Undiscerned Sexuality and Vocation in the Legion of Christ/Regnum Christi: Recent Testimony

Boys being recruited into the Legion of Christ/Regnum Christi Federation 2023.
Kevin O’Sullivan spent seven years inside the most secretive Catholic organisation in living memory – The Legionaries of Christ. He thought he was going to spread love and compassion: he ended up among disinformation and lies. He fled to save his sanity.

RECENT (2023) PHOTO OF YOUNG BOYS JOINING THE LEGION OF CHRIST/REGNUM CHRISTI FEDERATION JUNIOR SEMINARY/APOSTOLIC SCHOOL IN MONTERREY, MEXICO

Note that they are receiving their “uniform” which they will wear during 4 years, even when they visit their homes; they are being set aside to “discern” (cultivate)  their religious and priestly vocation” beginning at age 11.

 

 

 

If you do not want to know your true self, by all means join the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi Federation.

They’ll just tell you you have a vocation and “carry on until we tell you otherwise.” But if you want to be brave, the Spirit will take you in another directions and tear down your sandcastles in the sun.

Here is a very well written and very insightful testimony for those you want to be honest with themselves. It takes a lot of guts to write this; but it is worth the pain and the effort to find you true self, the self that God created, the self the Legion of Christ does not want you to discover – because you will no longer be useful to it.

From Amazon:

<Kevin O’Sullivan spent seven years inside the most secretive Catholic organisation in living memory – The Legionaries of Christ. He thought he was going to spread love and compassion: he ended up among disinformation and lies. He fled to save his sanity.

This is the story of how Kevin found, and then lost, his religion, and how he lost, and then found, his sexuality. On the way, the young teenager clings to what his mother has taught him: to be a good boy. The journey brings him face to face with difficult truths, and ultimately to a far deeper knowledge of himself, as he finds out who he doesn’t want to be.

It’s a story full of hope about discovering what matters to each of us, even if we don’t like some of what we find.>

!URGENTE!.. Atencion ex-miembros de Grupos Coercitivos/Manipulativos/High Demand/Sectas/Cults!

AYUDAR CON UNA ENCUESTA AMBICIOSA E IMPORTANTE SOBRE EL IMPACTO DE ESTOS GRUPOS
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A todos los ex miembros de grupos coercitivos/manipulativos, os pido encarecidamente que colaboréis en este ambicioso estudio. Con vuestra participación estáis colaborando en avanzar en la elaboración de nuevas herramientas de evaluación para avanzar en este campo. Este estudio ha sido elaborado por investigadores de tres universidades españolas. Os pido que por favor, colaboréis con vuestra participación. La participación es confidencial y todo se hace “online”. Sólo es para ex miembros, no para familiares. Muchas gracias de antemano por colaborar. Os dejo a continuación la descripción y el enlace:
Estamos estudiando los grupos abusivos, sus prácticas y los efectos que producen en sus miembros. Para ello resulta imprescindible conocer a fondo las experiencias de las personas que habéis sido miembros. Por eso te pedimos que reserves un rato en los próximos días para contestar el cuestionario online que encontrarás en el siguiente enlace web:
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Por favor, distribúyelo también entre todos los exmiembros que conozcas para poder conseguir resultados significativos que muestren la relevancia social del fenómeno. Se trata de uno de los estudios más ambiciosos sobre esta temática. ¡Necesitamos tu ayuda!
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Muchísimas gracias,
Omar Saldaña, Álvaro Rodríguez, Carmen Almendros y José Miguel Cuevas
Universidad de Barcelona, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid y Universidad de Málaga
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Estudio AP exmiembros | Web Survey Tools
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Is the Regnum Christi Movement a “Safe Religious Community”?

Safe Religious Communities

By ReGAIN staff

What are the guidelines to use to evaluate whether or not a particular religious group may be considered “safe” in the sense that a leader or groups of leaders do not exploit or take advantage of its own members to serve some hidden agendas?

In the latest issue of ICSA Today, the International Cultic Studies Association has published an article about safe religious communities. http://www.icsahome.com/articles/a-safe-haven-church-an-introduction-to-the-basics-of-a-safe-religious-community

The author, Neil C Damgaard, defines safety (for members of religious communities) as “the practice and sense of security, freedom and respect as one is joined and engaged with a particular social system or a specific group.”

He explains that in healthy religious communities God’s grace flows outward from Him, through His people, to the general community.  In unsafe religious groups, instead of grace there exist “control, undue influence, harshness, legalism and other unhealthy maladies.”  Such practices damage and injure people even though the groups and their leaders espouse theological orthodoxy.  Discernment is required to distinguish between two groups that may appear to have similar beliefs yet one is healthy and the other is damaging.

Mr. Damgaard provides an example of a pastor of a religious group who was a gifted speaker but was highly controlling and legalistic.  As a result of the leader’s manipulations, fifty of his group became damaged and hurting and they left the organization.  The leader called the group of fifty “trouble-makers”.

The article describes a number of basic features that a potential member or family member can use to assist in discerning whether the group’s members are in or would be in a safe and healthy environment.

Following is our summary of some of the things to look for based on the above article:

  1. Generally Relaxed Environment – Is there a rigid dogmatic legalistic uptight atmosphere or are people free to enjoy a spirit of lightheartedness where people are able to express joy and to laugh?
  2. Regarding essential elements of the religious denomination, are there clear distinctions made between primary, secondary and tertiary doctrinal priorities or do members feel that they are obliged to consider all of the group’s teachings as absolutely and equally essential?
  3. Are members allowed and encouraged to question group’s teachings and is there an openness to have intelligent discussion about anything they may feel uncomfortable about?
  4. Is there an environment where forgiveness is normally expected to be offered or are there ongoing grudges?
  5. Is there a healthy sharing of power among the group leaders?
  6. Is there a healthy balance of power between the leaders and members of the group?
  7. Are there periodic changes of individual leaders in different levels of authority in the group or is there an individual or small group who retain tight control?
  8. Are the group leaders open to sincere and honest questions from the members in a transparent manner and is there any withholding of information?
  9. Is there a good balance of formality and informality in the group and allowance for humor?
  10. Is there genuine friendliness with strangers?
  11. Is there excessive focus on expanding membership (and fund raising)?
  12. Is there a healthy relationship with the parent organization, (e.g. the local parishes)?
  13. Are members free to leave without undue pressure to remain?

The author concludes with a caution to watch out for legalism, a feeling of being report-carded, excessive monitoring of accountability, heavy handed authority or oligarchy (concentration of power with a small elite group).

We encourage those interested in this topic to read the entire article for a more accurate presentation of the information covered.

 

ReGAIN Comment

Considering the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi (especially the 3gf consecrated) two questions come to our minds as we read the I.C.S.A. article.

During the decades when Fr. Marcial Maciel was in control, were his organizations safe and healthy?

Since the appointment of a Vatican delegate and a renewal, are these organizations safe and healthy for their members today?

The first of these questions is easy to answer based on the hundreds of articles on this website and the many articles written by credible authors over the years.  ReGAIN and other websites were started and some have continued because of concerns about what we and many ex members and some Catholic Church leaders consider unhealthy and unsafe conditions for members.  Our primary concerns are based on what we believe to be the loss of free will and the excessive level of dependence required for the Legionary priests and the consecrated members of Regnum Christi.

We are aware of the psychological, emotional and spiritual abuse many of them have suffered and the sexual abuse that some former members experienced when they were very young from the very founder of both organizations.  The abuses were carried out within a secretive, isolated and militaristic environment.

Since the Vatican became directly involved, we recognize that there have been some improvements in the conditions.  Consecrated members are now allowed to have more time with their family members. The number of written rules and the rigidity of following those rules have decreased.  Members receive their mail unopened.  We are aware that there are other changes being considered.

We continue to have a high level of concern regarding the freedom of mind and the independence of consecrated members and can offer several of our reasons as follows:

In our opinion, neither the Legion nor Regnum Christi has ever existed primarily to serve God and humanity.  Because of the good intentions of individual members, there are some good fruits that happen but we believe that the fundamental purpose of the upper echelon of leaders has to do with money and power for themselves.  One obvious indication of this is the huge accumulation of wealth that has been reported by Jason Berry and other writers in Grupo Integer, the financial wing of the Legion.  If the primary purpose was to do good then there would be more to show for the enormous amounts of fund raising associated with the Legion.

Until the Vatican intervened, we believe that the Legion showed little if any initiative or strong desire to have more freedom for their members.  The Legion/Regnum cooperated with the Vatican because if they wanted to continue as Catholic organizations they were forced to.

In the years between when the senior leaders of the Legion discovered about their founder’s secret lives, they chose to pretend that he was a saint and continued to encourage their members to believe he was a living saint.  They treated outside critics as “evil detractors” and discredited them in various ways.

During the years of scandal and uncertainty they kept on recruiting new members as if there was nothing wrong.

The Vatican commissioner’s limited scope of work was primarily to oversee the writing and approval of new constitutions.  The commissioner’s expertise was in canon law and financial matters.  His primary role was not to investigate and reform the cultic methodology and structure.  Some improvements have been made that resulted from his review of the regulations but we question whether there is a strong will among the leaders to make the types of changes needed to truly create a safe and healthy environment.

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