Tag: Cult

Legionaries of Christ Denounce Founder, Marcial Maciel Degollado 02/06/2014

Legionaries Of Christ Officially Apologize To Victims: Catholic Order Denounces Founder Father Marcial Maciel

 | By Philip Pullella
Posted: 02/06/2014 10:47 am EST

ROME — A Roman Catholic order whose late founder lived a double life as a pedophile and womanizer officially denounced him on Thursday and apologized to his “many victims.”

The Legionaries of Christ, which former members said was run like a secretive cult, accused the founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, who died in 2008, of “reprehensible and objectively immoral behavior” as head of the order from its founding in 1941 until Pope Benedict XVI removed him in 2006.

Once a favorite of the Vatican because it drew many young Catholics to religious vocations and made sizable financial donations to the church, the order has been in Vatican receivership since 2010 and came close to being disbanded.

The apology, issued by delegates from around the world meeting in Rome to set a new direction for the order, came a day after a United Nations committee singled it out in a scathing report accusing the church of ignoring child abuse by priests.

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RELATED COVERAGE

Kirsten Sandberg, the chairwoman of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, in Geneva on Wednesday.U.N. Panel Criticizes the Vatican Over Sexual AbuseFEB. 5, 2014
The statement denounced “the magnitude of the evil and scandal caused” by Father Maciel and said the organization was now ready to turn a page. “We want to express our deep sorrow for the abuse of minor seminarians, the immoral acts with men and women who were adults, the arbitrary use of his authority and of material goods,” the statement said.

For decades, the Vatican dismissed accusations by seminarians that Father Maciel had abused them sexually, some when they were as young as 12. The order’s rules forbade criticizing the founder or questioning his motives. Pope John Paul II strongly backed Father Maciel, even as criticism of him mounted.

The order was long admired by the church for its dynamic growth and fund-raising prowess, and it had many wealthy conservative benefactors who saw it as a bulwark against liberalism in the church.

In 2006, a year after John Paul’s death, a Vatican investigation concluded that the previously denied accusations of molestation were true. Benedict ordered Father Maciel to retire to a life of “prayer and penitence.”

After his death, Vatican investigations found that Father Maciel had also fathered several children with at least two women, visited them regularly and sent them money.

The order’s newly elected general director, the Rev. Eduardo Robles Gil, has a long history with the group himself. According to its website, he helped establish the Legion in Brazil, and in 2011 he was named to a commission created to work with the victims of Father Maciel.

The Rev. John Stegnicki, a former Legion priest now working in the archdiocese of Brasília, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying that the outcome of the election was “disappointing” but predictable, given that the priests voting were by and large Maciel confidants or their protégés.

“Who else could they choose from?” he said. “All of them are entrenched in Legion-think.”

A version of this article appears in print on February 7, 2014, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Catholic Order Denounces Its Founder. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe

Legion’s Record Calls For Criminal Investigation

An article written by the National Catholic Reporter editorial staff, http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/editorial-legions-record-calls-criminal-investigation referring to the almost unimaginable fraud, offers an opinion that civil authorities should conduct a criminal investigation into the activities of the Legionaries of Christ based on their record. They also recommend that the Church proceed with extreme caution in considering allowing the Legion to continue.

The NCR refers to the two lawsuits in Rhode Island that claim the Legion defrauded elderly donors (Mrs. Gabrielle Mee and James Boa-The Chu, a Yale University professor).

The article suggests that the Legion’s striking pattern of fraudulent fundraising tactics by a religious charity and the bilking of elderly Americans stands out as a matter demanding investigation. and that the civil authorities might be interested in investigating further to discover what other fraud the Legion might be carrying out to sustain their multi million dollar budget. The writers say that the Church has a responsibility to excise from the body a cancer that has seriously damaged the community.

Calling upon the Rhode Island attorney general to open a criminal investigation of the Legionaries of Christ, they state that they have found in the past that it is difficult to get full accounts of criminal activities of church leaders unless civil authorities become involved.

At the same time, Fox News has reported http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/30/group-seeks-criminal-probes-disgraced-catholic-order/ that the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, (S.N.A.P.) is seeking a criminal probe of the Legionaries of Christ. David Clohessy, executive director of SNAP said recently that Rhode Island and Connecticut law enforcement should investigate. Mr. Clohessy stated the Legion’s known and suspected wrongdoing is so persistent and widely documented that we think action by law enforcement is warranted. No institution can or should be allowed to essentially police itself.

Bernard Jackvony, the lawyer in the case of Mrs. Gabrielle Mee had reportedly expressed disappointment when he heard that the attorney general was not planning to get involved in the case and treat it as a civil or criminal matter. A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office has urged Jackvony to take any allegations of criminal wrongdoing to state police.

ReGAIN Comment

According to the Fox News article, there have been no complaints against the Legion made to the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice but they have stated that if anyone did file a complaint, it would be reviewed and acted upon. So until someone is willing to take on the Legion and their lawyers, this will probably not happen.

One thing that has changed in a positive way over the last three years of renewal (not reform) is that there has been less information control over what the members listen to and read about what is happening. When members were restricted to reading friendly accounts of Legion news in Zenit and the National Catholic Register and other Legion controlled media, many members were often unaware of negative news about their leaders or the religious order they belonged to or they had a warped understanding of the true situation. We hope that with the small changes that have taken place, such as banning the secret vows and promises, allowing somewhat more free discussion and better access to outside truth that more members and 3gf women are redeveloping some critical thinking skills. The window of opportunity for this may be coming to an end unless Pope Francis has a plan in place for what to do when Cardinal DePaolis takes his leave within a few months. If the Pope fails to take action while he has a golden opportunity we feel it is quite likely that everything will tend to go back to the structure and methodology that suited Nuestro Padre so well for so long and the deception and fraud will continue.

International Cultic Studies Association (I.C.S.A.) Annual Conference Trieste Italy, July 4-6, 2013

The International Cultic Studies Association (I.C.S.A.) will be holding their 2013 Annual Conference in Trieste, Italy this year from Thursday, July 4 to Saturday, July 6. The main theme for this conference will be Manipulation, Abuse and Maltreatment in Groups.

For further information about the conference Click Here

Registration forms are available on the site.

ReGAIN members have taken an active part in previous conferences and there have now been several presentations about the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi.

I.C.S.A. deserves support from former members and family members and friends of members past or present. Most practicing Roman Catholics have a false sense of security that there are no cult groups within the Catholic Church and a lack of knowledge regarding such groups and mind control. Once a family member has become a member it is too late to intervene.

I.C.S.A. has established an excellent resource center for its members and some of this information is freely available on their website. They are proactively gathering information about destructive groups including Catholic groups and through their efforts, the decision makers in the Church and interested members of the general public are gradually becoming more aware of how to deal with them.

 

International Cultic Studies Association (I.C.S.A.) 2013 Annual Conference

International Cultic Studies Association (I.C.S.A.) 2013 Annual Conference

 

ICSA 2013 Annual Conference

The International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) is conducting its 2013 Annual International Conference jointly with SOS Abusi Psicologici , Exit S.C.S. Onlus, and Info-Secte/Info-Cult .

July 4 – 6, 2013
Manipulation, Abuse, and Maltreatment in Groups
Trieste, Italy

July 3rd – Preconference events

Special Early Registration Flyer :
Click Here

Are There Cultic Aberrations In The Catholic Church

The International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) will be discussing the topic of Cultic Aberrations in the Catholic Church as one of the feature issues at their annual conference being held in Trieste Italy July 4th to 6th, 2013.

ICSA has established two web sites that focus attention on the two main topics being presented at their conference. The first site Click Here provides some background information, including the following definition for cultic dynamics that provides a better understanding about manipulative groups such as the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi in the Catholic Church.

cultic dynamics, that is, to usually deceptive forms of authoritarian control and influence that generate inappropriate levels of dependency and conformity in members and that sometimes may result in psychological, financial, or sexual abuse or exploitation.

The ICSA article uses the case of Father Marcial Maciel as an example of how people, including members of the hierarchy have been fooled by deceptive wolves in sheep's clothing by slyly hiding themselves in orthodoxy by shifting the meaning of key theological terms. The article suggests that such leaders might be viewed as ideological frauds.

The second key issue being featured at the Trieste conference has to do with human rights Click Here

The ICSA article on the above site poses the question: How does a pluralist democracy protect itself and its citizens against the dangers posed by authoritarian groups without itself becoming authoritarian? adding that the challenge is to identify a balanced public policy approach that respects freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of thought, and other basic rights.

For details about this conference Click Here

ReGAIN Comment:

Was the founder of the Legion and Regnum Christi the only ideological fraud? Did all the problematic issues disappear when Father Maciel died in 2008?

The specific details of what was wrong with the Legion and Regnum Christi has never been made clear to outsiders. After his death, the emphasis quickly shifted to drawing straight with crooked lines.

Throughout the subsequent visitation and reform process, aggressive recruiting, ordinations and consecrations have continued more or less they had since the early 1940's. Much emphasis was placed on the revisions to the constitutions and clarification of the charism. There was little acknowledgement by the Legionary leaders or the Church hierarchy of the inherent deceptiveness, authoritarian control, inappropriate levels of dependency and conformity in members or the psychological, financial and or sexual abuse or exploitation that ICSA refers to.

The Vatican Commissioner has been present as an overseer to encourage the Legionary and Regnum Christi leaders to reform themselves. His role has not been to wield a big stick and tell them what they need to do. There seems to be an underlying assumption that the Legionary and Regnum Christi leaders and members without outside expertise (about authoritarian control for example) are capable of identifying their own problems and finding solutions by changing their statutes and shuffling leaders around (as the money from business operations continues to flow into the same mysterious financial black hole).

We sincerely hope that some of the wisdom and knowledge that comes from the ICSA conference from some of the leading experts of the world regarding cult groups and mind control will be passed along to influential members of the Catholic Church hierarchy and that it will be accepted and put into practice when dealing with destructive groups such as the Legion that exist within the Church.

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