This is one of a thirty part exposé on the Children of the Legion. This group of women, then girls, in the Regnum Christi, share their stories of abuse, neglect and the aftermath of being children in the Regnum Christi. For a complete list of stories to date, view Children of the Legion.
I feel I was lucky: I was 17 when I went and had a drivers license! I feel I was so lucky as I got out all the time and while I was good while out, I was able to get to know the people who came with me! I hosted a reunion several years ago now and expressed how the consecrate really left me alone: I never had human formation my senior year, and went for 4 months without spiritual direction. I remember feeling left out of that, but now am thankful! As more and more continues to come out (when I read about fr Williams I was at work and had to call my mom ASAP!), I keep remembering my mom asking me if they were wrong to send me to the PC- I told her no, it was the best thing for me (I needed to be in school to graduate! – never would have gone to college without the PC!). However, the next question my mom asked me still haunts her: “if you had a daughter and she asked to go, would you say yes?” I said: never…
I think that is one of the biggest things I lost: my mother and I don’t have a close relationship. It was the worst when I first came back post graduation. She wanted a child with a vocation and I was her last hope…. I took a friend home years ago and the friend made a comment that my mother described me but based on her description my friend knew my mom didn’t know me. She described me as she knew me, a 16 year old teenage girl. She has never spent quality time with me after I went to Rhode Island. Between college and getting employed 700 miles away from home, she hasn’t had the chance to live with me for more than a week or so at a time!
I also came from a dairy farm. Honestly, waking up at 6 and sleeping at 9:30 was a luxury for me! I used to get lectures about how retreats weren’t “vacations,” but for me they were!
49 Weeks
This story is a testimony from the 49 Weeks Blog. You can see this and more stories by visiting 49 Weeks.