Tag: Maciel

March 10 – Prayers for James’s brother

I hope you will join Giselle and me today in praying and fasting for Maciel’s victims. Today is particularly significant as Maciel’s birthday, since in previous years the movement went all out in celebrating the founder’s birthday movement-wide.
Reader James Bremmer pipes in with some good information in the comments section of a previous blog entry:

March 18, is the anniversary of Maciel’s baptism. Traditionally, in the Legion, this day was also celebrated as a first class feastday. I just spoke with my brother in the Legion’s house of formation in Connecticut, he has been doing a Eucharistic hour everyday since the apostolic visitation began, praying for the success of the visitation. Not all Legionaries are bad and should not be painted with that brush, some are there to serve the church.

You are not the first concerned friend of family member to whom I have spoken. Over the last couple weeks I have heard several stories of people on the inside who “get it,” and who are praying that Rome successfully sorts everything out. I am told that the incest allegations have shocked even many who had remained serene up until now.
As the old cliche goes, I have some good news and I have bad news if the the Holy See refounds the Legion. FIrst the bad news: It will be priests like your brother who have the toughest road ahead. While those priests who played a major role in Maciel’s coverup will likely find themselves sidelined, while other priests in the rank-and-file leave for dioceses or other orders, priests like your brother are left to pick up the pieces.
It’s a demanding task as they will be required to simultaneously bring justice to Maciel’s victims, restore trust among the laity, reassure their own concerned and disappointed laity, show obedience in letter and spirit to legitimate Church authority, and win over hard-core and old guard Maciel loyalists among their priestly ranks. Not an easy task.
However, the good news – according to Pope Paul VI in Mysterium Fidei – comes from the fruits of daily Eucharistic hour. Christ will be with your brother to strengthen him, and the Church present to guide him along. However, if I may be so bold as to make a recommendation, your brother will likely need his hour of daily Eucharistic adoration even more after the AV than during it.
So let’s add James’s brother to the list of people we pray and fast for today. Let us also agree to March 18 as another day of prayer and fasting for Maciel’s victims and members currently caught in the system. Let us pray that God gives current members the opportunity to see this scandal through the eyes of the victims, as well as the humility to sincerely apologize and offer these victims restitution. And let us pray He grants the victims the grace to heal and forgive.

March 10 – Day of prayer and fasting for Maciel’s victims

Several sources tell me that tomorrow, March 10, is traditionally a day of first class celebration within the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi. At least during previous years. For those unfamiliar with the significance of this date, March 10 is the day Mama Maurita gave birth to Maciel.
In recent days there has been much talk about the division this scandal has caused between Catholics. Perhaps we can make tomorrow a day of prayer and fasting for Maciel’s victims, in reparation for the evil they suffered at Maciel’s hands. Given that tomorrow is Wednesday, not to mention during Lent, it is already a day of fast and abstinence.
I’m assuming that during Lent most readers already recognize the need to pray the Rosary and attend Mass. However, here are further suggestions of prayers and sacrifices we can offer tomorrow for Maciel’s victims:
– a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
– A thorough examination of conscience followed by confession.
– The Chaplet of St. Michael the Archangel
– Apologize to someone you have hurt or wronged over the past year.
– If you are an integrated parent whose evenings (and those of your children) are normally consumed by apostolates, take the night off and spend it together as a family.
– An hour’s volunteer at an apostolate or mission that serves the poor – soup kitchen, food bank, St. Vincent de Paul Society, etc.
I’m sure there are many more ideas you can think of. So let’s make tomorrow a day of prayer and fasting for Maciel’s victims.

TIME Magazine: Is the Legion possessed?

Time Magazine has weighed in on last week’s scandal involving the Legion of Christ and allegations Maciel molested his eight-year-old son. Particularly pointed in the concluding paragraph:

While the Legion’s website message last week was sympathetic to Lara and her sons, the order made a point of exposing José Raúl González’s private demand earlier this year that the Legion pay him $26 million to keep quiet about his father’s sexual abuse. The order insists it did not pay, suggesting that as the motive for the tell-all radio interview. Masferrer says the Legion has also circulated reports that Maciel was surrounded by exorcists in his final days, suggesting that his immoral acts were the work of demons and not the priest. That’s a Hail Mary ploy at best. And it does little to obscure the fact that it’s up to Benedict now to decide whether Padre Maciel’s Legion is itself possessed of enough demons to warrant more severe penance.

To read the entire article, please click here.

Apostolic Schools vs. Vatican II vs. Hockey

The blogger Bonum, Verum, Pulchrum sounds like someone I would normally enjoy sharing a beer with. We both like Gregorian Chant, have served in the Canadian Forces, are critical of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, share a distaste for Gangsta Rap, and are big literary admirers of JRR Tolkien. As a Northerner, I can tolerate him being from southern Ontario if he promises to keep quiet about the spring bear hunt. (Unless he supports us, in which case I’m all ears.)
However, Monsieur Bonum reveals a serious flaw in his character when he proclaims himself an unrepentant fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs. For American readers, this is Canada’s equivalent to cheering for the Buffalo Bills.
For non-sports fans, Leafs fans are hockey’s equivalent to Regnum Christi members. We’re not actually sure if they’re fans of the sport. They’re always making excuses for their team’s poor performance, either by diverting the discussion to individual Leaf players or by slagging everyone else’s team. (Just substitute Montreal Canadiens for Jesuits and even the conspiracy theories match.)
So it pains me to be a good sport when it comes to theological insights proffered by a Laughs’ fan. However, Monsieur Bonum has done an excellent job contrasting the alleged practices of the Legion’s apostolic schools with the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. I encourage every concerned parent to read his entry by clicking here.
In the interest of fair play, I’ll omit the “SHUT. IT. DOWN” tag for this blog. There’s no hope of making the playoffs when you’re trailing every other team in the league except the Edmonton Oilers by at least eight points.

Better than 72,000 souls impaled

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.