On February 15, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, the apostolic delegate announced the following appointments for Regnum Christi:
Agostino Montan, S.C. has been named by Cardinal DePaolis as Director General of Regnum Christi for the women and Fr Ghirlanda will be head of the consecrated men’s section.
An English translation of his letter, addressed to the consecrated men and women of Regnum Christi has been published on the Regnum Christi website. Click Here
The delegate has stated that the consecrated men and women ought to have a proper autonomy, and that this implies an association with its own juridical personality. He went on to say that “their participation in the charism, apostolate and spirituality, which is part of the identity of this group is made concrete in their collaboration with the Legion of Christ. How this collaboration is to be carried out needs to be specified through the reflection that will take place among the consecrated men and consecrated women, and the Legionaries of Christ themselves”.
He has extended the time of reflection until Easter.
He also confirmed that the consecrated members of Regnum Christi share the charism of the Legion and that the two are linked as a “single Charismatic Family”.
In a separate announcement, Fr. Sylvester Heereman, L.C. was named as the new Vicar General of the Legion of Christ, and Fr. Deomar De Guedes, L.C. was appointed as the second General Councilor for the congregation, replacing respectively Fr. Luis Garza Medina, L.C. and Fr. Francisco Mateos Gil, L.C.
ReGAIN Comment:
Autonomy for Regnum Christi is a welcome and important change that opens up new possibilities. The appointment of two new independent General Directors is very positive. Both of them have a good understanding of what authentic consecrated life is about.
However, at least for the time being, the consecrated women will continue to report to the territorial directors who are Legionary priests and both the Legion and Regnum Christi will share the same charism. Clarification of what that charism is remains somewhat of a mystery. There have been no revelations yet about which leaders were complicit in covering up for the secret life of the founder. Until that happens there are lingering issues of lack of trust in the environment.
It has been three years now since the secret life of the founder was exposed and a long time since the year long visitations were completed. Details of the visitor?s report to Regnum Christi have not yet been made public. Many of us have been wondering about the specifics of the reform process. There was almost universal agreement that reform of the Legion and Regnum Christi was needed and based on information available on this website it would be possible to put together a recommended scope of work for items to be addressed in the process. Those whose lives are directly affected and family members are becoming restless waiting to see how this unfolds.
A significant number of the consecrated women have voted with their feet, following a period of discernment. The delegate advises others to “not give into the temptation to try and influence others who intend to remain steadfast and remain faithful to the commitments they took upon themselves”.This wording implies that those who left are unfaithful and that those who remain are being faithful.
At ReGAIN, we have identified how coercive persuasion (mind control techniques) has been used in our opinion to recruit people and deceptive practices have been integrated into the way of life to keep people from leaving. We know that some of the consecrated women trusted that their form of consecrated life was valid, that their rules had been approved and that their founder had been a living saint. So, if their free will was severely compromised when they made their solemn promises it is questionable whether or not their original commitments and their willingness to remain until now were valid. Is it really being unfaithful to decide after a period of discernment to live out their consecration elsewhere? Should they have been expected to remain and to devote their lives towards a common cause with the Legion when it remains unclear what that cause is?
We can only hope and pray that somehow in all this God is straightening out the crooked lines, that there is an effective plan in place, that those who remain will have their free will restored and that one day the cult experts will no longer have the Legion or Regnum Christi included as groups of interest. We congratulate those who have shown the courage to remove themselves and we support their right to make such decisions for how to make the most out of the rest of their lives.
We wish all of the consecrated women and men well and we offer our prayer support as they continue in this period of reflection. We pray that they will be open to guidance from the Holy Spirit so that they may make good decisions about how to live their lives according to God?s will for each of them in His divine plan.