In his response to The monk who stole juxtaposition, Monk writes:
Nor do I indulge in speculation about the “final impenitence” of MM. That, I believe is truly beyond the pale and unbecoming of someone whose opinion seems to carry some weight for so many on this and “related” blogs.
For those just tuning into the conversation, the “final impenitence” (note Monk’s use of “scare quotes”) is a reference to the Like Founder, Like Sons thread.
To answer Monk’s question, is it beyond the pale to speculate about Maciel’s visible actions alleged on his death bed? I would agree if Maciel was merely a lone individual acting out his perverse fantasies – or nightmares, when one looks at the situation through the eyes of his victims.
However, Maciel was the founder of a large religious order and its lay auxiliary. He offered the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christ his (not His) methodology as a sure means of holiness and path to eternal salvation. Let’s assume, for the sake of the argument, that LC and RC are reporting accurate membership numbers. That’s 72,000 souls who have staked their eternal fate on the spiritual path revealed to them by Maciel.
Of course nobody but God is competent to judge Maciel’s eternal destination. And given that Maciel’s canonization is unlikely in the future, we will never know in this lifetime where he ended up in the next. Let us pray that he made his peace with God in his final moments. More importantly, let us pray that his victims make their peace with God before going on to the next life.
Yet with 72,000 souls at stake, the rest of us would do well to heed Maciel’s alleged signs of deathbed impenitence. What’s beyond the pale is that we would risk losing one more soul to his methodology.
SHUT. IT. DOWN.