As the reform of the Legionaries and Regnum Christi comes to an end after three years, we shake our heads and wonder whether or not it has even started. On December 16, 31 new Legionary priests were ordained in Rome. In his homily at this event, Click Here Cardinal DePaolis offered his praise for the faithfulness of the ones who remained in the Legion suggesting that they have remained, because they believe that they chose Christ. By his words, he took a sort of backhand shot at those who had left, saying that only the Lord can judge them.
The tone of his homily made it clear that he felt the faithful ones who remained were good and that there was some weakness in the (unfaithful) ones who left. This attitude is consistent with other statements he has made in similar circumstances, e.g. when Malen Oriol and other 3gf ladies left to form Totus Tuus.
ReGAIN readers are aware that the Legion and Regnum Christi leaders past and present have been known to use controversial highly aggressive tactics to recruit and retain members and have not respected the freedom of conscience. A reference to this important issue of freedom of conscience was included in the May 2010 Vatican communique. Click Here So why would an Apostolic Delegate not do everything in his power to ensure that Legionary and Regnum Christi members were provided with every opportunity to take time to discern what their true calling from God was? Why would he be more concerned about the numbers of people who remained in this congregation, which has been already proven to be an unhealthy part of the Church than he is about helping people to discover where they can best serve God and where God wishes them to be?
He also shows concern about the sins of the Legion filling the media throughout the world, obviously seeing this as a bad thing. His statement showed more concern about the image of the Legion and the Church than remorse about the wrongs that were done. If the sins were not truthful, then we would share his concern. If the information published in the media happens to be the truth, then we feel it should be a good thing to expose false prophets in the Church. It is the truth that sets us free. Regarding this issue, there have been obvious and deliberate efforts made to suppress the truth about who aided and abetted the Legion and Regnum Christi founder in his deceitful life. Shouldn’t the Church of all organizations be willing to see justice for those who have been wronged by some of its own religious orders? The tone of the homily seemed to favor blind obedience and trust, even when people are aware that some of the leaders are not trustworthy. If in fact all of the current leaders really were trustworthy and all of the fraud and deception was committed by Father Marcial Maciel acting alone, should not everyone involved want to have an opportunity to have their names cleared? The message from this is that the image of the Church and its leaders is more important than the truth.
Any shocking story about the Legionaries was taken as indisputable truth
The tone of this statement is eerily similar to the old days when Father Maciel would blame those evil detractors
(including ReGAIN) for making up false accusations against him. The information we have brought to light remains here on this website for all to see and we have made a sincere effort to publish only true facts. Is the Apostolic Delegate suggesting that the new Legionary priests should shut down their critical judgment skills? We hope not. Based on numerous articles in this website and others and credible news agency articles, deceit in the Legion continued after the death of its founder. Legion leaders have been forced to admit that they knew things about Father Maciel and about Father Williams while by their actions and statements they pretended to be unaware. The new Legionary priests should have a right to know the truth about their own organization. History has shown that those who believed they were being deceived by their leaders had good reason to believe so. When he said You have seen whether they were true or not.
we wonder what information they were allowed to have to discern and judge whether things were true or not.
In his homily, Cardinal DePaolis said they said that they were betrayed by the founder and by the superiors who covered up for him, or did not reveal the truth to them in a satisfactory manner,
as if that were a wrong thing to conclude, while the (good) ones who stayed believed that they chose Christ. Is there an implication here that the (bad) ones who left failed to choose Christ? We believe that even those who left the priesthood after discernment could just as well be choosing Christ and could find their true vocation outside the priesthood. .Forced vocations have not proven to be effective.
The statement about suffering and bearing the shame of other Legionaries
again reminds us of Father Maciel’s tactics of making comparisons to Jesus. The Legion founder pretended that he had been innocently condemned just like Jesus. The statement here provides an image of the current Legionary trainees suffering for the sins of others (just like Jesus). Perhaps this comparison is unintended and if so we apologize for drawing attention.
There is considerable mention in the homily of the suffering of the Legionaries but only token reference to the suffering of others caused by the founder and some others. However, to this day, there have been extremely few details of what specific harm by the founder and other leaders acknowledged by the Legion. Normally, any expression of remorse by the Legion spokespersons have been general statements such as we are sorry for the wrongs that our founder did.
That is like going to confession and saying Father I am sorry for everything I have done since my last confession
and not providing any details. To date, several victims of the founder and of other LC abusers known to ReGAIN are still waiting for significant acknowledgement of what was done to them and there has not been significant efforts made for restorative justice. There seems to be a hidden Macielistic lesson to the newly ordained priests that their own suffering outweighs the suffering of those outsiders who may be hurt by them and their organization and to put their own needs ahead of others.
As an opinion, we would say that the words spoken have shown that there is a lack of true understanding about what it is in the Legion that needs to be reformed. Although there have been superficial changes made to the structure and methodology, the old guard leaders and their attitudes remain; a valid charism remains unidentified; the aggressive recruiting continues; information is suppressed and the members continue to be manipulated to the benefit of the same old people who stand to gain the same old money and power from the members’ efforts.