Non-trekkies will probably want to skip to the last paragraph. Over at Giselle’s, readers are comparing Legion of Christ/Regnum Christi recruitment to Borg assimilation practices. As a trekkie, I see many alleged similarities.
But let’s not miss the bright side of the galaxy. As the scandal unfolds, I see just as many similarities between Pope Benedict and Species 8472 (aka the Fluidians). For instance, Pope Benedict views life through the cross, not unlike the Fluidians with their cross-shaped pupils. The Holy Father also pilots a living vessel, a spiritual bioship that transverses space and dimension, healing quickly from damage and adjusting organically as needed to confront an immediate threat.
Moreover, there’s his experience under Naziism as a child, coupled with his life-long love of the Patristic fathers (whose influence over his theology has been noticeable throughout his entire life). This has added a third strain to his spiritual DNA and thickened his spiritual blood to where he is practically impervious (and destructive of) to Borg nano-technology.
So my advice to those seeking to break free of the collective? Start reading the early Church fathers. An excellent work with which to begin is Cardinal Newman’s translation of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Catena Aurea. For those unfamiliar with this work, the Doctor Angelicus provides commentary on the Four Gospels through extensive quotations from early Church fathers.
Tag: Benedict
St. Benedict: the antidote to Maciel
It’s been quite the week for Catholics concerned with the scandal surrounding Fr. Maciel and the Legion of Christ. Lots of new revelations, accusations and resurgence of strong memories and feelings. As the week comes to a close, my fellow blog hobbits – us little people who believe in building up God’s Kingdom through $20 donations to Mother Teresa’s Missionaries, rather than $1000-hams to Mexico’s Saruman – are trying to make sense of this spiritual shadow that has cast itself over our Catholic shire.
Here’s a summary of how each hobbit is responding to different aspects of this scandal, followed by my own analysis on certain points. RC Is Not My Life has two posts. The first talks about her experience as former RC consecrated and how the women are given little support during the transition period after they leave the movement (click here). Her second post discusses how the Legion obsesses with the numbers of people coming into the movement, but nobody seems to know how many leave.
Meanwhile, Hobbit Giselle at Life-After-RC discusses how the Legion severs family ties when people enter the movement’s apostolates, as you can read here. Which leads to internal struggles when those still active with the movement begin to question their involvement, as Giselle discusses here.
Over in his part of the shire, ExLC posts the personal reaction of a former Legionary priest, who says: “I feel duped, embarrassed, and angry in front of so many lies. I think, without wishing to make false accusations, that this priest did not work alone, that there were Legionaries who knew what went on with Maciel and kept silent, maybe out of fear or maybe just to cover it all up.” His feelings are not unlike those expressed by LC and RC still on the inside with who I am in contact.
ExLC also posts the testimony of a former LC seminarian named Frank, who left after speaking with a Jesuit while on summer break. Here’s the crux of Frank’s story:
While I was home, I contacted a Jesuit priest for help with my internal conflict. “I want to be generous, and give everything to God, but I just don’t feel right about it,” I told him. “Is that selfish? If God calls me to do something I hate, then shouldn’t I just follow His holy will?”
The good Jesuit responded: “Frank, one of the bedrock principals of discernment from St. Ignatius is that one should never make a serious life decision without a sense of true peace, be it marriage, religious life, job change, etc. If you don’t feel at peace with the decision to join the Legion, that’s a clear sign not to proceed.”
Which brings me to my own thoughts as we wrap up the week. Several commentators continue to draw parallels between the Legion and the Jesuits, in some cases suggesting that Rome hand over the Legion to the Jesuits, and in others suggesting that the Legion’s charism is connected to that of St. Ignatius. Says goodguyex in the comments’ box over at CrunchyCon: “[T]he spirituality of the Legion is Ignatian. Perhaps the Legion can “adopt” St Ignatius Loyola as it spiritual Step-Founder.”
I disagree.
One must not be fooled by appearances. Although the two orders resemble each other on the surface, they could not be more different on the inside. The contrast is as different as the life of each founder. The first concerns each order’s understanding of religious obedience. Jesuit seminarian Nathan O’Halloran, a graduate of Steubeville who initially considered the Legion, explains this difference in understanding here.
Secondly, as alluded to by Frank, Ignatian spirituality focuses heavily on the proper discernment of spirits, how to distinguish God’s call from the devil’s temptation. Along that lines, if one believes that the Legion’s leadership knew nothing of their founder’s “double life,” leadership whereas the Legion’s entire leadership, if we believe them, failed to discern some serious irregularities in their founder’s behavior. This is not to say the majority of Legionaries are bad people for being taken in, only that it shows a certain lack of discernment.
Moreover, self-criticism and examination of conscience are a major part of Ignatian spirituality. Yet one of Fr. Thomas Berg’s most pointed criticisms upon leaving the Legion is that the order seemed incapable of self-criticism. “That inability to see and honestly recognize the flaws and errors that so many people outside the Legion are able to see speaks volumes,” he said. I agree. It says that the Legion and Regnum Christi were far too focused on the external trappings of apostolate, the numbers and the high-profile converts, and that something serious was lacking in the movement’s internal spirituality – both collectively as an order, and individually as priests and brothers.
Which is why I believe the best hope for individual Legionaries right now is not the Jesuits. Certainly they have a lot to contribute to the healing process, but I question whether Legionaries are ready to embrace it. For the Legion and the the Jesuits share many of the external trappings of apostolate and obedience, but without the same internal understanding of these concepts. This creates the potential for confusion and brings with it a host of other temptations.
Rather, I think the big hope for individual Legionaries right now is the sons of St. Benedict. Individual Legionaries need to learn to pray again. They need to “retreat” from high-profile apostolate, and rekindle their interior life and their personal relationship with Christ as they work through the consequences of this scandal. A good dose of Benedictine “Ora et Labora” – that is, large doses of daily prayer coupled with simple work and apostolate – provides medicine for the soul.
So my suggestion to individual Legionaries who find themselves falling apart right now – whether it be physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually – is to visit your nearest Benedictine monastery.
Fr. Maciel had dual personality, says Cardinal
In a story circulating South American and European media, Santiago’s Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz appeared nationally on Chilean TV and said: “Los médicos cercanos al padre Maciel han dicho que tenía dos personalidades distintas. No solamente un tema de doble vida. En un momento era el fundador y en otro era un pobre hombre.”
Here’s how a Spanish-speaking reader translates His Imminence’s words: “Doctors close to Father Maciel have said that he had two distinct personalities. [….] In one moment he was a founder, and in another he was a poor man.”
The article also states that Fr. Maciel injected himself with Demerol, my translator tells me, adding that seminarians ran the pharmacy for him. Coincidentally, Demerol is believed to have been Michael Jackson’s pain-killer of choice. This begs the question whether Fr. Maciel apologists, attempting to gain sympathy for the founder, are now shifting from the Clinton strategy to the Michael Jackson strategy. (Maciel and Michael are both reported to have suffered a stormy childhood at the hands of abusive fathers, both attracted millions of followers making noise that people wanted to hear, both faced legal investigations over allegations of sexual abuse involving minors, and now the addiction to Demerol allegations.)
That being said, there’s serious questions to be asked if the dual-personality explanation is taken at face value. Why do no one in the Legion notice Fr. Maciel was switching back and forth between personalities? If it’s because he was never the “hombre” when around the Legion, then how was he able to switch so conveniently between personalities? And how sure is the Legion leadership that the Hombre Maciel personality never played a role int eh founding of the Legion of Christi/ Regnum Christi movement?
I’m afraid this attempt at an explanation raises more questions than it resolves.
***
Speaking about cardinals and Fr. Maciel, Cassandra has just posted another blog entry on who knew what in the Holy See. Cassandra speculates that recent news reports implicating Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone in the coverup may have confused Pope Benedict’s longtime loyal supporter with previous secretary of state Cardinal Sodano. Not only is Sodano a close friend of the Legion, but his relationship with the current pope has often been stormy, and he has reportedly tried to undermine Pope Benedict’s papal authority in the past.
As Cassandra states:
Sanjuana Martínez reported in CIMAC that one of the babymommies alleges that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, is implicated in the payment of hush money. That would make for a stupendous scandal if the churchman organizing the apostolic visitation had been previously involved in silencing witnesses, especially after calling for “transparency” in the letter announcing the visitation.
I do not and will not believe that allegation without further evidence. But I wondered if either she or Martínez could have meant to name rather the emeritus Secretary of State, Angelo Sodano, whom we know to have been at the service of the Legionaries in the past.
Cough up the truth or choke on the pope
The French have saying that whoever eats of the pope will choke on him. This saying comes to mind as I survey those questioning the canonization process of Pope John Paul II in light of recent revelations about Fr. Maciel’s “double life.” The secular press and certain anti-papist strains within protestant fundamentalism aren’t the only ones questioning the appropriateness of John Paul II’s potential canonization. Adding their voice to the chorus this week are CrunchyCon’s Rod Dreher and Renew America and Liberal Traditionalist blogmeister Eric Giunta.
For the record, I believe Pope John Paul II probably was not aware of the evidence against Fr. Maciel. Given what we know about JPII, I put the odds of him knowing and not doing anything about it (and in fact continuing to praise Fr. Maciel publicly as an excellent example for youth) at about the same percentage as several young women, independently and years apart from each other, breaking into the hospital room of an elderly priest-founder and stealing his semen to impregnate themselves.
Possible? Yes. Probable? I’d sooner bet on the state lottery.
Having said that, this incident may still slow down Pope John Paul II’s canonization process. Because of the nature of canonization, it’s important that we know everything we can about the late Supreme Pontiff. Especially when allegations are as high-profile as those concerning Fr. Maciel. Thus the devil’s advocate will have his job cut out for him.
Nevertheless, over at the other end of the Church spectrum, some LC/RC supporters are still using the pope to try and shut down discussion of their movement’s charism. A recent example of this comes from Mark Polo in the comments section of the AmericanPapist blog. Mr. Polo writes:
The charism is not the same as the founder. The charism is the gift of the Holy Spirit, which at this point, is guaranteed by the Church in its approval of the Constitutions. While this is not an infallible act of Pope John Paul II, and Pope Benedict would be fully free to make changes or even remove this approval of the Church entirely, the assumption at this point has to be in favor of the validity of the charism. Any other attitude is really moving away from the respect that is due the Holy Father. (If we can decide that John Paul II was obviously wrong about this matter, and abused his power as Pope to approve these Constitutions, the next step is to start questioning everything else the Holy Father says. This is not a road I want to see people going down.)
Others commentators have refuted his errors in logic, so I’ll set those aside for now. The road that ought to be avoided is that of eating of the pope by continuing to invoke an approval of one’s founder and movement that was gained through deception of the founder’s piety. This was the deception used to gain papal approval, to provide oneself with the cover of Catholic orthodoxy, and persecute the founder’s victims while silencing the movement’s legitimate critics.
That being said, I am sure that many orthodox Catholics like myself, who are part of the Pope John Paul II generation of Catholic activists, will continue to defend our pope during this time. This is not to say, however, that we will be silenced by the mere mention of Pope John Paul II’s name, or that in his name our anger toward the LC/RC will dissipate.
Unlike other attacks against Pope John Paul II, this recent volley was completely avoidable. HAD THE REST OF THE CHURCH KNOWN THE TRUTH ABOUT FR. MACIEL. The controversy also could be cut short by the LC/RC coming forward with the truth and apologizing to Fr. Maciel’s victims.
Nevertheless, Fr. Maciel and his movement chose to invoke the pope as shield against serious allegations concerning the founder’s proclivity towards violations of the Sixth Commandment. An example of this can be seen in Sandro Magister’s 2003 interview with Father Miguel Cavallé Puig, LC – a Spaniard who at the time was part of the LC’s general secretariat (click here). In responding to former LC seminarians who accused Fr. Maciel of sexual impropriety, Fr. Puig states: “the true target of the accusations is not so much Father Maciel, but the church, and the pope.”
In short, Fr. Puig, like his founder Maciel, ate of the pope in the name of the movement. And for all we know, the movement may have bitten off a chunk of the Holy Spirit in proposing Maciel’s mother – Mama Maurita – for potential canonization. Do we have any outside corroboration of holiness and heroic virtue? Is anyone outside the LC/RC putting forward her cause? (Unlike the case of Gabrielle Lefebvre, whose cause has always been independent of the SSPX, Mama Maurita’s cause appears completely driven by the LC/RC and its supporters)
And thus the LC/RC finds itself choking on the very lie which it ate. Yet the movement’s supporters continue biting off more chunks of the pope, warning others of choking hazards in an attempt to stop them from noticing that the movement is choking.
Please, dear LC/RC member, I beg you. For the sake of Maciel’s victims, for the sake of your own members, for the sake of the Church and Pope John Paul II supporters embarrassed by your founder’s lies, please come forward now with the truth. You’ve eaten of the pope. So please cough up the truth and stop the choking.