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	The Legionaries of Christ Scandal: Did Fr Maciel Have "Accomplices'? By Damian Thompson Telegraph February 12, 2009 http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/damian_thompson/blog/2009/02/12/the_legionaries_of_christ_scandal_did_fr_maciel_have_accomplices Thomas Peters, a bright young Catholic who writes the American Papist blog, has posted an extraordinary account of a Mass celebrated last Sunday in the United States by the head of the Legionaries of Christ, Fr Alvaro Corcuera. It gives us a disturbing insight into a scandal that is arguably far more serious than that involving one loony SSPX bishop. Fr Corcuera succeeded the disgraced founder of the Legionaries, the Mexican Fr Marcial Maciel, who was sent into exile shortly before he died a year ago following revelations of sexual assaults against seminarians years earlier. Now we also know that Maciel fathered a child in his 80s. And a senior Legionary spokesman has suggested that he may have had "accomplices" inside the movement. This is a terrible shock for the 800 conservative Legionary priests and their 70,000 lay supporters in the movement Regnum Christi. The problem is much worse because the movement had established a vigorous cult of Fr Maciel even while he was still alive. They were preparing to lobby for him to be made a saint, and encouraged Pope John Paul II to brush aside the claims about the seminarians. But Pope Benedict - to his great credit - realised that there was substance to the claims and acted swiftly. Even so, the Legionaries still acted as if their founder was the subject of calumny – until last week, when news of his illegitimate daughter became known. Then they had to confront truths that, it seems likely, some of them had hushed up. So the Mass described very fairly and clearly by Thomas Peters was an important occasion for the American Legionaries and Regnum Christi members who attended it. Fr Corcuera, the Legion's general director, intended it as a "healing" occasion. Peters writes: There were about a dozen Legionary priests concelebrating, one of whom acted as a translator for the majority of Fr. Alvaro's homily (which lasted almost 40 minutes). Fr. Alvaro never moved quickly. During his homily he cracked several jokes, which received a great deal of reaction (I would suspect because they released the tension of the occasion). At times he was animated, at other times he was convicted, sometimes searching for words, and at other times making apologies for his poor English skills. Before and during the Mass, I saw many people with worried, drawn faces. I saw several women on the verge of tears and with tissue. During important points of the homily, one of the priests appeared to have his mouth open in disbelief, transfixed. I have to say I felt very much an outsider during the Mass. Perhaps people recognized me and knew I was not in the movement. Indeed, after the Mass a friend approached Peters and seemed disconcerted that he even knew it was taking place. (We're not given a location.) You should read the whole of the article, but here are some passages that I found quite creepy: On the topic of abuse, Fr Alvaro said that he does not have any specific access to information, and one cannot know what is true and isn't (here, and at other points I will note, the exact content of his meaning wasn't always clear - I was listening very carefully for what would be admitted, etc., but coming away it's still hazy to me exactly what was said. Things were said, but often not in a definitive way.) Does not have any specific access to information? I don't believe that. And then, at the end of Mass, the entire congregation knelt and recited this prayer: Lord Jesus, you have entrusted to us the mission of furthering the Legion and Regnum Christi. This mission comes to us as an utterly free, unforeseen, mysterious reality, out of all proportion to our abilities. Since the Legion and the Movement will be vigorous and will flourish as long as the spirit of our founder is present and active in our lives and behavior, we ask you to open our eyes to the urgency of learning, assimilating and passing on the doctrine, spirit, apostolic methods, genuine traditions, discipline and lifestyle of the Legion and Regnum Christi, just as our founder has made them known to us, since this is our responsibility. Lord, help us to adhere totally to the charism you inspired in our founder. We ask from you what you ask of us: faith, great faith in your work, love for it, trust in its mission, docility, loyal collaboration, humility, a sense of responsibility, and fidelity. Amen. After which, Fr Corcuera was applauded. Incredible. The kindest thing I can find to say is that these people are in denial. But perhaps the victims of Fr Maciel might not put it that way. Let me just quote that line again: "Lord, help us to adhere totally to the charism you inspired in our founder." Fortunately, not all Legionary priests are in denial. Yesterday, we learned the following from Spero News: Following the recognition of the misdeeds of Legionaries of Christ Founder Fr. Marcial Maciel, Fr. Thomas Berg, LC, has written a letter to Regnum Christi members acknowledging their the feelings of confusion and betrayal and lamenting the "disastrous response" to the crisis provided by the Legionaries’ leadership. He also apologized directly to Maciel’s victims, appealed for help in reforming the Legion and demanded an independent third party investigation to discover any Legionaries who may have been "accomplices" to Fr. Maciel’s misconduct. Fr Berg is absolutely right. And perhaps now the time has come for Pope Benedict - who acted wisely in the case of Fr Maciel at a time when Cardinal Sodano and other curial prelates were lauding him - to make a statement on the subject. The lifting of the SSPX excommunications was justifiable, though very badly handled. A cover-up by a powerful and wealthy new movement of a long history of sexual abuse by a potential "saint" is a very different matter. If there were "accomplices", as a senior Legionary priest implies, who were they?
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