Another report alleging nude LC with medical condition, and young boys boarding in (North American) Legion apostolic school (click here).
Magister vs. Garza, Berg & Gill vs. Alvaro
UPDATE: Aaron, a reported sex-abuse victim of the Legion’s apostolic schools, responds by sharing his own experience with Fr. Garza (click here).
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So begins the Legion’s Night of Long Knives.
Of all the parties named (or implied) in this latest controversy, I consider Magister the most trustworthy. I appreciate that Fr. Berg left a year ago after trying to effect legitimate reform within the movement. I’m a little more uncertain about Fr. Gill, but generally I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. And yes, Fr. Garza appears to have been quite candid in his talk to the 3gf last fall. However, in an order of blind men, the one-eyed priest is pope.
Sandro Magister is generally accurate about these things. He offers an experienced set of eyes from the outside. He often recognizes threads missed by folks still attached to the inside. Additionally, Magister’s only discernible motive is to provide readers with accurate information and analysis. This is how he earned the esteem he enjoys as a Vatican watcher. Thus it makes no sense for Magister to risk his reputation by inflating a story, especially if in so doing he misses another story (Garza vs. other Legion superiors) that is equally intriguing.
Pray, don’t prey
Of all the unholy revelations that have surfaced about Fr. Maciel over the past year, the one that surprises me the least is that he stopped praying in his final years. This is consistent with most cases of serial abuse among clergy that I have encountered as a canonist. Long before these men began preying, they had ceased praying.
In fact, I think this is why Maciel’s writing always turned me off. I could only read his writing in bits and pieces before headache-inducing foggy confusion came over me. One cannot give what one has not received. It is now clear that Maciel’s writing (at least that which was not ghost-written or plagiarized) was not based upon prayer. Nor does prayer appear to come naturally for many of my LC/RC acquaintances. They come across as too focused on activity, with prayer scheduled in between (and heavily scripted) like one would schedule the reading of a business file during coffee break.
Which is why, come Good Friday, I invite you to join me in praying the Divine Mercy Novena for Aaron, Jose Barba, Juan Vaca and all other victims of Maciel and his movement. As Catholics let us pray for those who were preyed upon in the name of the Catholic faith. To find out more about this special Novena, please click here.
In a similar spirit I invite readers with LC/RC background to check out the following Jesuit blogs, of which two focus heavily on prayer:
– Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit
– The Spiritual Exercises Blog
– Father Brian Van Hove’s Blog
New York Times Smears (2)
UPDATE (4/6): Please note the correction to this story added below.
It just wouldn’t be Holy Week without a media attack on the Church, would it?
First, a recap for those who haven’t seen much of the story yet: a March 25 NY Times article accused Cdl. Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) of shielding a pervert priest from punishment under Church law in 1998.
As John Schultz cited below, a piece for National Review Online by Canadian priest and writer Fr. Raymond de Souza compared the Times’ shoddy article with the documentation it offered as evidence, and showed that the paperwork contradicts the Times’ claims. Moreover, the primary source for Laurie Goodstein’s so-called reporting, the disgraced former Archbishop of Milwaukee Rembert Weakland, has more axes to grind than the crew on American Loggers.
Now an authoritative eyewitness to the case has joined the controversy directly.
Canon-law judge Fr. Thomas Brundage, JCL, who conducted the trial against Fr. Lawrence Murphy, states that neither the Times nor any other media outlet has bothered to contact him to verify any of the facts, or even the statements which the Times presented as quotations from Brundage.
He says that the basic premise of the Times story is wrong: Murphy’s trial was never actually stopped, even up to the day of his death. Without that, the whole trumped-up accusation against Cdl. Ratzinger collapses.
Since the website of the Catholic Anchor newspaper has been swamped with readers today and is currently unable to function, here’s a link to Brundage’s article, reproduced in full in Damien Thompson’s weblog at the Daily Telegraph.
CORRECTION (4/6): Fr. Thomas Brundage has issued a correction about a statement he made in the article cited above. Based on documents, he acknowledges that the trial was indeed stopped by Abp. Weakland, shortly before Fr. Murphy’s death. The point that CDF did not stop the case remains valid.
DAY 9 – Five-Saint Novena for LC ‘Resistance’
Basta! and other Spanish-speaking bloggers are asking for prayers for LC resistance/philosophers. In questioning the movement’s methodology from the inside, these brave souls are reportedly feeling increasingly watched and insecure. Some have posted to Trastevere’s blog over the weekend.