Category: 49 Weeks

This is one of a thirty part exposé on the Children of the Legion. This group of women, then girls, in the Regnum Christi, share their stories of abuse, neglect and the aftermath of being children in the Regnum Christi. For a complete list of stories to date, view Children of the Legion.

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I left you all on a cliffhanger at the end of Part V for quite a long time … sorry about that.

Changes were pretty frequent during those years. The school was still relatively new — I think less than ten years old — and we were still working out what the rules would be. So we would be called into the conference room and told, “Spiritual direction is now spiritual guidance,” or “Section I and Section II are now called ECYD Section and Regnum Christi Section,” or “Your ‘face-to-face’ is now your ‘PC Prospect.'” Continue reading “Sheila’s Story, Part VI”

This is one of a thirty part exposé on the Children of the Legion. This group of women, then girls, in the Regnum Christi, share their stories of abuse, neglect and the aftermath of being children in the Regnum Christi. For a complete list of stories to date, view Children of the Legion.

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I ended Part IV in my spiritual director Sally’s office. (Her name is not really Sally.)

I tried to tell her about my giant conversion experience and how I was really committed to Regnum Christi now and that I was sure I had a vocation. She wasn’t really interested. She told me that it was way too soon to worry about whether or not I had a vocation.

Continue reading “Sheila’s Story, Part V”

This is one of a thirty part exposé on the Children of the Legion. This group of women, then girls, in the Regnum Christi, share their stories of abuse, neglect and the aftermath of being children in the Regnum Christi. For a complete list of stories to date, view Children of the Legion.

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Like I said at the end of Part III, the cognitive dissonance was beginning to get to me. I had a lot of little sneaky things I did, as I said before — from mentally composing fanfiction during “spiritual reading,” to coming up with objections in my head to everything I learned during apostolic methodology. But I started to feel tired of fighting.

It didn’t help that we were constantly hearing about “giving 100%,” “holding nothing back from God,” “being who we were meant to be,” and so forth. Continue reading “Sheila’s Story, Part IV”

This is one of a thirty part exposé on the Children of the Legion. This group of women, then girls, in the Regnum Christi, share their stories of abuse, neglect and the aftermath of being children in the Regnum Christi. For a complete list of stories to date, view Children of the Legion.

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In the fall of 2000, I began my ninth grade year as a “precandidate” (“PC”). I understood perfectly that I was there to discern my vocation: it was like Junior Nuns or something. A lot of the other girls didn’t see it that way at all: it was just a place you go when you’re serious about your faith, and some people get consecrated at the end.

Right at the beginning of the year, we had an orientation for several days where we learned all the rules we hadn’t been told in the summer program. Continue reading “Sheila’s Story, Part III”

This is one of a thirty part exposé on the Children of the Legion. This group of women, then girls, in the Regnum Christi, share their stories of abuse, neglect and the aftermath of being children in the Regnum Christi. For a complete list of stories to date, view Children of the Legion.

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I arrived in Rhode Island for the summer program and found it just as I’d expected it — like a much bigger version of the camps and retreats I’d enjoyed. Everyone was really nice, and the schedule was nonstop fun.

There was a little bump the first week where I didn’t think to call home and my mom kept calling me. But instead of getting me, they would give me these little phone messages that said she had called. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do about them so I did what I generally did about homework assignments I didn’t understand or instructions I couldn’t follow … kept quiet and hoped the problem would solve itself.

Continue reading “Sheila’s Story, Part II”