WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service
By Jerry Filteau
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In a letter made public by an Internet posting in December, Archbishop Harry J. Flynn of St. Paul-Minneapolis informed parish heads that the Legionaries of Christ are "not to be active in any way in the archdiocese."
He also instructed them that the Legionaries' lay associate movement, Regnum Christi, is to be "kept completely separate from all activities of the parishes and the archdiocese." The lay organization should not be allowed to use parish or archdiocesan property for any meeting or program, he said.
The St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese is not the first to bar the Legionaries, a religious order of priests whose approach to ministry and methods of vocations recruitment and seminary formation have been a source of controversy. The Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, has had a similar policy toward the Legionaries and Regnum Christi since October 2002.