Click here for Howard County Times article
In the article the school principal, John Farrell listed several reasons why recent enrollments had decreased. He said that “sometimes families want to enroll their kids in (other parochial schools) in the sixth grade, to allow them more time to experience the system. We have some leave. That prompts others. It snowballs.”
He went on to mention the faltering economy. Almost as an afterthought he said that another factor could be its association with the Legionaries of Christ.
ReGAIN suspects that parents’ concern would be a major factor in this case, considering publicity about the founder and ongoing concerns expressed by Baltimore Archbishop O’Brien, who we feel has shown outstanding leadership when it comes to dealing with Legionary high pressure recruiting tactics and activities in his archdiocese.
In June, 2008 Archbishop O’Brien had demanded greater accountability from the Legion.
Click here for 2008 National Catholic Reporter Article
As reported in the above article, the Archbishop had written a letter to Alvaro Corcuera instructing him to appoint a Legionary priest who could serve as a liaison with the Baltimore archdiocese. That priest, O’Brien wrote, must fulfill certain requirements, including providing names and ministries of all Legionary priests in the diocese, identifying all Regnum Christi groups, including their activities and methods of recruitment, identification of all youth programs connected to the Legion or to Regnum Christi including their activities and recruitment methods and identification of all other activities connected to the Legion or Regnum Christi including their location and frequency of meetings.
In a 2009 article in the National Catholic Review
Click here for National Catholic Review article
Archbishop O’Brien had expressed a number of concerns about the founder and the Legion, including the stifling of free will, the systematic deception and duplicity and the use of the Catholic faith to manipulate others for selfish ends.
Gateway School Also Closed
Earlier this year on March 10 the Legion advised students and teachers at Gateway Academy in St Louis that their school would be closing.
An article in News Magazine Network.com Click here for article re Gateway Closing
The article stated that shortly after the Vatican ordered the overhaul of the Legionaries of Christ, some parents had taken their concerns about the clergy to the archbishop of St. Louis. Those parents reportedly claimed that school officials used guilt to try to undermine their parental authority. According to Gateway’s school principal, the charges had been addressed.
ReGAIN Comment:
To date, it seems obvious that the Legion and Regnum Christi have not shown a willingness to change in spite of valid criticisms raised by credible ex members, school children parents, members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy even up to Pope Benedict XVI. The leadership of the Legion remains intact and they have given many indications that they intend to conduct business as usual following the policies instituted by their founder Father Marcial Maciel.
This seems like a battleship that has taken a number of torpedo hits trying to maintain a course into the open ocean when it should be heading for shore for repairs before it sinks.
The closing of schools such as Woodmont and Gateway along with other events since the exposure of the fraudulent lifestyle of the founder is reducing the influence of the Legion and Regnum Christi. This is likely to continue as more people become aware of the important issues raised by the Vatican and from excellent quality church stewards such as Archbishop O’Brien.
The best way for the Legion to save itself would be to acknowledge statements made in the Vatican communiqué and elsewhere, atone in a real way for the harm that has been done and reform its entire way of thinking and acting. Unfortunately, there has been no apparent progress. Hell has not yet frozen over.