Sheila’s Story, Part X

This is one of a thirty part exposé on the Children of the Legion. This group of women, then girls, in the Regnum Christi, share their stories of abuse, neglect and the aftermath of being children in the Regnum Christi. For a complete list of stories to date, view Children of the Legion.


The next year and a half I spent going through my old experiences and actually letting myself question and doubt them.  I had, in the past, googled “Legionaries of Christ” to try to find my favorite meditation pages… only to find that several of the top ten links were anti-Legion websites.  At the time I had been horrified to find out that “we had so many enemies.”  It seemed then that it would be a sin of doubt to click on those links.  But now, with RC no longer having any hold on me, I went back and found all those sites.  I read testimony after testimony on the various forums I found.  And it all made so much sense.  Continue reading “Sheila’s Story, Part X”

Sheila’s Story, Part IX

This is one of a thirty part exposé on the Children of the Legion. This group of women, then girls, in the Regnum Christi, share their stories of abuse, neglect and the aftermath of being children in the Regnum Christi. For a complete list of stories to date, view Children of the Legion.


I arrived at college as avid an RC member as ever.  My roommate was RC also, and we intended to support each other.  That was tested right away, as we found out that our college had banned Regnum Christi from campus and would not allow Legionary priests on campus either.  (At the time this was very puzzling to me.  Who could possibly object to RC, especially on  our nearest RC center was hours away.  And worst of all, when we called the consecrated there and asked if they would be willing to come to our area ever, they told us, “Start a team yourselves.  Continue reading “Sheila’s Story, Part IX”

Sheila’s Story, Part VIII

This is one of a thirty part exposé on the Children of the Legion. This group of women, then girls, in the Regnum Christi, share their stories of abuse, neglect and the aftermath of being children in the Regnum Christi. For a complete list of stories to date, view Children of the Legion.


I woke up the next morning a different person.  I had left home as bubbly, happy, irrepressible, irresponsible 14-year-old.  I came back a much older, sadder, more serious, and shyer 16-year-old.  I was coming back to a different family, too — I now had a younger brother.  Everything seemed weird and different — like it wasn’t at all the family I had left, but a new family I was going to have to adjust to.

I kept up all my prayer commitments and did more than required.  I also continued wearing only skirts and never pants.  Continue reading “Sheila’s Story, Part VIII”

Sheila’s Story, Part VII

This is one of a thirty part exposé on the Children of the Legion. This group of women, then girls, in the Regnum Christi, share their stories of abuse, neglect and the aftermath of being children in the Regnum Christi. For a complete list of stories to date, view Children of the Legion.


Remember Juanita, the consecrated woman who was always pestering me at sports? Well, she was also my housework supervisor. It was her job to come into the conference room, which I cleaned every day, and nag me to work faster. Since I took considerable pride in my work and knew I did a good job, it drove me crazy. One day, I just lost it. I was tired of humbly apologizing for not doing a better job when I WAS doing a good job, as I saw it. Continue reading “Sheila’s Story, Part VII”

Sheila’s Story, Part VI

This is one of a thirty part exposé on the Children of the Legion. This group of women, then girls, in the Regnum Christi, share their stories of abuse, neglect and the aftermath of being children in the Regnum Christi. For a complete list of stories to date, view Children of the Legion.


I left you all on a cliffhanger at the end of Part V for quite a long time … sorry about that.

Changes were pretty frequent during those years. The school was still relatively new — I think less than ten years old — and we were still working out what the rules would be. So we would be called into the conference room and told, “Spiritual direction is now spiritual guidance,” or “Section I and Section II are now called ECYD Section and Regnum Christi Section,” or “Your ‘face-to-face’ is now your ‘PC Prospect.'” Continue reading “Sheila’s Story, Part VI”

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