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By ReGAIN staff and contributors
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Calling all Catholics! FRAUD ALERT! “Catholics Come Home”!
Please, do come home,
but don’t get mugged by the Legion of Christ on the way to the Church or your home!
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One of our researchers opened up the email today and there was a newsletter from “Catholics Come Home”. Here is a link to the “Catholics Come Home” email blast letter; it can be found advertising in the bulletins of the wealthy parishes across the USA: Our May News Brief & How You Can Get Involved! Right next to an unctuous appeal to “God’s Grace and YOU” for money and the “please support us” button, there is this boast: “We are excited to announce that Catholics Come Home has won another Telly Award, which honors the very best film and video productions as well as TV commercials.” It goes on to merrily state that out of 13,000 entries, “Catholics Come Home” was chosen for the honor.
But before you donate to these evangelizing (and sentimental) infomercials, there are double fraud alerts that you should know: 1) “Catholics Come Home” is a of Legion of Christ front, founded in Regnum Christi-country, Roswell, Georgia, by a Mexican woman named Yolanda, and 2) the Telly Awards are bogus, they are awards-for-cash, not merit. But there is a pretty statue that your “winning company” can get (if you’re willing to pay for it); it looks very much like the Emmy Oscar. It should be similar because the same company that makes the Oscars, also makes the Telly Award statuettes. The Telly Award works like a vanity press; it is a money making scam and publicity stunt that requires up to $400 to enter, and if you enter you win — gold, silver or bronze — and then can get a “Telly statuette” for an additional $250 and a certificate (that you will need to frame yourself) for $45. Their site claims to get @ 20,000 applications and also states that the funding for the statuettes comes from donations. If this is so, then the Telly Awards is raking in $10,000,000 (20k x $500 = $10,000,000). Not bad. Type in “Telly Awards, scam” there are plenty of Caveat emptor warnings about this “image-laundering” scheme that has become a common-place phenomenon as the Internet marketing has expanded. There are also “religious wars” where, as in this site, the ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses are blasting the “Watchtower” magazine of the JWs for purchasing a Telly Award. http://jwsurvey.org/general-information/watchtower-stoops-to-new-low-purchases-telly-awards-statuettes-and-publishes-phony-quote-on-jw-org/comment-page-1
Although the Catholics Come Home organization does not do direct harm — any more than Matthew Kelly or Christopher West — all tend to have less-than-right intention; they are trying to persuade people to trust the package, the advertisement/storefront. And the “package” gets paid well; Matthew Kelly makes between $20,000 and $50,000 per speaking engagement, and Christopher West has received a princely percentage of the Ascension Press (backed by Legionary money) which has advertised widely in Catholic parishes, publications and media. They are — all of them — in the pocket of a financial power using religion and good will as a respectable cover for a discredited entity; all are funded either by affiliates of the Legionaries of Christ/Regnum Christi or funded directly by the LC/RC directly. “Catholics Come Home” is fraudulent on several levels — the most obvious is the “come home” appeal is like a fox inviting the chickens into the den. It is nothing but a way to get information on a new market of needy people and to channel these people and their resources to other covert LC/RC fronts within the parishes, which are usually wealthy.
And the deceit goes even deeper into a network of fraud: most are interconnected with the Ave Maria Mutual Funds, which had the financial backing and investment of Tom Monaghan, which is common knowledge, but what is less known is that Tom Monaghan (founder of Legatus as well as Ave Maria University) was a part of the original Integer business consortium that was founded by the disgraced, late founder of the Legion, Maciel himself, along with several Monterrey,Mexico and American businessmen — including Luis Garza (Previous Legion of Christ Superior General) ‘s family. It is a network of phony philanthropy. The Telly Awards serve the same function as the Acton Institute and the Cardinal Newman Society do for one another. Both Acton Institute (founded by Alejandro Garza La Guera) and Cardinal Newman Institute are also LC/RC fronts/affiliates; they give mutual image-laundering and probably money laundering as well. The Cardinal Newman Society and Acton Institute offer recognition to the top colleges and top 50 Catholic high schools. The REAL purpose of both is to give credibility to shady activities and to spotlight the Legionary/Regnum Christi schools. There may be 40 other non-LC schools on the list and 10 that are LC/RC, but the whole exists for the recognition of the ten. The fraud-line gets even longer in the school department. The Regina Caeli Academies (hybrid home-schools) are Regnum Christi educational foundations; the director is a Regnum Christ woman. Moreover, Regina Caeli Academies toot their horns as being accredited and approved by NISAC. http://www.homeschoolaccreditation.com/ NISAC is nothing but a dude and a shack in California. NISAC is to the Regnum Christi Schools what the Telly Awards are to the Catholics Come Home organization; NISAC is not a legitimate and respected accreditation organization. It is a paid-for company that is meant to look like NAPCIS (National Association of Private Catholic Independent Schools), which is legitimate. This is what the LC/RC schools do — they create a fraudulent entity for “authority” and most people do not bother to find out if that is a legitimate organization or not — especially when ALL of the LC/RC creations copy-cat and look very much like other organizations that really are legitimate.
Universally, however, you can be sure that the little “donate buttons” are on ALL the LC/RC websites, including “Catholics Come Home”. The existence of “Catholics Come Home” is to go after the un-churched market that knows nothing about Maciel. While we’re at it, if we are making a list of fronts, we might do another article in the future on the fraudulent missionaries, FOCUS, which belongs there too; FOCUS originated in Regnum Christi and continues to be administered and backed by Regnum Christi/Legionary members and money. Using unpaid student labor, FOCUS charges upwards of $50,000 to come to one location, and the FOCUS 990 tax information reports millions of dollars in assets. Thirty million is not bad for a grass-roots effort. Those who are supporting and promoting organizations like FOCUS, Cardinal Newman Society, Acton Institute, and Catholics Come Home usually do not know what they are doing or to whom or what this organization is connected. However, thieves tend to keep their own company, even if they try to look respectable, even likeable — rather like the “homeless” guy with a cardboard sign at the side of the road.
if you have any contacts at Holy Spirit prep school in atlanta you need to talk to them. today.
Maybe YOU are this forum’s contact at H.S. Prep. Do you have anything to contribute to this conversation? The ReGain site, and many of the written articles, are the result of pooling the information and observations of what amounts to hundreds of years of experience of the bad-faith of this deceiving enterprise. It is not just one individual, but the collective voices of many former employees, seminarians, priests, parents and siblings of those who have been enthralled, duped and cheated out of their money, their innocence, their trust, their intellectual property, and sometimes even their very lives; in every case, their faith has been abused even if they escaped sexual abuse. Being silent is the certain way to ensure that this entity will prevail. Please speak up, because our voice and testimony needs to be heard for the sake of others and to give witness to the Truth. What do you have to say about H.S. Prep? Today?
I found it interesting that Fr Idler of Camden Diocese is the Director of Regina Coeli hybrid home school in Georgia. I remember all too well how angry Bishop McHugh became after a so called “Parent’s Rights” conference the Diocese sponsored as a ploy to frighten parents into enrolling into the Diocesan Parochial schools. Parents were given copies of a horrible booklet that featured hand drawn sketches of lurid sodomite acts along with street names and descriptions of the act on the opposite page. The audience was assured that these are what their children would be taught in the public schools and urged to register the children in the Diocesan schools immediately. Afterwards a woman from the audience went to the microphone and suggested the alternative of home schooling. When the Bishop arrived and heard what happened he fired the Diocesan school Superintendent on the spot. a pastor in the Diocese told me it was a ploy by the Diocese to increase registrations and revenue that failed. now the Diocese has a priest remotely running a hybrid home school funded by the Legion?
i wonder if the Diocese profits from this endeavor or just the priest?
http://www.rcahybrid.org/About/BoardOfDirectors
I am a current family at Regina Caeli Academy and there are clearly some wrong facts here. First, The director of
RCA is not Regnum Christi.
She is, in fact, ex Regnum Christi and the RCA community shares some
Of the concerns raised here.
This is why we don’t allow LC priests to hear confessions, for example. This is why RCA explicitly does not align itself with any apostolate.
The comment regarding Fr. Idler is clearly slander and should be removed.
He is one of several board members and this comments suggests otherwise and a nefarious relationship that is unsupported by fact and is clearly scandalous.
We have been an RCA family for nearly a decade. We are not affiliated with any order or apostolate. So this article, as you can imagine, evokes a very strong response from me. Why would you assert such things about the director and Fr. Idler without ANY proof? I have been “on the ground” with these people for years and nothing could be further from the truth. I do hope that you will remove this slanderous post. There are enough problems in the Church without adding baseless accusations against good and decent Catholics.
I do not follow this website but was sent this article from a friend and honestly, you all have trust issues. Criticizing the Church and accusing Christopher West and Matthew Kelly of bad intentions? Who are you to judge their intentions?? The Devil is sure busy at work here in this arena and I pray you all can heal from the abuse you have received because it is serious, but don’t drag others down from your neglect to care for yourself. I pray you all see that the Church is not at fault, humanity is. May God bless you each.
Google Regina Caeli Academy lawsuit, and see the allegations of many acts of financial indiscretion. We were enrolled in Regina Caeli Academy years ago, and left, along with many other families over the years, due to almost cult-like control tactics and lack of transparency. Beware!
T,
I have been at RCA for years and never had this “cult” experience, in fact we LOVE the safe family environment with the media and modesty policy and find it in keeping with the GOSPEL.
My family has needed a community for support and love and the families of our RCA campus have been nothing short of Christ like to our family in a very trying time.
Do you seriously think that just because someone makes a claim(or files a lawsuit) it is truthful….clearly in this case it was NOT which is why it NEVER made it to court. One of these “claims” claimed that Mrs. Beckman took her eight children to Rome on RCA’s dime during the official study abroad pilgrimage, since I was PERSONALLY on this trip I can ATTEST THIS WAS A LIE. I think it would be quit difficult to hide eight children from the group! Her eight children were NOT with us…this was totally made up. In fact Mrs. Beckman’s trip was paid by the tour company not RCA (which it could have been since she was our leader!)These claims were false and porpostriqous. Your motivations are suspect…since SO MANY families have been very happy at RCA for many years and our graduates are going on to do great things in the church. “You will know them by their fruit” NOT BY GOOGLE searches on unfounded claims….anyone can file a lawsuit and make claims in this country it doesn’t make them true. I’d BEWARE of people who repeat gossip that they find on the internet.