The writer was absolutely appalled a couple of days ago when coming across an appeal for winter heating oil for the Cheshire novitiate in an amateur video posted on YouTube
In the video the tall, white, well-informed American brother is introducing the little dark ignorant, naive Mexican brothers to the Holy Novitiate and warning them about the cold winters; cold winters which will require a large amount of heating oil to prevent them from suffering from that cold Connecticut winter….think of chilblains for the poor tropical dark-skinned and diminutive Mexicans.
Sounds and looks to me like a total lack of cultural sensitivity, task and basic respect.
And this is posted just as news breaks of the Legion of Christ´s off-shore holdings of millions of dollars
Dear Lord, how long is the innocent and naive Catholic community going to take this and continue to contribute to an order whose yearly budget is on equal standing with the Vatican´s budget for the whole Church. Correct me if I am wrong.
Feel free to comment and discuss; with numbers, if you so wish
This makes my blood boil! If this was a legit order maybe they’d have a real seminary with heated rooms.
We had friends whose son was in Cheshire 11 years ago & the men were making videos of how cold it was INSIDE the house. Looks like some things never change——reformed Legion?! BS!
I find this so culturally insensitive, in tune with the Legionaries´ lack of empathy and human kindness; and always the same old song: “Money, money, money”
This video is a disgrace in so many ways. There is the cultural insensitivity that has already been mentioned. There is also the obviously insincere ‘ham’ acting between 1.27 and 1.45 – this section is embarrassingly bad and clearly staged. And of course there is the utter dishonesty of the Legions’s claim of poverty – the implication that the organisation is so poor that the novices will freeze unless generous benefactors come forward. I believe that at its height the Legion had assets of about $1 billion, and although that sum is no doubt now diminished, the suggestion that without ongoing donations novices will freeze clearly suggests that financial mendacity is a habit that those who run the legion cannot throw off.
I note that the annual fees at the Legion’s Irish boarding school Woodlands Academy are € 32,889 per pupil, further evidence that the organisation simply cannot be short of money. I am sure there is no shortage of heating oil there, and I am equally sure that the well heeled pupils at the boarding school don’t have to submit demeaning ‘shopping request’ forms if they feel the need for some more socks. But of course the Legion of Christ has always been good at looking after the rich and their offspring.
I feel angry and sick that Ratzinger/Benedict and other senior people at the top of the Catholic Church lacked the courage to simply close the whole Legion/Regnum Christi outfit down in 2009 when it became impossible to deny the ‘filth’ any longer. Such tragic cowardice!
Terry, thanks for expressing what every honest and not brainwashed individual would think. The general public and many naive Catholics just don’t grasp what you are saying. The Legión, for its part, just sent a communique to the faithful Regnum Christi members “explaining” (away) the Paradise papers scandal: “that was Fr Maciel; we closed those accounts (when the Vatican forced them to). They do not say whether they continue to use tax havens, legal or not…
AMERICANS IN GENERAL ARE STRAIGHTFORWARD, TRUTHFUL AND HONEST
What your normal decent person does not understand is that LCRC leadership cadre INHERITED FR MACIEL’S HABIT OF LIES AND DECEIT.
Hard for your ordinary person to believe that this young, handsome, Orthodox, high-Roman-collar priest is LYING THROUGH HIS TEETH!
Yes indeed, ‘Da Man’. In fact the Legion of Christ/Regnum Christi must be quite unique among religious movements in being unable to venerate their founder, in having to admit that their movement was created by a fraudster/sexual deviant, while at the same time claiming that they have a genuine god-given ‘charism’. I can think of no other example of this in human history. My father spent the last few years of his life being looked after by the Little Sisters of the Poor, and his care home, quite understandably, was full of pictures of their founder, Jeanne Jugan. Likewise the Jesuits venerate Ignatius Loyola, and Mormons venerate Joseph Smith. But the Legion has had to remove all forms of veneration to Maciel. (Actually it was very interesting during 2009 to watch the gradual and chaotic removal of references to him from Legion web-sites.) How on earth do those who have remained loyal to the Legion cope with this? Can they really believe that God used a wicked sociopath to create a movement that would “form apostles as Christ formed His Apostles… build up the Kingdom of Christ in society and transform culture.” (to quote from the current Legion website)?
Actually I think at least part of the problem that led to the Church being too cowardly to close down the Legion relates to the canonisation of Pope Wojtyła. You see, it was in 2009 that both the Legion and the Vatican finally realised that they could no longer cover-up the Maciel scandal by telling lies and half-truths (the “habit of lies and deceit” to which you refer). But by 2009 it was full steam ahead for the campaign to canonise the Polish Pope. So nothing could be allowed to raise a question mark over his reputation. The Vatican had to minimise the impact of the embarrassing fact that the saint-to-be had been a champion of the Legion and had referred to Maciel as “an efficacious guide to youth”. Hence the fudge.
And it is obvious from the YouTube video which was the starting point for this thread that the Legion is continuing its abusive attitude to unfortunate vulnerable young people, in this case the Mexican novices, who come under its influence.
Surprised the Legion doesn’t have novices splitting firewood
I lived in Cheshire from 1986 to 1991, as Director of Studies until I assume someone accused me of criticizing the Legion which of course was forbidden by a false vow not to criticize any superior and also to squeal on other considered to have done it.One was accused, judged, exiled to some remote place without ever knowing who did the squealing, what it was about and of course one had no possibility of defending oneself.I was sent to a house just opened in Wakefield R:I. nothing to do. Fortunately, I was able to sign up for a doctorate in theology and make good use of my time.
I remember when I was there the septic tank went bad and the smell around the place was not pleasant. They made an appeal for money and the generous and naive American Catholics who were on their mailing list coughed up the money to have the system connected to the town. On another occasion, on a Friday evening the central heating system gave up and it happened to be the coldest weekend of the winter. Classes were suspended as there was no way one could sit in a classroom. They put the seminarians to work around the place to keep them on the move. I was fortunate enough to have a heater in my room so that I didn’t have to freeze.
Phony money appeals from one of the richest orders in the Catholic Church. In God they do not trust; only in their dollars!