear he believes Fr. Maciel was guilty of some serious violation of the Sixth Commandment. It’s also clear that Fr. Neuhaus had stopped believing the Legion’s version of the story, and he expresses some discomfort with the Legion’s immediate response comparing Maciel’s suffering to that suffered by Christ on the cross.
What I found most prescient, however, are Fr. Neuhaus’s comments about the Legion’s charism in light of the Holy See’s request that the Legion separate its work from the founder.

Now comes a time of daunting challenges for the Legionaries of Christ. At the highest level of the Church’s leadership, a deep shadow has been cast over their founder. In view of his age and the way the decision was made, it is almost certain that the shadow will not be lifted in his lifetime, if ever. In the historical experience of religious orders, the founder and the charism-meaning the distinctive spirituality by which the community is formed–cannot be easily separated. The Legion has been particularly intense in its devotion to its founder, who has been revered as a living saint. It is understandable that Legionaries who have known Fr. Maciel for many years simply cannot bring themselves to believe that he is guilty of the charges that have been brought against him. Whether misplaced or not, such devotion is not untouched by honor and faithfulness to a father and friend. But, in the future of the Legion and Regnum Christi, belief in the innocence of Fr. Maciel cannot be made an article of faith.
Nor is it helpful to speak of the Holy See’s decision as yet another cross imposed on Fr. Maciel and the Legion. A “cross” may mean any burden to be borne, but, in this context, “bearing the cross” clearly suggests a wrong or injustice. The cross imposed on Christ was unjustly imposed. To continue to speak of the censure as a cross imposed could have the effect of putting the Legion on a collision course with the papacy. At the heart of the congregation’s charism is wholehearted adherence to the ministry of Peter among us. The leadership of the Legion has unambiguously reaffirmed that adherence in a private audience with the pope following the censure of Fr. Maciel.
[…]
The future of the Legion and Regnum Christi cannot depend on the innocence or guilt of Fr. Maciel. Founder and charism may not be entirely separable, but they can be clearly distinguished.

In short, Pope Benedict XVI’s 2006 invitation to separate themselves from the life of their founder was a test of the Legion’s charism. Had they trusted the Holy See and done so, in spirit and in law, their charism would have emerged after much needed internal reform. However, Legion superiors continued to yoke the movement to Fr. Maciel, despite the Holy See’s recommendation they do otherwise. My apologies for the mixed metaphor, but that yoke has now become a giant millstone around their necks. The only way to stop sinking is to remove this millstone

UPDATED: Legionaries of Dan Rather

UPDATE: On second thought, there is something to be added to Giselle’s comments. Something addressed to LC superiors only, and not to rank-and-file LC/RC:
The scandal is not about you or your feelings; it’s about Fr. Maciel’s victims. They are the ones most deserving of an apology from you. The longer you wait, the angrier Catholics become. This includes a growing number of your members, in my experience, some of who blind carbon copied me their letters and emails to the apostolic visitators. And they’re asking why, seven months later, the victims still have not received a public apology from you.
So you need to apologize to Fr. Maciel’s victims for the abuse they suffered. Then you need to apologize to them again for the harm they suffered to their reputation. Then you need to apologize for not apologizing sooner.
Initial Post
With Fr. Alvaro visiting the RC’s Atlanta section this Thursday, a Legion priest has apologized, kinda…

Thy Kingdom Come!
Dear Regnum Christi brothers and sisters in Christ,
I want to thank you for all your prayers during these difficult times. I would like to reach every one of you to ask for forgiveness for all the hurt you are going through, especially this year dedicated to the priest who ministers God´s mercy. I know that time will heal and the grace of Christ, who is always with us as a good Friend, will never abandon us. This is his work and we are only his instruments.
With this in mind I am pleased to announce that Fr. Alvaro, our general director of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi, will be in Atlanta on Thursday, August 27th and celebrate mass for us. The mass will be at Pinecrest at 7pm and an informal reception will follow at the Upper School Dining Hall.
I am very grateful to Father Alvaro for his visit. Thank you for all your hard work and support. Keep praying for us!
Yours in Christ and the Movement,
Fr. Emilio Diaz-Torre, LC
Local Coordinator of Apostolate, Atlanta

There’s little I can add to Giselle’s commentary.