Legion of Christ/Regnum Christi Not Family, Not Missionary, Not Healing

THE LEGION OF CHRIST NOT A FAMILY,  NOT MISSIONARY AND NOT HEALING! The Legion of Christ, Legionaries of Christ-morphed into Regnum Christi Federation to distance themselves from their pedophile and psychopath founder- is not a family. It is a sect-like, coercive persuasion group, sometimes described as cult-like. Look up in cult-watchers associations: International Cultic Studies Association, Steven Hassan’s Freedom of Mind, Rick Alan Ross’ The Cult Education Institute, etc. where there this organization is tagged as harmful.

THE LEGION OF CHRIST NOT A FAMILY,  NOT MISSIONARY AND NOT HEALING

26 January 2023

Paul Lennon, LC 1961-1984, MA Counseling, Cult-expert 1984 to present

  • The Legion of Christ, Legionaries of Christ-morphed into Regnum Christi Federation to distance themselves from their pedophile and psychopath founder- is not a family. It is a sect-like, coercive persuasion group, sometimes described as cult-like. Look up in cult-watchers associations: International Cultic Studies Association, Steven Hassan’s Freedom of Mind, Rick Alan Ross’s The Cult Education Institute, etc. where there this organization is tagged as harmful.

 

  • Nor is it Catholic and Orthodox in the full sense of the word. Despite Vatican approval -secured by conman Maciel-and two failed Vatican interventions, several US Catholic bishops have forbidden the Legion/Regnum from operating within diocesan boundaries: on the grounds that they are separatists, dividing parishes and families, poaching vocations to the religious life and priesthood, manipulating minors, children and teens, (ECYD), into spiritual direction and confession with unqualified priests (LC) and lay members (RC).

 

  • Not a family in the ordinary sense of the word: one of the most serious accusations against this organization is that it separates members from their families and sometimes separated spouses. One of the rules of the order is that if a member is in a foreign country s/he can visit his family once every five years. Many members have been estranged from their families for much longer.

 

  • Not and never was missionary in the common acceptance of the term: The Legion of Christ has only ever had one mission project: in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. The bulk of its members, clerical and lay, are otherwise employed: universities and schools for the upper classes in upscale neighborhoods in the USA, Mexico, Chile, Spain plus fundraising, recruiting and attending on its priests, seminarians and lay members. What percentage of Legionary priest, religious and lay member work on the Quintana Roo – did I say Cancún/Mayan Riviera- Mission? Why do Legionary priests consider this assignment as less desirable?

 

 

  • The Legion of Christ’s specific apostolate is the recruitment and formation of leaders (business, economy, professions, politics, etc.) to transform society from the top down. See Legion of Christ Constitutions. As such it would be similar to the Jesuits and Dominicans, the opposite to the Franciscans, and the same as the Opus Dei. Take your choice: the Spanish way (Opus) or the Mexican way (Legion/Regnum Christi). A copy of the Constitutions of the Legionaries of Christ is not available for free in English. You have to buy the book. A Spanish language version is. Quoting and translating from the official Spanish:

“4. 3.º  They exercise their pastoral ministry in the areas of proclaiming the faith, education, evangelizing the family, culture and the media, leading juvenile groups, clergy training, and the promotion of justice, charity and solidarity with the neediest; as well the spiritual attention and formation of Regnum Christi members.”[i]

  • Not Healing:

The spiritual, psychological, and financial compensation of Father Maciel and other Legionaries’ abuse has long been a sore point for the Legion, a scandal to the Catholic community and of concern to popes and the Roman Curia. The American media has played a major role in keeping the Legionaries feet to the fire ever since two Catholic reporters brought the abuse to the public’s attention in February 1997. If this had not happened and if the victims had not lodged a formal complaint with the Vatican in 1998, it is the writer’s opinion that these abuses of obscure Mexican seminarians in a Mexican religious order would have gone unnoticed to the international community.  One might suspect that the scandal revealed by American and Mexican media and the formal ecclesiastical complaint lodged by the victims with the help of a Vatican lawyer had much to do with the eventual major Vatican “visitations -euphemism for investigations- of founder Father Marcial Maciel by Monsignor Charles Scicluna in May 2005[ii],  and his religious order by Monsignor Velasio de Paolis in March 2009[iii].

[i] “ejerzan su ministerio pastoral principalmente en los campos del anuncio de la fe, la educación, la evangelización de la familia, de la cultura y de los medios de comunicación social, la animación de grupos juveniles, la formación del clero y la promoción de la justicia, la caridad y la solidaridad con los más necesitados; así como en la atención espiritual y formación de los miembros del Regnum Christi.”

https://legionariosdecristo.org/es/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/CLC2014_final-web.pdf

 

Vatican City, Nov 1, 2014 / 04:21 am

After four years of drafts and adjustments, the troubled Legion of Christ has announced that its new constitutions have been approved by Pope Francis.

The Pope’s approval of the final draft of the new constitutions brings the first phase of renewal and purification to a close after it was discovered that Legion founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel, had been living a double life.

The new constitutions were drafted during the congregation’s Extraordinary General Chapter meetings, which began on Jan. 9 and was mandated by Benedict XVI in the wake of the revelation of Fr. Maciel’s scandalous activities.

 

(…)

These represent the sixth edition that have been approved for the Legion by ecclesiastical authorities. Previous editions were approved in 1948, 1965, 1970, 1983 and 1994.

While the previous statutes consisted of 878 paragraphs, the new ones consist of 247 paragraphs.

The first part of the new statutes is dedicated to the charism and patrons saints of Legionaries of Christ, while the second part describes the four vows every Legionary must profess.

In addition, the Constitutions lay out the steps for formation, the characteristics of suitable candidates to be Legionaries of Christ, the religious profession, the studies, the ordination and the management and administration of the order.

A key difference between the old and the new constitutions are that the old ones included many clauses regarding the application of the norms, while the new constitution focuses more on essential principles.

The initial draft of the statutes were given to an ad hoc commission established by the Congregation for Consecrated Life, whose results were presented by Cardinal Braz de Aviz to the government of the Legion on July 3.

It was also on that occasion that the appointment of Fr. Gianfranco Ghirlanda S.J. as Pontifical advisor for the Legionaries of Christ was made public.

An expert in Canon Law, Fr. Ghirlanda has been among the consultants of the Legionaries of Christ since the very beginning of their renewal process.

Following the suggestion of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the constitutions include references to the documents of the Second Vatican Council as well as other official documents on consecrated life.

The Congregation also asked that clear references to Sacred Scripture and the Code of Canon Law be included.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/30845/pope-francis-approves-new-constitutions-for-legionaries-of-christ

 

[ii] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vatican-abuse-mexico-idUSKBN20R05Z

 

[iii] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-scandal-investigation-idUSTRE52U5XX20090331

Giving voice to Fr. Maciel’s Accusers before they die off (updated 9/16/2022)

 

                  The Best Kind of Witnesses are Dead Witnesses

would seem to be the Legion of Christ’s motto and method

They have left it to the last moment to attempt outreach and compensation to the victims. And only to the victims who will accept compensation on their terms. Those “bad” victims will not be rewarded for their “stubbornness” – or would that be “the strength of their convictions”?

Some of us got together several years ago in Mexico.

I am aware that the below is an extremely poor testimony to the victims, who spent their lives and money seeking truth and justice -and received very little in return!

Paul Lennon

These are some of the men, a few of whom victims, who fought for decades against Vatican and Legion of Christ Silence regarding the Founder’s disreputable life. González-Parga and Lennon were ordained priests in the Legion; the others left disillusioned in the 1960s as seminarians.

(From right)

Carlos de la Isla, from Mexico, one of the first junior seminarians, apostólicos, recruited by Maciel and who began his studies in Mexico City in the 1940s. Carlos and his two brothers joined the Legion as children. It is a fact that one of Carlos’ brothers was sexually abused by Maciel. The father traveled to Mexico City from the heartland to confront the founder. Maciel, as on many other occasions, found a way to deny, placate and slip away from trouble. From that moment on, someone in the Legion knew about his evil inclinations.  But the Great Catholic Houdini would always find a way out of any tight spot and come out smelling like a rose.

Arturo Jurado, early legionary, victim and witness, was one of those unfortunate seminarians who was manipulated by Maciel into finding drugs for his father beyond reproach in Spain and Rome. He left the Legion in the 1960s after being held in seclusion and silenced by Maciel for years, and made a good living for himself as Spanish language teacher and interpreter in California.  On discovering that he has much in common with José Barba,  he  joined forces with José Barba.  He spent years paying his way to Rome with José to  request Vatican  intervention regarding Maciel’s sexual abuse of his seminarians and many other irregularities.

José Barba-Martín, PhD Harvard in Philology, professor emeritus, ITAM, Mexico City  where he held the chair of Political and Social Institutions.  He of the prodigious memory,  spear-headed the accusers cause, aided by Jurado. Their decades-long saga, after meeting with denial, stone-walling and minimization, finally bore fruit in 2006 when Vatican and Pope Benedict accepted their accusations, made no apology to them, gave Maciel a slap on the wrist and ordered him to a life of Penance and Prayer;  to which unrepentant Maciel paid no attention, continuing to live with his paramour and daughter and traveling wherever he wanted by private plane.

(John) Paul Lennon,  believer, friend and supporter of Maciel’s victims; like Domínguez not a victim of sexual abuse. Joined the Legion of Christ in Dublin, Ireland, at the age of seventeen, considered Irish co-founder by Maciel, ordained to the priesthood in Rome, together with eleven others (among which Bishop Brian Farrell and Cardinal Fernando Vérgez), on the 25th anniversary of Fr. Maciel’s priestly ordination, 26th November 1969. Left Legion in 1984 -before he every heard of abuse-  and since then has been a critic of Maciel’s foundation. He was sued for his troubles by the Legion of Christ in the City of Alexandria, VA, USA in August  2007. One lawyer commented: “Mr. Lennon, you have made some very rich people very angry!”

Francisco González-Parga, known in the Legion as Padre Parga, passed away this year in Guadalajara, Mexico, mourned by his wife, Esther. Francisco was one of Maciel’s sexual abuse victims; an enslavement which began in puberty and lasted into his twenties. He was not one of the original group of accusers but came forward in 2005 when Vatican prosecutor, then Monsignor, Charles Scicluna carried out the first thorough Vatican investigation into Maciel’s sexual abuse of his seminarians in Mexico City. By this time Maciel was 85 and the victims in their sixties. Remember that Maciel founded the Legion in 1941, when he was a 21-year old untrained seminarian, and began sexually abusing the 10 and 11-year-olds under his “pastoral care.”

Maciel’s sexual preference was pubertal males. In some cases, if he found them especially attractive he would continue the relationship into the victims’ twenties. Each older victim believed he was the only object of Maciel’s attention… As Maciel “matured” he sexually abused boys who were not his seminarians, later seducing younger, vulnerable females. It would seem he never had an equal-to-equal relationship in his life. All his relationships were controlling, manipulative and exploitative. (See the author’s Breaking Bad article on this page)

(Seated)

Saul Barrales-Arellano, R.I.P., known to his companions as Brother Charity. An extremely kind and helpful person. The story goes that Saul would lay down at night outside Maciel’s bedroom in Rome, Via Aurelia 677, to prevent others from entering and being victimized. Because he once demonstrated a lack of unconditional support for Maciel, the Saint stopped his ordination as a priest, sending him instead into exile on the Canary Islands where he languished alone for months. He finally got help from his family in Mexico to fly home.  He was a headmaster at a Mexico City school and is survived by his dear Tere.

A Little addendum:

Don Alejandro Espinosa-Alcalá with Aura and Paul Lennon on one of our trips to Mexico. Alejandro is a very active original witness to Maciel’s sexual abuse , and has written about it in El Legionario (2006, edit. Grijalbo, Mexico) and El Ilusionista Marcial Maciel, of which I treasure his dedication. Like other survivors, Alejandro has lived in relative, and sometimes abject, poverty since leaving the Legion half a century ago. It seems that at the eleventh hour Fr. John Connor, Maciel’s successor, has been trying to save face by awarding  “Easter Eggs” of ten thousand dollars to the victims, assisting them in their old age, and/or paying for their funerals.

I had mistakenly pointed out Federico Domínguez in the photo. He is not in the photo, but everything that was said of him is true. At one point, Maciel sent him and some other seminarians to Dublin, Ireland, to study at the prestigious Maynooth College. After some time, Federico became disenchanted with the whole Legion project, left the seminary and married a lovely Irish girl, and “they lived happily ever after” in the USA.

Federico Domínguez, R.I.P., one of Maciel’s writers, circa 1955 he reported to Church authorities in Rome regarding some of Maciel’s questionable behaviors; thus provoking the first major Vatican investigation into the founder and his order, 1956-59; Maciel was exiled for two years, but with the help of allies in the Curia (Pizzardo & Co.), was able to return and consolidate his power and control. About this time Maciel conceived the Private Vows (see Berry & Renner’s Vows of Silence), one of which was the “snitching vow” whereby “Never to criticize the person or actions of the superior, and to inform on anyone who does so.” This vow was apparently abolished by the later Vatican investigation around 2010, the spirit may still prevail among die-hard Legion and Regnum Christi members.

MACIEL VICTIMS HELP EACH OTHER! – WHILE LEGIONARIES OF CHRIST RELAX IN LUXURY, THEIR VICTIMS LANGUISH IN POVERTY FOLLOW UP

 

José Antonio Pérez Olvera, José Barba Martín, and Chilean clergy sex abuse victim

(Note Legionaries/Regnum Christi tried to hack this site in July 2019 -shame on them, supposedly operating under the name of Christ!)

MACIEL SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIMS HELP EACH OTHER – WHILE LEGIONARIES OF CHIST RELAX IN LUXURY, THEIR VICTIMS LANGUISH IN POVERTY FOLLOW UP

UPDATE  August 25, 2021   LATEST REPORT FROM VICTIMS

WHILE LEGIONARY OF CHRIST LEADERS FRS. CONNOR, SCHOGGL, ETC., PLAY HIDE AND SEEK WITH THEIR FOUNDER’S SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIMS

José Antonio had to move out of L.A.B.’s home recently because José Antonio caught the COVID-19 virus, and had to retreat to his previous cubby hole… Legion/Regnum of Christ leaders continued to wrangle with Maciel victims over compensation for their sexual abuse, Legion denial and denigration, calumnies and abandonment.

While deliberations continue with Legion/Regnum leadership about the where, the what and the when of compensation (it is believed a total of ten thousand dollars may have been given to José Antonio up to now – while promises are in the hundreds of thousands!), at least one of the surviving Maciel victims has made sure JA has power and phone in his basement. Two kind women have also contributed to the rescue operation in the past few days. 

It appears that Legion/Regnum rescue operations are CONDITIONED BY THE AMOUNT OF DAMAGE CONTROL AND PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES THEIR INTERVENTION MAY AFFORD THEM!

===========

Original posting below:

José-Antonio Pérez Olvera, now 84, and suffering from numerous illnesses, is about to be evicted. His compensation from the Legion of Christ, led by LC (Director) Superior General, Fr. John Connor, USA, amounts to a $5,000.00 US he received last April as an “Easter Gift”.

“Promises, promises, promises”, resound in his aged ears.

Pepe Toño is one of the few remaining victims of Fr. Maciel’s -founder of the Legionaries of Christ/Regnum Christi 60 million dollar budget Movement.

  • The first to die, many years ago was Fr. Juan Manuel Amenábar, a Spanish LC priest who had been close to Maciel all his life until revealing his abuse on his deathbed to then Father Alberto Athié from the Mexico City diocese.
  • The last to die was former seminarian Saúl Barrales, Brother Charity, earlier this year, R.I.P.
  • Just before that Fernando Pérez Olvera passed away.
  • Fr. Félix Alarcón, a Spanish LC priest has also passed away.

LEGION COMPENSATION IN ALL THESE CASES HAS BEEN FROM ZERO TO PALTRY.  “Better for these old men to die off than for the Legion of Christ/Regnum Christi Federation have to disburse money in compensation” (bottom line of Pontifical Delegate, Mons. Velasio de Paolis’,  policy during his visitation 2010. May God have mercy on his soul!  See Velasio de Paolis, WIKIPEDIA, “Pontifical Delegate to the Legion of Christ.”)

A week ago, Pepe Toño wrote to some friends: “What really bothers me is that they are literally evicting me in three days’ time.”

Pepe’s friends are screaming at Fr. Connor to do something. ReGAIN has the awful feeling this will be another case of “Too little, too late.”

And I think of how his perpetrator, Fr. Marcial Maciel, lived out his last days in luxury and pleasure, accompanied by his female lover and daughter traveling freely in the USA and Mexico, despite that slap on the hand from the Vatican in 2006.

August 1-15, most Legionaries are on their “major vacations” which means relaxing at the beach houses of millionaire benefactors in Mexico, Spain, Italy and the USA. I spent mine years ago in Mazatlán; the family left their house to our “community”; this included a captain for the yacht to go marlin fishing, waiters to serve us our drinks at the pool, a cook to prepare our meals and maids to take care of housekeeping…

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Pepe Toño sweats it out, as he waits for the crumbs to fall from the rich man Dives Connor’s table.

 

!La Muerte del Legionario de Cristo Olvidado, P. Raymundo Comiskey : Salvado por “la Amabilidad de los fieles”!

Las Últimos días del Padre Raymundo Comiskey, Legionario de Cristo:
Conversación de John Lloyd Stephens con SAGS, testigo

“I have always relied on the kindness of strangers

Blanche in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar named Desire

Conversacion comienza el 29 de mayo 2015 via Facebook
Conversation started Friday 5/29, 4:45 pm and continued intermittently for over a day.

JLS
Estimada, escribiste del Padre Raymundo y sus últimos años; estuvo el con alquien que conociste. Cuéntame más pues no soy ningún defensor de los LCs and de acuerdo en que prefieren a los ricos; he escrito mucho al respecto, más que nada en inglés.  Cuídate mucho,

JLS, contemporáneo y amigo del Padre Raymundo.

   &&&&&

Saturday 2:08 am

• SAGS
Hola,muy buenas noche

así es soy la hija de la persona que lo atendió durante sus 6 años aquí en Mérida. Y durante todo el tiempo que estuvimos viendo por el Padre Ray lo hicimos con mucho cariño; es verdad humildemente -así como era él- pero nunca le hizo falta nada.

Ni sus medicinas, ni su comida especial, sus doctores.
Eso sí, fue humillado muchas veces por el obispo (Elizondo) y por el Padre. Ibarra. Pero siempre lo defendimos.

JLS:
Gracias, S. Tú estuviste durante sus últimos momentos? Al menos que estuviera en presencia de personas que lo querían…

S.-
Así es
Fue muy rápido todo
Es más a las 8:20 am fue al baño y le preguntamos que si se encontraba bien
Nos dijo que sí
Al igual se le preguntó padre ya quiere desayunar y nos dijo no hija más al rato
Y vimos que se acueste; al minuto escuchamos un ronquido y fuimos corriendo
Y ya estaba muerto

JLS:
él era muy terco y escondía los dolores.
S.- Era el marcapasos que estaba trabajando

JLS: fecha y hora?

S.- Murió el 26 de mayo a las 8:39

JLS: no sabía que tenía marcapasos

S.- Si el Padre Ray tenía marcapasos desde hace tres años. Es más; la última vez que vino a verlo el que se hace llamar obispo lo ofendió mucho
Y ya sabe el Padre Ray no dijo nada. Cosa que no aguanté. Y sí me metí porque no me gustó como lo estaba tratando.

JLS:
Cuando yo lo vi en Enero como que no supo o no quiso explicarme lo de su salud….su mente no estaba clara. !Qué bueno!(que lo defendiste)

S.- (respondiendo a que no sabiamos de su marcapasos)
Así es porque el padre no era de explicar sus enfermedades

JLS: tengo noticias del obispo y de cómo trata (el Obispo) a los padres

S.- Es más; cuando usted vino el Padre Ray estaba tomando medicamentos para la depresión que le dió cuando se fue el obispo (Editor: después de la visita del Mons. Elizondo). Y por culpa de él se le secó un líquido…

JLS- !Qué pena! ?Cuando fue la visita de Elizondo?

S.- Antes de su cumpleaños. No me acuerdo muy bien la fecha. Porque de verdad después de ese día juré que ese obispo no volvería a pisar mi casa para ofender al Padre Ray.
Le hicieron muchas cosas. Y ahora sí se para y dice que cubría todos los gastos. Que el seguro igual, etc.
!Mentira!
Por último, mi mamá vendió el coche para poder solventar los gastos. El padre siempre estuvo atendido por sus médicos que lo querían mucho.
El padre era diabético, dependiente de insulina, tenía marcapasos, le dieron infartos en el rostro. (Editor: parálisis faciales) y le dio neumonía.

JLS: Ray me mencionó algo de una deuda. Pero no se explicaba bien. Y Mons. Bernal me había dicho que los legionarios le pasaban una buena ayuda semanal. Pero resulta que no; así que Uds. se quedaron con una deuda grande.
S.- Así es. Así que el Padre Patricio y amigos del Padre Ray están viendo qué hacer (para solventar la deuda) ya el que Obispo Elizondo y el Padre Ibarra no quieren.
JLS: Sé que hace un tiempo los Padres Patricio y Bernardo recaudaron fondos entre los fieles para los gastos del Padre Ray.
S.- Eso sí que no sabía
JLS: tengo que irme. Voy a ver si yo o el grupo de ReGAIN podemos hacer algo por la causa. Sigamos comunicándonos

Part 2, The Forgotten Legion of Christ Missionary

Part 2, The Forgotten Legion of Christ Missionary

R-C, Apostle of today’s Maya in the Yucatan

by John Lloyd Stephens, author of Incidents of Travel in the Yucatan

===========================

Historical background:                     CASTE WAR 1848-1901, YUCATAN, MEXICO

Chan Santa Cruz Maya.
Mayan territory, circa 1870.
Date 1847-1901 (skirmishes continued until 1933)
Location Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico
Result 1847–1883:
Maya victory, Mayas achieve an independent state.
1884–1901:
Mexican victory, Mexico recaptures the Yucatan.
Belligerents: Maya Mexico, Flag of the Republic of Yucatan, Republic of Yucatan (1847-1848)

The war was declared over several times though hostile conflict between the Mexicans and Mayans continued until 1933

See article with map: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_War_of_Yucat%C3%A1n

=============

RC remembered very fondly his long stint in the town now called Felipe Carrillo Puerto, after the Mexican politician who favored Maya autonomy, once the Mayan Chan Santa Cruz, where he worked for about 15 years.. The author recalls how Fr. Raymond threw himself into that work with so much enthusiasm, “zeal for souls”, call it what you may. RC was always very passionate about what he did, whether that was playing the piano or the organ, organizing a singing group or a choir, strenuously exhorting his parishioners in the stark vaulted church or catechizing the Maya in the surrounding towns. Carrillo Puerto, a Maya stronghold during the Caste War which erupted in the Yucatan Peninsula, was in Ray’s time just another large unattractive town on the road from Chetumal to Cancun. But for him it was his portion and all the people his pastoral responsibility, “saving their souls from eternal damnation” in the face of ignorance, neglect and the Evangelical onslaught.

Ray took his work among the Maya so seriously that he learned Yucatan Maya to be able to celebrate the sacraments in their language. When he went to the pueblos he could baptize and perform marriages in the native language. For teaching and preaching his homilies during Mass he had the help of two great native-Maya-speaking “catechists”: Romulo Esquivel and Audomaro Xix, both of whom had been trained by the Maryknoll Missionaries who came before the Legionaries. Ray remembered them very fondly, together with “Las Madres de la Luz,” bilingual nuns founded by Fr. Góngora, a priest from the diocese of Merida whom early Legionaries had the privilege of knowing. He was the antithesis to Fr. Maciel, being a very quiet and self-effacing man. Ray also named some of the remote towns he had visited with his team, such as Dzulá and Chanca Veracruz where he would drive in his VW jeep.
Our conversation was loose. I gave him rein to reminisce and allow the time for our friendship bond to re-gel. Ray remembered joining the Legion in Ireland in November, 1961. He placed our recruiters and trainers in Bundoran: Frs. Coindreau, Yépez, Angel Saenz, Ramiro Fernandez and our first Legion confessor, Neftalí Sánchez-Tinoco who soon after his stint in Ireland disappeared from the Legion map as happened to many. His fragmented memory recalled my “angel” from that time, Bro. James Whiston, who became a kind of hero to me, being one of the very first Irish recruits. For Ray and me another fond memory that faded into oblivion by means of the Legion’s “selective memory.” Patrick and Willam Duffy came to his mind but not to mine. We both registered lively Noel Slater from that first group. He had lost track.

As I put on my reporter’s hat I found it very difficult to pin down Ray on his recent history. He could not piece together where he had been before coming to live in Merida at his friend’s house. I assumed he had been in Cancun. Perhaps his fire and brimstone homily’s had not been to the liking of his confreres and Bishop Pedro Pablo Elizondo. Ray was not the kind of person suitable for cozying up on Sundays to rich American Catholics at the Camino Real and other luxury hotels. And maybe I would have another opportunity to pick his tired brain.
Before leaving I was able to score another point. He disclosed he had written some materials that he was rather proud of and wanted to have published. It touched me knowing how isolated he was, how out of the Legion mainstream, how out of touch with the world outside, how dependent on his female friend and her daughter at whose house he was living. I showed interest in his writings. He showed them to me and I promised to do something about them.
We called our not too efficient taxi man and made our way back to the hotel zone and our comfortable Wyndham….

Translate »
%%footer%%