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  Legionary Reaction to Maciel Revelations Adequate?

American Papist: Not Your Average Catholic
February 3, 2009

http://www.americanpapist.com/2009/02/legionary-reaction-to-maciel.html

This morning I confirmed rumors that have been circulating the Catholic blogosphere for several days that Legionaries of Christ founder Fr. Marcial Maciel fathered at least one child and was guilty of leading a "double life."

In that post I said:

"....the Legionaries of Christ have some hard decisions to make with regards to how they respond to this crisis concerning the founder. The eyes of the world are on them, and the prayers of the universal Church are with them. It is somewhat encouraging to see that the current head of the LC's personally saw to it that a thorough investigation took place. Now let's hope they follow through on their discoveries."

I went on to say:

"... there remains a serious charge to be made about how the Legion has handled the allegations of misconduct against Maciel up to this point. Something along the lines of renouncing Maciel as their spiritual founder or perhaps spiritually "re-founding" the order might well be the appropriate response. For a start."

Unfortunately, the first response from a Legionary-affiliated official is deeply dissapointing:

CNA contacted Legionaries of Christ spokesman Jim Fair, but received no specific confirmation of any allegations.

"We've learned some things about our founder's life that are surprising and difficult to understand," Fair told CNA on Tuesday.

"We can confirm that there are aspects of his life that weren't appropriate for a Catholic priest.

"Obviously he had human feelings but it remains true that through him we received our charism, which has been approved by the Church.

"Our commitment remains and we're going to go forward and love Christ and serve the Church," he remarked.

Fair continues:

Asked to verify the specific allegations, Fair replied:

"Fr. Maciel died over a year ago and obviously whatever has happened is between him and God and God's judgment and mercy, so we're going to let him take care of that."

"I know that there have been rumors about are we somehow denouncing him. Obviously we are not. Fr. Maciel was and always will be the father of the legion.

"One of the mysteries of our faith is that God sometimes works through flawed human beings."

Canon Lawyer Edward Peters (my father, for new readers) responds in a post entitled "Memo to the Legion: We are NOT idiot children":

"Is this how the Legion of Christ, even today, is going to act when confronted with grave questions of Maciel's whole life? Is Legion leadership really going to continue talking to the Catholic world as if it were inhabited by idiot children? If so, and notwithstanding my deep sadness for the fine Legionaries I know, there really is no hope for the institute."

I agree. The leadership of the Legion is at a crossroads. They owe it to the souls they serve to forthrightly admit the failings of their founder publicly and then fully confront the consequences of these revelations internally.

Also, regardless of what the Legionaries do, the Vatican can well be expected to say something as well. This is a pastoral crisis for the members of the Legionaries and Regnum Christi. Rome has the authority and power to compel the Legionaries to change their ways, starting today, and Pope Benedict has already involved himself before in LC affairs, as I outlined in my first post.

update: and by the way, lest we forget, this is how the Legion announced his death: "[we] announce the departure of [our] beloved founder, Father MARCIAL MACIEL, LC to heaven on January 30, 2008."

Announcing that your founder is in heaven may need to be revised, in other words. Make no mistake: I pray that he is. But presuming that he is, as a community of Christian believers, does not seem prudent here.

  
 
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