Category: Member Testimonials

Anonymous – LC Mistreatment of Sexually Abused Member

December 24, 2004

I was in the legion of Christ for five years. I was recruited by them at the age of 13 and entered their novitiate at the age of 16.
The entire five years of my experience with them was one of manipulation and abuse. I was physically, mentally, emotionally, humanly, spiritually and sexually abused.

Sexually Abused by Legionary Priest and Legion’s denial and put down of victim

I was abused in 1995. November 2000 is when I first spoke to my counsellor about this after I had read the Hartford Courant account of Maciel’s abuse: the technique used by my pepetrator was eerily similar. I reported it to Vicar General, Fr. Luis Garza, via the Chancellor of my Diocese in April 2001. The chancellor acted as facilitator on my behalf. No action was taken by the Legion except Luis Garza ‘interviewed’ Fr. X who denied everything. Garza wondered how I could have come up with such a story. Intimidated and quite vulnerable I let it lie until I had better processed the whole ordeal. I then reported the incident to the Irish Police April, 2004.

What has added insult to injury has been the Legion of Christ’s stance on this all along. They called me a liar and did not pursue my claim. Their only procedure was to present the priest with my claim, which he denied. They stood by him, even though he was recently appointed director of a Legionary primary and secondary school in Medellín, Colombia; was superior of his community there and also director of the Regnum Christi Movement Youth Section at a national level. It was not until I approached the police that they took any action.

Generational Sexual Abuse in LC

What has also been a particular weight on my shoulder is that it is so easy for a superior or priest of the Legion of Christ to sexually abuse someone in their care. Not only are they covered up, but the entire system – in my opinion, created by a pedophilic monster for his own personal harem- lends itself to this from its abuse of obedience, silencing, and manipulation of conscience. I worry that it can have happened or be happening in any Legionary seminary in any country at any time.

Sexual abuse has been reported to have taken place in their minor seminaries in Spain and in the USA during the 1980s and 1990s. The minor seminaries are boarding schools for boys aged 11-16 who show interest in being a Legionary priest.

The abuse I suffered was very similar to the abuse reported by nine other former legionaries at the hands of the founder Marcial Maciel in the 1940s and 1950s. The same scenario of the abuser being ill and needing ‘medical assistance’ in the form of a ‘massage’ in the groin in the middle of the night was present in both cases. My abuser had only recently been ordained, and this happened in the mid 90s.
My abuser was my Novice Master. His novice master was a child seminarian under Maciel at the time of the first allegations and possibly a victim of Maciel. My abuser’s Novice Master has also been recently questioned about sexual misconduct and abuses at the time my abuser was his novice. I am convinced that my abuse was institutional and third generation, that my abuser was abused, and that his abuser was also abused.

Redressing the Abuse

At this point in time, my abuser has apparently voluntarily left the Legion of Christ and has returned to be with his family. I see this as a good thing, as it means any contact I desire to have with him, towards reconciliation, will not be interfered with/intercepted by his superiors, nor will he be told what to write or how to reply to me.
While I have had a lot of support and advice from the Irish Diocesan Church –I was abused in Dublin, Ireland– they tell me that only the Legion of Christ can investigate my abuse because that is the law of the Church. I have explained my frustration about this because the present head of the Legion of Christ is the same Marcial Maciel.

I wrote to the head of the Congregation for Religious and Apostolic Life in the Vatican formally asking an external investigation be made, but I have no reply nor acknowledgment of my letter as of yet.
I am angry because I believe that if the Vatican had listened to complaints made against Maciel in the 1970s, the 1980s and indeed the 1990s, I would not have been sexually abused. They are in part responsible for my abuse and the subsequent hell.
They still make no effort to reasonably address this ‘issue’ to the satisfaction of either the victims or of the public.

I don’t know what else I can do to prevent others being abused, to help others that have been abused and have left the Legion or are still there – such is the manipulation of the individual in the Legion and dependence on the Legion system, that to think about leaving is worse than death.

I have been in therapy for more than three years to address these wounds, and am moving along slowly. I have within the past year notified the police of my sexual abuse and have achieved that the priest in question be removed from his position as a priest and he is at home with his family, inactive until the investigation is complete. I am frustrated and despairing, but finding strength from my endeavors to achieve justice.

P.S.

March 24, 2005

Dear Regain, I thought it might be an idea for an ‘editor’ to update the article simply by saying that the Congregation for Religious Life replied to my letter with some general suggestions six months after my writing to them.

Anonymous – Consecrated Regnum Christi Member Gives Reasons For Leaving After 25 Years

Deception, contradictions with Church doctrine, loss of critical thinking ability, stifling rules, total surrender of free will and conscience, mindless obedience, withholding of important information, justification of white lies because the ends justify the means, spying on others leading to a form of slander, lack of trust, lack of concern about members? health or need for rest, constant excessive work load, spiritual arrogance, false charity, dictatorial form of governance. These are some of the reasons provided as reasons for leaving consecrated life in Regnum Christi after 25 years of religious life in a letter from an anonymous consecrated woman that has been posted on El Trastevere Blog at: Click Here to See Letter in Spanish A Googelle English translation is provided on life-after-rc at Click Here For (Rough) English Translation

ReGAIN cannot verify the authenticity of the letter because the writer?s identity is being protected. However, all the issues raised in the letter are typical of those mentioned in the many previous articles and testimonies here on the ReGAIN website.

The consecrated woman who wrote this letter mentions her sense of relief and the moral freedom she experienced when she learned from Fr. Luis Garza (in 2009) about the immoral life of their founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel, after he had been held up as a flawless example for so many years. She realized that her ability to discern and think had been overruled by her obligation to offer excessive obedience to her superiors and especially to the founder. Her promises of obedience and charity prevented her from critical thinking. To criticize the founder had been considered unthinkably wrong on several levels because of the structure of her movement that required blind obedience to her superiors over and above her promises.

After the consecrated women were advised that they were free to have outside spiritual directors, those who wished to do so found that there was no practical way of implementing this freedom. The structure they lived in (e.g. solemn promises of poverty and obedience and their constitution and rules) did not provide a means for them to go back and forth to an outside spiritual director.

The writer comments that in spite of the strong wording of the Vatican communiqué on May 1, 2010 so far there have been only superficial changes. Click Here To See Vatican Communique The writer questioned how the founder who according to the Vatican communique led a life devoid of scruples and true religious sentiment had been allowed to shape the way so many of his followers think and behave for 64 years.

ReGAIN editors and other friends who are close to the situation share this lady?s concerns about the way the renewal has proceeded so far.

One of the key issues identified in the 2010 communique was the need to review the exercise of authority, which must be joined to truth, so as to respect consciences. The letter provides personal testimony that the oppressing demand for obedience and (false) charity (still) trumps a person?s God given gift of free will. The letter serves to indicate that the control of peoples? thinking and behaviour by their superiors has not yet changed significantly.

The mental, emotional and spiritual anguish that are expressed in the letter are heart wrenching for those who have personally experienced these conditions or for those who still have family members who remain.

The issues raised in the letter point out the devastating effects of mind control in a spiritually destructive environment.

For more information about mind control Click Here For ReGAIN Article

We wonder how a person who has devoted so many years of her life to serve an unscrupulous megalomaniac?s false and self serving dream will be able to make such a dramatic adjustment to a new life outside of her isolated environment. In this case after 25 years of absolute poverty, it would be difficult to make a new start unless there is financial support from family members or outside friends (whom she has been isolated from for years). We know that she will carry emotional scars from her experience for many years and will be challenged to put the pieces of her spiritual life back together.

Should the Legion (with estimated assets of $30 billion) or Regnum Christi have some obligation to provide assistance to those who have given everything they had, sincerely believing that they were brides of Jesus?

It is difficult for outsiders to know what it is like on the inside because of the extreme secrecy. It is only from the stories that we hear from those who share their testimonies when they leave that the outside world can discover what goes on behind closed doors. These stories tell of injustice that has gone on for too long and now there needs to be a real renewal over and above the modifications to the constitution that are being planned over a long term.

 

Steve Skojec – Some Observations on the Legionary Situation From Inside Catholic May 03, 2010

Steve Skojec shares his experience with LC / RC
By Steve Skojec – Inside Catholic.com
Certain events (in his experience with the Legionaries) led me to the inescapable conclusion that that I had become a party to and a victim of their manipulation and deception. I left and became one of their most vocal critics?.
To read more about Steve Skojec’s experience with and opinions about the Legion and Regnum, Christi his article may be seen at:
Steve Skojec-CLICK HERE

A.L. – Chain of Sexual Abuse in the Legion of Christ

Editor?s Note: As of March 05, 2010 there has been no response from the Legion to the below letter:

Portstewart
BT55 7JJ
N. Ireland

14th December 2009

Dear Alvaro Corcuera,

I have been following very closely recent developments in the Legion of Christ regarding Marcial Maciel over the past few months, indeed years.

Recently former LC and Maciel victim,  Juan Jose Vaca, told me about your recent phone call with him. This has prompted me to write to you directly.

I was a Legionary for five years – two years in Dublin and three in Salamanca. In 2001 I made a complaint to Assistant Superior General, Fr. Luis Garza Medina, about the sexual misconduct of Fr. Eoghan Devlin LC (no longer a priest). I made this complaint with the assistance of the vicar general of my Diocese – Down and Connor.

The Legion?s response at this time to my detailed complaint of sexual abuse was inadequate and hurtful. The Legion of Christ simply asked Fr. Eoghan Devlin if what I said was true. Of course, he denied this, and the Legion simply believed him and asked me how could I come up with such a story.

I retreated into myself and continued to try and heal through counseling, provided by Faoiseamh, an Irish Charity for those abused by Clergy. This charity is funded by CORI – Conference of Religious in Ireland, and by some Catholic dioceses.

The fact that Fr. Eoghan Devlin LC – in spite of my serious complaint against him – was still allowed to exercise authority as a superior in Medellin, Colombia, S.A., as director of the senior and junior school there, as the head of the Regnum Christi juvenile section made me sick. I worried so much that he would continue to hurt other trusting young men.

In 2005 this led me to report my complaint again, but this time to the Irish Police. I was encouraged and assisted to do so by the Child Protection Services of the Dublin Archdiocese. This was a very big decision for me to make – the prospect of going to court, of having to tell publicly what happened to me etc. was very frightening. Nevertheless, I decided that I could not live with the fear that Eoghan Devlin would continue to abuse – that he got off with it.

Again the Legion of Christ’s response was inadequate. Fr. Luis Garza Medina phoned me within 24 hours of knowing that I had made my complaint to the police, and he told me on the phone that the Legion had never had a complaint of sexual abuse brought to them before my complaint, and that the Legion of Christ did not know how to behave appropriately.

I do not believe for one moment that the Legion of Christ had not had any complaints about sexual abuse brought to them. I know that Fr. Luis Medina Garza told me a bare-faced lie.

Further correspondence from the Legion by roving ombudsman,  Fr. Raymond Cosgrave, was also misleading and deceptive: the Legion invited me to speak with an independent person for the purposes of information gathering. The Legion mentioned the name of the person as Johanna Merry but failed to point out that Johanna Merry is usually referred to as Dr. Johanna Merry and is a psychologist. It also failed to mention that it was paying Dr. Merry.

When I found out this information, my mistrust of the Legion prompted me to reject these requests. Why would the Legion employ a psychologist for the purposes of information gathering and not disclose that this person is a psychologist? Why not, for example, appoint a notary or solicitor to gather the information? I had already provided the Legion with very detailed information; I was satisfied that they had more than enough information on which to act. Was the Legion trying to evaluate me psychologically without me knowing?

I had made the same detailed complaint to the police and local health services. Why did I need to make it again, in person, to the Legion when the Legion had rejected my complaint, when the Director General of the Legion, Fr. Marcial Maciel – a known child abuser – was still in charge of the Legion?

The Legion of Christ also rejected my many requests in my correspondence with you. I requested that you send me a copy of your protocol regarding your process upon receiving complaints about sexual abuse. By 2005 I know for a fact there were other cases of similar complaints. I felt that my correspondence to the Legion of Christ was unanswered and ignored.

I learned that in Medellin, Colombia, where Fr. Eoghan Devlin LC was then assigned, a letter had been sent by the directors of the male and female schools to all the families of the schools that they were not to believe any false rumours that were circulating, and that they should only accept the truth from the directors themselves. I know that Eoghan was removed from his ministry because of the police investigation, and I know that this fact was known to some families in Medellin. Families were told by the Legion that Eoghan had left to go home to visit his family, that there was illness in his family in Ireland.

The Legion and RC members in Colombia told lies about this situation to the families of the children in their care. Your duty was to make everyone know about my allegations so that other victims might have the courage to come forward, and for the Legion to offer full support to them.

I wonder why you covered up with lies the truth about Eoghan Devlin to the families in Medellin.

I learned that Eoghan left the priesthood and the Legion of Christ and, even though the department of public prosecution deemed that there was not enough evidence,  actually this was a relief for me. I found some closure in knowing that Eoghan was no longer working with children, nor could he be protected by the Legion.

Nevertheless I was worried that once again he lived in the same country as me – would I bump into him? Would he look for me? I learnt also that he was receiving a substantial monthly payment from the Legion of Christ. This angered me.

Going to the police and thereby removing Eoghan from ministry and taking him away from children really meant a lot to me. This helped me heal. It is unfortunate that I had to go the police in order for this to happen. I hoped that my initial complaint in 2001 would have done this. Indeed, if you had acted properly at that time, this part of my healing would have taken place sooner.

In my detailed complaint I made known my concerns about inter-generational abuse in the Legion. I will reiterate my concerns to you now, upon learning of a possible new generation of abusers in your institute.

In your phone call to Juan Jose Vaca you ask his forgiveness from Juan for the abuses perpetrated by Fr. Marcial against him and the others. You have not said this directly, but you imply that you acknowledge that Maciel sexually abused him and the others as children and young adults. If you believe this – I can only presume so as you have never said this – then you will share my concerns.

Here is how I see the chain of abuse:
Marcial Maciel sexually abused Fr. William (Guillermo) Izquierdo, who would later be Novice Master in Dublin,  when William  was a minor seminarian. Other victims of abuse are witnesses to this – they have told me this directly, first hand.
Guillermo Izquierdo went on to sexually abuse one of his Irish novices,  P. M.K, who also told me this first hand.
Guillermo Izquierdo was also sexually inappropriate with I. C., whom he asked to strip naked in his bedroom and wait on his kneeler for Fr. William to inspect him. This was given as a penance in confession. Again I.C. was brave enough to tell about this directly.

It turns out I.C. was with Eoghan Devlin in the Dublin novitiate under Fr. William (Guillermo) Izquierdo.

That is to say that Eoghan Devlin made his novitiate under a known sexual abuser, in an environment where sexual abuse of minors took place.

I am convinced that Eoghan Devlin was one of Fr. Izquierdo’s victims. This explains to me how he copied the abuse that Maciel subjected his victims to. Eoghan once mentioned to me that serial sex abuser Fr. Maciel treated Eoghan specially when he visited the LC in Dublin; which might lead us to believe that Fr. Maciel abused Eoghan as well…

Another Irish-born LC priest from our same generation has recently – months ago – been accused of posing highly sexually inappropriate questions to children and adolescents he worked with in the Instituto Irlandés in Mexico City. These detailed questions about sexual fantasy, about the size of the children’s penises etc. are an echo of the questions that Eoghan Devlin asked me in his process of preparing me – grooming me – for abuse. As I stated in my detailed complaint, Eoghan asked me questions such as these.

This recently accused Irish LC priest was a novice with me under Fr. Eoghan Devlin Novice Master.

This latest news re another possible sexual abuser from my generation has greatly upset me and caused me considerable anxiety.

I want you to know that my life has been interrupted greatly since I joined and subsequently left the Legion. I am still at counseling, still have nightmares, am still trying to understand the effects of sexual abuse on me and all my relationships.

I turned to other ex-legionaries for help and support, and found over and over again so many hurt people. The website www.exlegionaries.com was a great help and resource to me. When the Legion of Christ sued ReGAIN, INC in August 2007 to shut that discussion board down and send it into cyber oblivion, it was another blow. It is a great shame that you denied so many people a means to heal. In the light of recent developments and acknowledgment of Maciel’s plagiarism, I would hope you allow that  discussion board to be restored as it was originally and repay the legal costs to those affected.

I am angry, and it is so unfair that my life is still on hold. What do I have to do to heal? What do I need to change my life and live again? When will the Legion and Fr. Eoghan be a closed chapter in my past?

  • As a victim, I believe that the following will help me greatly:A sincere and detailed apology. An apology which acknowledges and names the wrongs done to me by the Legion. This must include an admission that I was abused and that my reporting of this abuse was mistreated by the Legion.
  • I believe that you should make a substantial financial contribution to the organisations that have paid for my counseling over the years. I have been fortunate enough in that I have received high quality and very helpful counseling for free since 2001. I am angered that the resources of charitable people and organisations are being used by me when I feel you should be paying for this.
  • I believe you should make financial restitution for the effect my abuse and the Legion’s response to my complaints have had on me and continue to have on me.

Alvaro, I too was a Legionary of Christ. I blindly and devotedly followed Our Founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel.  I believed his every word and held him to be a living Saint. I ate the scraps off his plate when I served him as guest waiter. I cried thinking about what sacrifices he made in his life.

I would have died for the Legion.

Like you, I have learned a different story about Fr. Marcial Maciel. I learned about his excessively luxurious lifestyle, about his sexual abuse, about his disregard for anyone around him, his drug use, his lying, his not writing his famous Letter and Psalter (Cartas, Salterio),  etc., and so much more.

Please believe me when I tell you that finding out the truth was a terribly painful experience for me. My whole world collapsed.

I do not want any of this pain any longer – I want you in the name of the Legion to respond adequately to my complaint of abuse and help me forget about the Legion and forget about what happened.

Give me resolution.

Hopefully,

A.L.

A.L.’s original testimony on Regain Website may be found here

(Article reviewed and edited by co-editor on February 20, 2020)

Anonymous – A Catholic Father’s Lament For His Regnum Christi Daughter

July 2008

 

I remember one of the first things that I noted on the Regain website when I discovered it several years ago was the checklist for cults provided by Father Cronin. I had taken several courses previously about cults (never thinking that there would be any in the Catholic Church). As I went through the check list it helped me to confirm that our daughter (a 3gf Regnum Christi member since 1988) was in a cult.

She had gone on a trip to find herself and we were expecting her to come home eventually. She was a bright light in our family – a sharp mind and a wonderful joyful sense of humor. Our family always gathers for special occasions such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, special birthdays, picnics, camping expeditions, family holidays as well as for special spiritual events such as baptisms, first communions and, of course, for marriages. Our daughter never returned from that trip. We grieve continually in a similar way to families who have someone missing. She is alive but has been taken from us for no reason. Whenever we meet together for any occasion, we know that one of us is no longer available to us, except for two days a year.

There is no great joy when the 2 days come because she is different and cannot really enter into the spirit of things with the rest of us. It is NOT because she is holier than us. It is not because she is serving God in some special way. If she were working for Mother Theresa’s order of nuns in Calcutta, we would have some sense of there being a purpose for her absence from our family. Is she an evangelizer as she thinks or a brainwasher as some of us believe? Is she a teacher or is she becoming a manipulator?

We concluded some time ago that there is no question that Regnum Christi is a CULT that serves an elite group of people to achieve power and money for them. I believe that they operate as wolves in sheep’s clothing. Just as the sexual abuse committed against the original children who had put their trust in MM was about power and not sex, there continue to be new victims who lose their free will and their ability to live normal lives and have friends and live in a loving family environment so that the heads of RC can have more power politically and in a spiritual environment. They say Catholic things and associate with Catholic leaders and they profess Roman Catholicism to give them respectability. The brainwashed members sometimes achieve things that serve the Church and give them some legitimacy. But underneath, I feel that there is no real difference between what RC does and what Scientology or the Moonies do. They promote elitism, they isolate, they are manipulated into idolization of the phony image of a false megalomaniac pedophile saint, they don’t have health insurance, they use a buddy system, they use spiritual direction as a weapon of control, they deceive, they control behavior (through rules), information, thoughts and emotions the same way other cults do.

Most unfortunately, I feel that the Roman Catholic Church, which proclaims itself to be the one and only true apostolic Church that provides justice internally has some rotten apples in the barrel that have been successful in sustaining this life destroying cult as an integral part of the Church. To me it is like a festering gangrene on the Body of Christ that must eventually be cut off if the Church is to remain healthy. The current reform by the Church including elimination of the secret vows, reducing their targeting of younger teenagers, etc., will not make a significant difference. I think this would be like the government going to the Mafia and getting them to stop selling drugs to 12 to 14 year olds. If they comply, they would still be the Mafia. A total reorganization of RC including replacement of the entire leadership and a new spirit – a new mission (no longer parallel to but in harmony with the Church) and run by truly dedicated experienced people with some limitations on their personal power and money they could extract from it. In the meantime, our grieving for our lost daughter goes on as key leaders in the Church continue to turn a blind eye.

 

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