J, Paul Lennon, former LC (1961-84), LPC Counseling
Me, the dissident; one of many, so I am not totally alone.
But as I see the Legion of Christ grow
-if not progress- I now have some serious soul searching to do.
What to make of my thirty-year crusade on ReGAIN to reveal what I believe to be the true nature of the Legion of Christ? A prodigious business venture disguised as a religious order.
Have I been wrong to preach the spurious nature of the Legion of Christ Catholic Religious Order approved by popes and Vatican authorities?
Have all my efforts been in vain?
Has my unstinting support of Maciel’s sexually abused seminarians -now in their eighties- and their humiliation and abandonment been worth nothing, as the Legion juggernaut goes triumphantly trundling along?
Have the successors/accomplices of Pedophile Founder, conman, manipulator and consummate liar, Fr. Marcial Maciel, aided and abetted by unwitting popes and corrupt Vatican authorities – notice I do not say “The Catholic Church” of which I am a faithful member- ultimately prevailed..
What to make of the 5,000 dissident former members on Facebook’s Spanish language “Legioleaks” page? Are they just more disgruntled old men like me?
What about the many counter testimonies and studies regarding the Legionaries of Christ, in Spanish, French and English, that have been written over recent decades?
(See appendix in: A Naïve and Sentimental Dubliner in the Legion of Christ: https://www.amazon.com/N%C3%A4ive-Sentimental-Dubliner-Legion-Christ-ebook/dp/B083GJP6RW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=328GJ19PE8MIP&keywords=A+Naive+and+Sentimental+Dubliner+in+the+Legion+of+Christi&qid=1682696073&s=books&sprefix=a+naive+and+sentimental+dubliner+in+the+legion+of+christi%2Cstripbooks%2C122&sr=1-1 )
There are thousands more like me, throw-aways and walk-aways of the Legionaries of Christ since the foundation in 1941. Many with broken faith, shipwrecked in the spirit, who do not know what to make of God, Jesus, Church after our harrowing experiences. Would that Holy Mother the Church caste an understanding glance in our direction. But, no matter, I believe Jesus does. The Carpenter’s son from Nazareth, the Rabbi who sang the Beatitudes, who eschewed the path to success, prosperity, and triumph, and doggedly stuck to His thankless mission, knowing that in the long run…
John Paul,
Keep doing what you’re doing. Others need to know that they’re not alone. The newly-ordained might one day reach out to you to make sense of where/what they are. The fact that none of those who covered for MM have been punished shows that your site is necessary for those who are trying to make some sense of this mess. This has been a long time problem: https://apnews.com/article/vatican-legion-pius-xii-abuse-91744e8054aa839647633e1d56372165
Thanks, Anonymous. It’s a hard furrow to plow alone. But we are not alone.