ROME
National
John L. Allen Jr.
Speaking of the sexual abuse crisis, when Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado declined reelection on Jan. 20 as head of the Legionaries of Christ, some observers concluded he did so to avoid sex abuse charges directed against him by several former members, or that he acted under Vatican pressure.
Just yesterday, however, the Vatican’s top official for religious orders was full of praise for Maciel and the Legionaries. Archbishop Franc Rodé, a Slovenian who serves as prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, celebrated a Mass Jan. 27 marking the conclusion of the Legionaries’ General Chapter at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
“I extend a warm greeting to all the participants in the third ordinary general chapter of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ,” Rodé said. “I greet especially the new director general, Fr. Álvaro Corcuera, and his council, who assume the leadership of a tested and powerful congregation, with an undeniable apostolic dynamism and a penetrating vision of its present and future mission in the church and the world.”
“A particular greeting is directed to Fr. Marcial Maciel, who was the instrument chosen by God to carry out one of the great spiritual designs in the church of the twentieth century,” Rodé said. “Esteemed and beloved Fr. Maciel, after having exercised with great prudence, wisdom and firmness the task of director general for more than 60 years, you leave the leadership of the Legion in younger hands, with the legitimate sense of having fulfilled your duty like a true soldier of Christ, accompanied by the veneration and gratitude of your children. I am sure that fidelity to the many precise norms you have left to the Legion of Christ, which make her a model of harmony and maturity, will continue shining in the congregation like a beacon of light for the generations to follow.”
I have a story in the Feb. 4 print edition of theAbuse Tracker about the potential impact of Maciel stepping down on the Vatican investigation of sex abuse charges against him. Subscribers can access that story on the NCR Web site on Feb. 1.
Posted by kshaw at February 1, 2005 07:21 AM