Legionaries of Christ Founder, Already Accused of Molestation, Now Reported to Have Fathered a Child, Bruce Tomaso, The Dallas Morning News Religion Blog, February 4, 2009

Legionaries of Christ Founder, Already Accused of Molestation, Now Reported to Have Fathered a Child

By Bruce Tomaso
The Dallas Morning News Religion Blog
February 4, 2009

http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/02/legionaires-of-christ-founder.html

Hard to imagine things getting much worse for the reputation of the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative Catholic order, and a favorite of the late Pope John Paul II.

Maciel, who died a year ago, was removed from public ministry in 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI because of accusations that the Mexican priest had sexually abused more than a dozen seminarians and young priests.

Now, according to this story from The New York Times, the Legion is quietly informing its priests that Maciel had an affair with a woman and fathered a daughter.

Despite the revelations, writes Laurie Goodstein, "most members of the Legion continued to defend Father Maciel, asserting that the accusations had not been proved."

John Paul, who refused as pope to act on accusations that Maciel was a molester, was hardly the only one enamored of the priest. Maciel's order, founded in 1941, grew to include 800 priests in 22 countries.

Jason Berry, an author and the director of a documentary about Maciel, writes in National Catholic Reporter that the Legion's founder "cultivated conservative celebrities and financial figures" for years.

As examples, Carlos Slim of Mexico, reportedly one of the world's richest men, became a major backer of Legion schools, and recently made headlines for purchasing a large block of New York Times stock.

Placido Domingo, the internationally renowned tenor, has sung at Legion fundraisers. William Bennett the CNN commentator is a regular speaker at Legion conferences. The late Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor of First Things, was one of Maciel's staunchest defenders. George Wiegel, a biographer of Pope John Paul II, has been a longtime champion of the Legionaries. The outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Mary Ann Glendon was a prominent defender of Maciel and taught at the Legion's university in Rome.