Tag: Velasio DePaoli

Has the Vatican Reform of the Legion of Christ been Botched?

Has the Vatican Reform of the Legion Been Botched?

Cardinal DePaolis’ three year term as Vatican Apostolic Delegate is almost over and during the next few months, the Legion and Regnum Christi will hold their general assemblies to present and review their new constitutions and statutes. When these new documents have been approved and accepted by the Vatican the reform process is likely to be considered complete. That is unless Pope Francis takes a personal interest in this situation and decides to dig a little deeper.

Has the reform been botched? We might ask whether or not there was a genuine intent by the Legion’s elite leaders and some (cooperative) members of the Vatican hierarchy to identify what really needed to be reformed and to follow through with the appropriate follow-up actions or whether or not the reformwas simply an exercise to buy time.

One difficulty in assessing the reform process is that different parties involved held different objectives and essential information was withheld from those participants who genuinely wanted to reform.

The May 1, 2010 Vatican communique, although vague on details of any wrongdoing by the Legionary founder or his upper echelon identified that there had been serious consequences for the life and structure of the Legion The communique identified a need to improve in the following areas:

1. Redefine the charism

2. Review the exercise of authority, which must be linked to truth, in order to respect conscience.

ReGAIN has assembled comments since 2010 from a sampling of those whose lives were directly affected by their involvement with the Legion or Regnum Christi regarding the success or failure of the reform to achieve their expectations. In each case ReGAIN has provided the source for reference to the full article for those who wish to obtain the entire context of what is being quoted.

Fr. Peter Francis Byrne July 27, 2010

Click Here 8/31/2010

  • the figure of Maciel continues to have visibility and weight in the daily life of their communities all over the world.
  • Moreover, if it is true that full powers in the governance of the Legion today belong only to the papal delegate, Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, the fact remains that yesterday’s leaders are still in place, and maintain an extremely strong influence over many of the religious, on account of the complete communion of life that they shared with the founder.
  • They continue to say that they were always unaware of Maciel’s disgraceful behavior, until after his death in 2008.
  • images of Maciel continue to appear everywhere and that his birthplace, Cotija de la Paz, continues to be a destination connected to his memory.
  • I have also noticed that in Mexico, meetings are still being held among the leaders with the infamous lists that divide persons and families into triple-A, double-A, etcetera, and show the names of the priests charged with grooming these families and then tapping into their money.

Fr. Byrne concluded that: the structures of power imposed by Maciel still remain in force today.

Father Richard Gill: Chiesa – Sandro Magister Feb 9 2011

Former Legionary priest, Father Richard Gill posed his Ten Questions which was publicized in an article in Chiesa Click Here

  • The Legion recently began to install in all computers very aggressive industrial spyware to monitor all email and internet traffic of the membership.
  • What weighed on me even more than the scandals of Fr. Maciel however, was the manner in which the current superiors of the Legion, once they knew of the scandals, had failed to act, or acted in ways that consistently misled the membership.
  • In the aftermath of the revelations about Maciel, they led a systematic effort to deny and minimize the facts about Fr. Maciel and thus revealed a profoundly disturbing attitude of paternalism toward their own religious. It was as if the priests and religious had no right to know of serious matters that affected their future, their freedom, and the commitment of their lives to the Congregation. I came to recognize that this pattern of activity was fruit of an internal culture Fr. Maciel had created.
  • it is common knowledge within the Legion that strongly dissenting voices are still regularly marginalized.
  • There remains great deal of ignorance about what happened and how the scandal lasted over so many decades.
  • A second difficulty occasioned by Cardinal De Paolis was the apparent decision to put aside calls for a fuller investigation into the whole Maciel scandal than what was accomplished by the Apostolic Visitators in 2009-10. The Cardinal has made it clear on more than one occasion his task is that of overseeing reform efforts rather than in further forensic work.
  • For the most part, the same groups of superiors who were appointed by Maciel and who presided over the attempts to cover for him in the aftermath of his condemnation by the Holy See in 2006 are still at the helm.
  • A third weakness in the current approach is the apparent lack of concern for holding individuals accountable for their role in keeping secret from Church authorities what they knew of Maciel’s behavior, or if they even collaborated with Maciel by formal cooperation in those crimes.
  • Fr. Gill referred to: the extent to which, for lack of a better term, a Latino mentality pervades the Legion.
  • Father Gill concluded that for the Legion to flourish it would need to find outstanding spiritual leaders within who could with the help of the Holy Spirit articulate a new charism and a new vision for the future

Nelly Ramirez February 25, 2011

Nelly Ramirez, a former consecrated member of Regnum Christi for 12 years wrote a book in Spanish about her experience. Click Here

She was pessimistic about the likelihood of success by the Vatican?s intervention: what I believe will happen, according to the mentality of the institution, is that a few new statutes will have been created beforehand, there will be a simulation in which supposedly all are able to voice their opinion but on subjects that are already well developed. From there supposedly new rules will result and it is all over.

Nelly Ramirez when asked: What is the reaction among Legionaries about her book’s publication? replied: It varies. There is one group that wants to see a renewal, that is aware of the realities, and another that is steadfast, that thinks any change is an affront to God. I believe that, within the culture of the Legion, a book like this is seen as an act of aggression, which it is not. It is simply a proposal for change, and my objective is to facilitate an internal dialogue. They also told me that they would ask God to forgive me for writing this book.

Father James Farfaglia March 20, 2011

On a blog BishopAccountability.org
<a href=http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2011/03_04/2011_03_20_James_HighProfileDisasters.htm
Click Here Former Legionary priest, Father James Farfaglia wrote:

  • I have to conclude the following: we need much more accountability within the Catholic Church. When a priest lives on his own; when a priest has a lot of money behind him; and when a priest is very popular in my personal view, questions need to be asked and
  • the problems within the Catholic Church, are in my personal opinion, apocalyptic in nature.
  • No matter what happens to the Legionaries of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement, it really does not matter. Integer owns everything and seemingly pulls all of the strings. And it does not matter what position Luis Garza has in the Legionaries of Christ because it appears that he is the man behind the curtain.

Fr. Juan Pedro Oriol May 31, 2011

When Father Juan Pedro Oriol, a well-known and highly regarded Legionary priest decided to leave the Legion, he publicly announced his decision. Click Here

The reasons given for their (Father Juan Pedro Oriol and his brothers) decision to leave relate to their dissatisfaction with the process of reform and to the lack of transparency of the Apostolic Delegate Cardinal Velasio de Paolis and Legionary leadership.

Father Pablo Perez – September 29, 2011

Click Here
Pablo Perez Guajardo, who had served for seven years in the Legion mission in Cancun publicly dissented from the way superiors handled the Maciel debacle and the so-called Reform of the Legion and he was dismissed. The local bishop, his LC superior, said he did not want him around disturbing the peace

Father Pablo Perez included the following remark as he was leaving:
We must all have the same opinions, just as our founder, Fr. Maciel, taught us.

Malen Oriol February 12, 2012

Click Here
According to an Associated Press article, Malen Oriol, the former head of the consecrated women in Regnum Christi revealed that:

a group of consecrated women had decided to leave the movement and live out their vocations under the authority of local bishops, a blow to the Legion that suggests that groups of reformers are now stepping outside the movement because their superiors are refusing to change.

Andres Beltramo Alvarez May 6, 2012

In an article in the Vatican Insider Click Here Andres Beltramo Alvarez said that:

One of Montan and De Paolis’ biggest concerns seems to be to avoid a further exodus of religious. For this reason, Montan stressed that without unraveling the bonds of prayer and friendship, the consecrated women of Regnum Christi, at this historic time, will avoid attending or soliciting invitations to attend meetings (of ‘Totus Tuus’).
(Father Montan had served as a temporary Superior of the consecrated after the resignation of Malen Oriol).

This advice is in addition to another recommendation by De Paolis, who in a February letter asks former consecrated to avoid proselytizing among women who chose to remain in the movement. According to several witnesses, the superiors of some Regnum houses have interpreted these directions as if they were orders, prohibiting any contact with old friends.

There is the story of a young woman who was almost expelled from her community after attending a meeting with her friends from ‘Totus Tuus’: the superior would have allowed her to get her things, but not to sleep for a final night in the residence where she had lived just a few hours before.

Father Thomas Berg June 22, 2012

In his article in First Things, Click Here
Father Thomas Berg commented:

  • The Cardinal has chosen to forego a thorough and independent investigation into whether any present or former members of the congregation knowingly abetted Maciel.
  • DePaolis doesn’t speak Spanish.
  • Legionary superiors, meanwhile, have fostered a culture of institutional opposition to the radical reform that is truly required.
  • . embrace and foster a culture of cover-up and lack of transparency.
  • continued signs of an institutional resistance to the vocational discernment so necessary to each of the priests and the seminarians who remain in the congregation.

Xavier Leger> – March 31, 2013

In his letter to the Holy Father, Pope Francis, Former Legionary member Xavier Leger included the following statements:

  • Today, all the signs lead us to believe that the Apostolic Visitation was not intended to really search for truth and justice but to save the Legion and prevent Legionaries from jumping ship.
  • Holy Father, the same mistake that had exonerated Fr. Maciel in 1958, at the end of the first Apostolic Visitation, was made again in 2010.
  • I beseech you to start the investigation of the Legion all over again, radically changing the investigative method; we have to begin by spelling out very clearly the real story of Maciel and the congregation and this involves using independent outside experts, as well as psychologists well versed in the cult phenomenon.

ReGAIN Comment

Does there seem to be any change of heart among the Legion leaders? Have any of the Legion leaders demonstrated the genuine religious sentiment that their founder was found to be lacking? Have these leaders provided authentic dynamic spiritual leadership and enthusiasm for getting to the root of the problem areas and changing Father Maciel’s creations into something pleasing to God? If this is the case then it is not evident, at least to those of us on the outside.

To date the emphasis by the Vatican Delegate and by the Legionary leaders seems to have been limited mainly to developing a new legal framework, including the development of new statutes. These legal documents are necessary of course, especially for the consecrated persons in Regnum Christi. A commenter on life-after-rc Click Here has offered an opinion that:

it was never a process of reform to begin with, as we now see, which is why the insistence of business as usual for DePaolis was insisted upon from the get go. Rather, it is best described as a process of justification.. justification of a charism, of the approvals it received and avoidance of all the embarrassment the opposite supposed…no not a reform at all.

However, as the sampling of statements above indicate, it appears doubtful at this late stage whether the types of issues that relate to the exercise of authority, which must be linked to truth, in order to respect conscience as required by the Vatican communique have been addressed in a satisfactory manner.

There has been a lack effort in facilitating true discernment and re-assessment of vocations for the Legionary priests and the consecrated women. The Delegate has even expressed concern about the loss of numbers from the consecrated women when Totus Tuus was formed.

The Vatican and the Legion leadership have not allowed real time out to assess the individual vocations, much less to assess the Legion’s recruitment and training systems. Nobody seems to have hesitated or thought twice about whether or not the Legion and Regnum Christi actually possess a God-given charism, or whether or not the Legion/Regnum should have been founded in the first place (much Maciel trickery was involved in that process!) It appears that rank and file Legionaries have simply reacted to the Vatican intervention, either for or against.

There has been no stopping of business as usual. The Legion ship has not been taken out of the water and put in dry dock for a full overhaul. Thus changes have remained cosmetic. To use another metaphor, the Apostolic Delegate and Legion superiors have done some bodywork on the Legion but the engine and transmission systems have not been analyzed. There is no dirt on the Legion superiors’ hands or cassocks. And no mud on their face.

After so many decades, a golden opportunity to re-establish the Legion and Regnum Christi as something other than highly profitable businesses appears to once again be slipping through the Vatican’s fingers. In the meantime, the aggressive recruitment and fund raising have never missed a beat.

Legionaries of Christ Open Critical Meeting

Legion of Christ Opens Critical Meeting

Is The Reform Over?

As Cardinal DePaolis’ term comes to an end, selected members of the Legion gather in Rome for their general chapter to elect new leaders and to finalize the re-writing of their new constitutions. Referring to the Legion founder, Father Marcial Maciel as a pedophile and a fraud, Nicole Winfield has issued her latest article Click Here for the Associated Press and has included a number of comments and questions indicating doubt in many peoples’ minds whether the reform has achieved its prime goal of purifying the Legion from the influence of Maciel

ReGAIN Comments

Early in the article, Nicole Winfield points out that the rehabilitation process ignored its core dysfunction&#58 – financial duplicity, lack of an authentic religious identity and continued cover-up of the people who facilitated the founder’s crimes.

Financial Duplicity

To date, at least to the outside world, the Reform seems to have primarily focused on rewriting constitutions. Over the years, the Legion has had a bad reputation for misapplying funds donated for a specific cause, using them for other purpose, one example being the amounts spent by the founder in his secret life. This is considered a serious matter within the Church because a loss of credibility to its benefactors could result in tremendous financial losses. Cardinal DePaolis main areas of expertise were considered to be dealing with financial and legal matters. The Legion would have us believe that the founder acted alone in any and all of the financial duplicity. Nicole Winfield reminds us of the conning of Mrs Mee out of $60 million, which was partly engineered by someone who is taking an active part in the general chapter meetings.

Lack of Authentic Religious Identity

The 2010 Vatican communiqué identified the need to redefine the charism of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, preserving its true core, that of the “militia Christi”, which characterises the apostolic and missionary activity of the Church and which is not the same as efficiency at any cost. The Legion continues to struggle to convince itself and others that the Holy Spirit miraculously worked through a flawed founder and they have trying to cobble together a charism by committee. Whenever they attempt to do this, it ends up being expressed in such general terms that the same wording could apply to any Catholic group and demonstrates that the Legion does not provide any unique form of service for the Church.

Nicole Winfield refers to U.S. canonist, Edward Peter’s remark: The Catholic Church has zero tradition of institutes of perfection being founded directly or even indirectly by predatory charlatans.

Continued Cover-up of Those Who Facilitated the Founder’s Crimes.

We have noticed that whenever the Legion leaders make any reference to their founder’s crimes, it is in the context of the pain that the Legion members feel and never the pain of the victims. For private reasons, the Church and their apostolic delegate have chosen to bury the past and to allow all of those who were complicit with Fr Marcial Maciel to continue to hold key positions within the Legion and to refrain from further investigation that might shed light on missing details. Surely the Catholic Church does not intend for its members to follow their example regarding the lack of justice in this case. The obvious conclusion drawn by many is that the Church is willing to cover up for those who covered up for the Legion founder because they wish to cover up for some of their own leaders. Nicole Winfield mentions in her article that any more Vatican intervention would further tarnish the legacy of Pope John Paul II. Perhaps it is time to place justice and truth above any individual, no matter how saintly the person in question.

Revised Constitutions and Statutes

Unless the attitudes and actions of the powers that be within the Legion change dramatically, all the time spent making revisions to the statutes and constitutions has been wasted. We are dealing with a chameleon Founder and institution whose very nature consists of deceitful appearances designed to trap unwitting victims. Therefore special methods are needed to grasp the reality underneath. Within Maciel and his work and some of his associates, there has always been a dichotomy between words and actions. So, for example, a change in written constitutions, scripta, will not correct the organization’s corrupt way of operating. Worse still, the Legion is considered by many in the cult watchfield to possesses sect-like characteristics. Professional help from wise spiritual directors, pastoral counselors and even from “mind-control” experts is/was needed in order to analyze, evaluate, make recommendations and implement effective change.

How Low Is The Church Wiling To Set the Bar?

All eyes will be on the current pope as the Legion reform comes to its questionable conclusion. After Pope Benedict XVI’s appointee, Cardinal DePaolis steps out of the picture, Pope Francis will assume responsibility for what happens after that. The Pontiff has hinted that he will become more involved when he recently referred to the general chapter and new constitutions as being fundamental steps in the path towards the authentic and profound renewal of the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ and indirectly as well for the activity of the whole Regnum Christi movement.

Nicole Winfield indicates that Pope Francis does not have a set time frame to adhere to when he decides what (if anything) to do with the Legion and Regnum Christi but that the Legion officials expect a decision from him within a few months.

Holy Father, your predecessors have been dropping ball on this matter since the 1950’s. Please be circumspect and carefully review all available information before closing the door on further action. Many people’s lives will be affected by whatever follow-up you choose to set in place. If the Church continues to embrace a self-serving group that was established by a pedophile charlatan devoid of scruples or religious sentiment, what message does this give to the world about Vatican standards?

United Nations and the Legion Denounce Founder Marcial Maciel (But Legion Leaders Elect a Maciel Loyalist As Their New Director General

Very recently, a United Nations committee has called on the Vatican to remove all child abusers from its ranks, report them to law enforcement and open the church’s archives so that bishops and other officials who concealed crimes could be held accountable. Reportedly, the UN committee singled out the Legion and its founder in a scathing report that accused the Church of ignoring child abuse by priests.

The UN report included the following wording: “The committee is gravely concerned that the Holy See has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed, has not taken the necessary measures to address cases of child sexual abuse and to protect children, and has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by and the impunity of the perpetrators.?”

The UN panel has called on the church to report back on its progress in 2017

Meanwhile the Legionaries of Christ have officially denounced their founder, Father Marcial Maciel. They have issued a statement as reported by Catholic Culture apologizing to the victims of their late founder Father Marcial Maciel and acknowledging that the order was guilty of excessive exaltation of him. The statement acknowledges the damage that Father Maciel did, and mentions “the arbitrary use of his authority and of material goods, the indiscriminate consumption of addictive medicines and the act of presenting writings published by third parties as his own.” They went on to say that “the behavior of the founder, who maintained an appearance of piety while engaging in grossly immoral behavior, was ‘incomprehensible.'”

ReGAIN Comment
Anyone who is familiar with the Legionaries of Christ would realize how much it has taken for them as an organization to renounce their founder. Even after his double life had been exposed by a number of credible journalists and even by a Vatican investigation in 2005 – 2006, the Legion leaders (many of whom were fully aware of Maciel’s double life) pretended for years that he was innocent and was being falsely accused.

So, has there been a change of heart among the Legion leaders?

We would suggest that one should keep track of their actions rather than their words. The Legion has been given a golden opportunity to review their past, to make amends as much as possible and to come up with a plan to move forward and perhaps develop into a religious order with some kind of mission to serve God.

However, their choice of a new director general has indicated to the world that the Legion would like to go back to their inglorious past. Fr Eduardo Robles Gil, the man they have chosen has been described as “a Mexican long-time collaborator of the Legion’s disgraced late founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel.”

Rev. John Stegnicki, a former Legion priest now working in the archdiocese of Brasilia, the (capital of Brazil,) said the outcome of the election was “disappointing but predictable, given the priests voting were by and large Maciel confidants or their protégés.”

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

With this mounting pressure coming from the United Nations, the Legionaries of Christ and Marcial Maciel situation is becoming more than just an embarrassment to the Vatican and the Pope. Is the Catholic Church willing to needlessly suffer further loss of credibility and respect by continuing to prop up and defend an organization that never seems to waver from wanting to carry on its old Macielistic cult like methodology? We hope not.

Now that the new leaders are in place and the new constitutions are being finalized to submit to the Holy See for approval, Cardinal DePaolis’ role has ended. The renewal ( unfortunately not really a reform) for the time being has been completed.

In his letter last June, 2013, http://understandingthelegion.blogspot.ca/2013/12/letter-of-pope-francis-re-reform-of.html Pope Francis indicated that the election of new leaders and the constitutions will be fundamental steps towards the authentic and profound renewal of the Legion

Among the many who will be carefully watching to see what further action the Vatican will take include panel members from the United Nations, ex Legionaries, victims of the Legionary founder and members of SNAP – Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and many members of the news media. The stakes have increased and the if the Vatican opts to give the Legion a free pass once again there may be more serious consequences compared to what has happened historically.

Tragic Death of a Young Regnum Christi Consecrated Woman

Recently, Erin Bellefeuille, a young consecrated (3 gf) member of Regnum Christi died suddenly, tragically and mysteriously. Erin was described as being cheerful and generous and apparently had no particular health problems.

She had spent her adult life (from the time she was 18 years old) with Regnum Christi. She had been assigned to a school in Mexico City and three months before she died, she left her consecrated life for unknown reasons. Her family members lived in Arizona.

Her death apparently was not officially reported and the cause of the death of this healthy 28 year old remains a mystery. There are no official details readily available of her circumstances during the last three months of her life.

Some rumors circulated that according to one of her close family members, Erin had suffered from severe depression and a nervous breakdown.

According to another rumor, the young consecrated woman could not afford to travel home to be with her family. Both of these claims about her final three months remain unconfirmed.

There was some recent discussion about this case on life-after-rc Click Here that do not provide factual evidence of anything wrong but that indicate some suspicions.

ReGAIN has always avoided making speculations and at this stage we are unable to form any opinions about what really happened to this young woman or why it happened. Our hearts go out to her loved ones. We have mentioned about Erin Bellefeuille because her sudden death raises some questions that should be considered by those who are considering entering the consecrated life of Regnum Christi or others who have already made a commitment but are starting to ask their own questions.

In July of 2012, Cardinal DePaolis received a letter from 77 former students of a high school in Rhode Island that was run by Regnum Christi consecrated women. These young women had been required to live by rules similar to those of the Regnum Christi consecrated women. In the letter, they described and denounced psychological and emotional problems that they endured, including for example, eating disorders for some and in other cases depression and suicidal tendencies.

The first question we would ask is whether or not Regnum Christi and the Legion leaders have acknowledged that the structure and methodology that was designed by Father Marcial Maciel (much of which remains to this day) are identical to mind control techniques used by typical cult groups and that these practices have been proven to damage peoples’ emotional and psychological health? If so, are they implementing effective remedies to change the structure and methodology to prevent further mental and emotional illnesses among their members? If not, are they simply choosing to ignore the issues raised by the 77 former students?

A second question we would pose is what provisions do Regnum Christi have in place for medical coverage for physical and emotional illnesses? Over the years there have been horror stories on this website and others regarding the manner in which some ordinary medical problems of members have been dealt with. When people on the inside have anxiety or depression or other psychological or mental issues are there any measures in place to obtain the professional help that they need? If not, are these being considered?

Next on our list of questions, we wonder if the reform process intends to deal with the issue of terminations of vulnerable people without reasonable notice. There have been numerous testimonies from people who have been suddenly found to not have avocation? after devoting years of their life and then being forced to leave on less than 24 hours notice. We and others cannot help wondering what were the actual circumstances surrounding Erin Bellefeuille’s case? Was she having emotional problems? If so, had she received any professional treatment before or after she left Regnum Christi? Did she decide on her own to leave her consecrated life or was she forced to leave? What support if any did she get from Regnum Christi after she left? Did she have enough money to look after herself and enough to pay her travel costs to return home? What were her prospects for supporting herself after devoting 10 of her 28 years of life to Regnum Christi? Did she have marketable skills? Were there any reasons for not disclosing the cause of her death?

If Cardinal De Paolis had not previously known about the psychological torment that many consecrated women suffer, he would certainly have become aware of this after receiving the letter written by the 77 former students of the Regnum Christi school in Rhode Island. Reportedly, there was also at least one testimony from another young Regnum Christi consecrated woman during a conference in Mexico stating that some of the women wereconstantly falling into depression and that many of them were sick?.

Based on the research and testimonies that ReGAIN and others have carried out over the years, we have concluded that the Legionary leaders have not always provided adequate health care for their own priests or for the consecrated Regnum Christi members. Some of their long standing members have been cast aside suddenly when for one reason or another they become no longer cost-effective.

Our final question is whether the Vatican Delegate is willing to allow such methodology to continue or will he place a priority on providing adequate care for the consecrated women’s physical, mental and emotional health. Will he ensure that adequate social security measures and protections are put into place for the consecrated women?

Unfortunately in this case any improvement in the women’s plight will be too late for Erin Bellefeuille. Perhaps her untimely death could be the tipping point for the initiation of measures that would address members’ human needs over and above the legalistic issues that are being included within the scope of the current reform process.

Father Berg Speaks Out Deeply Disappointed With Reform of Legion

There is an article On First Things Blog, written by Father Thomas Berg entitled The Legion’s Scandal of Stalled Reform
Click Here for First Things Article by Father Berg

 

Father Berg decided to leave the Legion after 23 years. He has been following the reform process for two years and finally decided to express my deep disappointment as well as my profound concern for the fine young men and dedicated priests who still compose the Legion

 

Father Berg states that he felt it would have been better for the Church and the Legion if the order had been suppressed.

 

Regarding the stalled reform process, he offers his opinion that Cardinal DePaolis, who does not speak Spanish (Legion’s official language), has made two decisions that may prove disastrous for the Legion.

 

  1. Maciel’s long term and close collaborators remain in leadership positions.

 

  1. . Cardinal DePaolis has chosen to forgo a thorough and independent investigation into whether any present or former members knowingly abetted Maciel.

 

Unsurprisingly to ReGAIN readers, Fr. Berg refers to the institutional resistance/ and lack of transparency from the Legion superiors, who says are promoting the concept that the naming of a Papal Delegate constituted a de facto pontifical approval of the Legion’s continuation as a congregation and affirmation of the existence of a valid charism and mission.

 

Fr. Berg adds that those who are hopeful of reform are not expecting more than some superficial and cosmetic changes instead of the sweeping changes that are urgently required. He concludes that the Church does not need the institution of the Legion but does need their good and zealous men

.

He concludes with a recommendation that every Legionary priest should be given the means and a real opportunity to genuinely re-discern his vocation. He encourages family members to persevere in convincing their loved ones to request some time completely away from the Legion environment and to seek sound spiritual direction from an experienced outside spiritual director.

 

ReGAIN Comment

 

Father Berg has brilliantly managed to voice in a concise and powerful message the concerns that most of us have regarding the urgent need for genuine reform and some of the main reasons for the failure to date. He shows concern for those in the Legion whose lives have been most affected and he offers some practical solutions. Fr. Berg, we salute you and hope that someone on high is listening to your message.

 

So many people who had hoped for real reform had high expectations when the Vatican published the 2010 communique and later sent their chosen delegate and provided him with sweeping powers to attempt the impossible. We wondered which of the leaders would be given their marching orders and where they would find the kind of spiritual leaders needed to breathe a spark of life into the rotten stinking corpse of an organization designed to bring power money and glory to a depraved leader.

 

Reviewing the progress of the reform to date by summarizing some ReGAIN and other articles over the last two years:

 

The delegate came and he didn’t speak Spanish. That would make it difficult. His expertise was in finances and canon law. That experience would be helpful in following the money trail. His scope seemed to be limited to rewriting the constitutions. There would be no investigation into who collaborated with the founder. Ouch. Some remained optimistic that this could work.

 

The promotion of the new commissioner to cardinal gave him more power but it also gave the Legion some legitimate claim that they had strong Vatican support. Shortly after he arrived the new commissioner wrote what seemed like a love letter to the Legion. That seemed strange at the time but some saw the wisdom in him taking the honey works better than vinegar approach.

 

The aggressive recruiting and fund raising continued. So did the ordinations in the Legion and the consecrations in Regnum Christi. The old guard leaders all remained although some of them wore different hats in different locations. The commissioner seemed to be more and more comfortable in his new posting.

 

More and more people who had wanted reform decided to leave, including some very prominent members. Quite a number of these made their reasons for leaving publicly known.

 

A very feeble and awkward attempt was made to express corporate remorse for those who had been victimized by the Legion founder. The crocodile tears did not make a positive impression.

 

The impossible search for the missing charism continued. There had to be one somewhere. The leaders wrote letters to the faithful members encouraging them to continue sharing your love for God (which really meant don’t stop recruiting). Some continued to watch to see if the Holy Spirit would empower some dark horse to rise from the ranks and like Moses, provide some strong spiritual leadership. Nobody inspired anybody as the corpse of the Legion remained there looking even more dead. The games went on as usual. The deceit and the secrecy continued unchanged.

 

A group of consecrated women gave up and left to form their own movement. The response from the leaders and the commissioner were pathetic. It seemed that those who remained were the loyal ones and those who left were unfaithful.

 

The old guard leaders continued their same old ways. The Vatican commissioner commented that it was not his job to clean house, he was there to oversee the rewriting of the constitutions.

 

Some of us felt that the commissioner was showing great wisdom by giving the Legion enough rope to hang itself. Father Berg refers to the lack of wisdom in that approach in his article, saying the Legion escaped extinction under dubious circumstances after a Vatican investigation of Maciel in the 1950’s

 

The embarrassment caused to the Church continues to pile up as new revelations show that the Legion leaders concealed information they had known for years.

 

Father Berg makes such wonderful sense. Every one of the Legionary priests (and we would include all of the 3gf’s) deserve a genuine opportunity to take some time out completely away from anything to do with the Legion or Regnum Christi and discern what God is calling them to do. Those who do not have wealthy families to lean on should be provided with financial assistance and support for a reasonable time. As a minimum the Legion and Regnum Christi should be made to cease and desist from offering their tainted form of spiritual direction, not just because it is not confidential but because it has a hidden agenda to manipulate the spiritual directees.

 

The Church should follow the lead of the young women who were former Regnum Christi precandidacy high school students on their 49weeks blog Click Here

 

These young women are offering support for those Legionary priests and consecrated Regnum Christi members who want to leave but have difficulty supporting themselves or finding work or understanding their situation or who just need some prayer support.

 

Why is the Church not offering these things? Why isn’t the Church acknowledging the urgent need for discernment that Father Berg identifies? Why is the Church further embarrassing itself by providing a reform in such an incompetent manner? Is there anyone else up there?

 

Translate »
%%footer%%