Many people don't like the discussion raging about the Legionaries of Christ and Father Maciel. I understand why some don't. However, this seems to me to be an important matter. It pertains to the common good of the Church, as well as to the question of whether the LCs can or should continue.
I intended to post this earlier today but time escaped me. Sandro Magister's column addressed the subject:
ROMA, February 16, 2009 – For about a week and a half, an unusual letter has been circulating among the 800 priests and 2500 seminarians of the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, and also among the 65,000 lay members of the Regnum Christi apostolate, present in 30 countries around the world.
The letter is from the superior general of the congregation, Fr. Alvaro Corcuera. In it, he writes that "we are living a time of pain and suffering." And he asks everyone for forgiveness.
At the origin of this suffering is the founder of the Legionaries and of Regnum Christi, Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado (in the photo), who died one year ago at the age of 88, and was buried in his birthplace in Mexico, the village Cotija de la Paz.
He continues here. Let's continue to pray for the Legionaries, for Regnum Christi and for all those harmed by the evils associated with the recent disclosures.
Just a thought. The attention given to the LC/RC problem is, itself, starting to be a problem. Why don't you tell everyone, in an article, what the facts are and what the rumors are. Then let it go.
Posted by: Dan Deeny | Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 10:30 AM
The attention given to the LC/RC problem is, itself, starting to be a problem.
Sorry, but I don't see the truth of the claim.
Why don't you tell everyone, in an article, what the facts are and what the rumors are. Then let it go.
If you'd like to write the definitive article, Dan, I am sure we would consider publishing it.
Posted by: Mark Brumley | Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 12:30 PM
Mark, Thanks for your response.
Well, where do I go for the facts and where do I go for the rumors?
It seems like the articles, dribbling out facts and rumors mixed in with opinions and recommendations, are an example of cultivating one's Schmerz.
Another idea: Interview one of these fine people working and teaching in a Cristo Rey school.
Posted by: Dan Deeny | Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 01:53 PM
Dan:
I'm a little puzzled. The Cristo Rey schools were pioneered by the Jesuits. So why would people working in a Jesuit school have an inside track on Legion information???
Posted by: Matthew | Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 04:28 PM
Matthew, thanks for your contribution. You're right, the Jesuits probably don't know much more than we do about the LC/RC problem. But someone from one of their schools could give us some positive, Christian news about good education and preaching the Gospel. We would leave what I see as an unhealthy preoccupation with sleaze. The articles on the LC/RC controversy seem to be cultivating Schmerz, even Schadenfreude, although that's a stretch. I think St. Benedict in the RSB deplores murmuratio, which these articles also approach.
Posted by: Dan Deeny | Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 05:54 PM
I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree, Dan. I do not see what you see in these articles. As I see it, they communicate information that should be public and they raise questions that should be considered in public. We have had too much silence and secrecy. Those elements are part of what got the Church in this mess to begin with.
Posted by: Mark Brumley | Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 06:09 PM
Thank you to Mark to courageously addressing the issue. A great many faithful Catholics have had very significant concerns about the LC and Maciel for a long time, concerns met with silence and secrecy and accusations of treachery and apostasy. The problems have been left to fester and multiply and now we are faced with a severe crisis for the Church as an institution and for its members. Remember, these involve serious sexual abuse of minors. Those finding the discussion/debate tiresome should stay out of it or alternatively recognize that they are ignorant of a great deal. The where-with-all to find out is increasingly available with the current debate and with sites like Regain operating still despite being slugged with a nasty law suite by the LC to try and silence them. Most serious critics have been close enough to the LCs/ RC to know the issues. Given adequate freedom and spiritual guidance, some leading LC priests may even be able to identify major fault lines, and I think some are beginning to now. The formation is flawed and operational life involves duplicity, deception and manipulation. Many have courageously sacrificed the best years of their lives or substantial amounts of money to the LC, often because of overly manipulative formation and other activities. It is perhaps the most serious matter to have hit the Church since the sexual abuse crisis first began to emerge. So much of that could be blamed on modernist theology or poor diocesan formation. What can ordinary Catholics, let alone those outside the Church make of the current situation and the Church's apparent slowness to act?
Posted by: celeste | Friday, February 20, 2009 at 08:40 PM