Extensive commentary via Tom Peters' American Papist blog on the latest Vatican pronouncements on Fr. Maciel and the Legionaries of Christ.
www.catholicvoteaction.org/americanpapist/index.php?p=7176chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1343156?eng=yFull text of the Vatican statement:
STATEMENT OF THE HOLY SEE
May 1, 2010
1. On April 30 and May 1, the Cardinal Secretary of State presided over a meeting at the Vatican with the five bishops charged with the apostolic visit to the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ (Ricardo Blázquez Pérez, Archbishop of Valladolid; Charles Joseph Chaput, OFM Cap., archbishop of Denver; Ricardo Ezzati Andrello SDB, archbishop of Concepción; Giuseppe Versaldi, bishop of Alessandria; Ricardo Watty Urquidi, M.Sp.S., bishop of Tepic). It was attended by the prefects of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and by the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State.
One of the sessions was held in the presence of the Holy Father, to whom the visitors presented a summary of their previously submitted reports.
The visitors met personally with more than 1,000 Legionaries, and examined several hundred written testimonies. They went to almost all of the religious houses, and to many of the apostolates directed by the congregation. They considered, in person or in writing, the judgment of many diocesan bishops of the countries in which the congregation operates. The visitors also met with many members of the movement "Regnum Christi," although this was not an object of the visit, in particular with consecrated men and women. They also received a great deal of correspondence from laypeople involved in the movement, and from relatives of members.
The five visitors testified to the sincere welcome that was extended to them, and to the spirit of practical cooperation demonstrated by the congregation and by individual religious. Although they worked independently, they reached a substantially convergent assessment and a shared judgment. They attested to having met a great number of exemplary religious, honest, talented, many of them young, who are seeking Christ with authentic zeal and offering their entire existence for the spread of the Kingdom of God.
2. The apostolic visit was able to confirm that the conduct of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado has caused such serious consequences in the life and structure of the Legion that a profound review is needed.
The extremely serious and objectively immoral behavior of Fr. Maciel, confirmed by incontrovertible testimonies, in some cases constituted real crimes, and manifest a life devoid of scruples and authentic religious sentiment. Most of the Legionaries were unaware of this life, above all because of the system of relationships constructed by Fr. Maciel, who skilfully created alibis, obtained trust, confidence, and silence from his entourage, and reinforced his own role as charismatic founder.
Not rarely, a deplorable discrediting and ostracism of those who doubted his upright behavior, as well as the mistaken conviction of not wanting to harm the good that the Legion was doing, had created around him a mechanism of defense that made him untouchable for a long time, thus making it rather difficult to find out the truth about his life.
3. The sincere zeal of the majority of the Legionaries, which also emerged in the visits to the congregation's houses and to many of its projects, which are widely appreciated, led many in the past to maintain that the accusations, which gradually became more insistent and pervasive, could not be anything but slander.
For this reason, the discovery and knowledge of the truth about the founder has provoked surprise, distress, and profound sadness among members of the Legion, which were distinctly highlighted by the visitors.
4. From the results of the apostolic visit have clearly emerged, among other elements:
a) the need to redefine the charism of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, preserving the true core, that of the "militia Christi," which distinguishes the apostolic and missionary action of the Church and is not to be identified with efficiency at any cost;
b) the need to review the exercise of authority, which must be joined to the truth, in order to respect conscience and develop in the light of the Gospel as an authentic ecclesial service;
c) the need to preserve the enthusiasm of the faith of young people, missionary zeal, apostolic dynamism, by means of an adequate formation. In fact, disappointment about the founder could bring into question the vocation and the central charism that belongs to the Legionaries of Christ and is proper to them.
5. The Holy Father intends to reassure all the Legionaries and members of the movement "Regnum Christi" that they will not be left alone: the Church has the firm intention of accompanying and assisting them in the journey of purification that is waiting for them. It will also involve a sincere encounter with those, inside and outside of the Legion, who have been victims of the sexual abuse and of the system of power enacted by the founder: it is to them that the Holy Father's thoughts and prayers go out at this moment, together with gratitude for those of them who, although in the midst of great difficulties, have had the courage and determination to demand the truth.
6. The Holy Father, in thanking the visitors for the delicate work that they have done with competence, generosity, and profound pastoral sensitivity, said that he would soon indicate the next phases of the process, beginning with his appointment of a delegate and of a commission to study the constitutions.
To the consecrated members of the movement "Regnum Christi," who have asked for it insistently, the Holy Father will send a visitor.
7. Finally, the pope renews to all the Legionaries of Christ, to their families, to the laypeople involved in the movement "Regnum Christi," his encouragement, at this difficult moment, for the congregation and for each one of them. He urges them not to lose sight of the fact that their vocation, sprung from the call of Christ and inspired by the ideal of being witnesses of his love to the world, is an authentic gift from God, a treasure for the Church, the indestructible foundation on which to build their personal future and that of the Legion.
END STATEMENT
A hostile view of the Legion by a former Regnum Christi (the Legion's lay movement) activist:
insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8070&Itemid=80#jreactionsThis comment on the above post, by someone recruited to the Legion in Dublin in the late 1960s, may be of interest:
(18) The way we were
May 04th, 2010 | 3:31pm
I recall joining this religious order just less than half a century ago, to follow a vocation for the priesthood. Full of faith and willingness to serve Christ. Some of those that enter that decaying, damp, dark building in Dublin way back then have been faithful to that vocation since . That is the only experience of life they have had It should have been beautiful, fulfiling and rich in achievements, least of all in knowing that they have faithfully server God in answer to His call.
After eight years we parted , having gained a varied (even if practically useless) education. And I feel cheated !
Deception :
How the comments made during "quiete" were used to manipulate our thinking, by pre-empting questions we might have, by depicing Maciel as some ordained Prophet, by taking us into their confidence in their "discrete" disclosure of some amazing fact about him, mostly by Izquierdo. This technique was follow in Salamanca by Arumi and Javier (?), and in Rome by Duenas et al.
As young men we needed Ideals and Leadership. This Ideal was Christ and the Way was through the spirit and mystic of the Legion
We were being faithful. We were fighting for a persecuted Pope and as the new reforming force in the Church. A force that was opposed by those who did not wish to change, those who saw the Legion as a threat and attacked the figure of Maciel as head of this reformed movement, so loved by the faithful members of the Curia. This was also the strategy to explain "The Great Blessing"
We were taught what to think before we knew there was a question, and were told this was the way to fight for Christ, the Pope and the Church.
And those who did not experience this wonder how we could be so deceived .
Most who stayed were unaware of the underlying putrification in the core and served in an exemplary way, surrendering themselves wholly to the service of Christ, building the Legion and RC with the only currency they had...their lives.
Most who joined can vouch for total ignorance of the behaviour of the Elite. The few who realised the morbid truth were ostracised and belittled as malcontents.
That's part of the story of how it worked.
And also why it will survive, driven by those people who believe only in the higher ideal and , paradoxically, because they were excluded from the rotten core
Written by Is Mise