The Legion Is in Disarray Betrayed by Its Founder, Sandro Magister, Chiesa, February 16, 2009

The Legion Is in Disarray. Betrayed by Its Founder

Sandro Magister
Chiesa
February 16, 2009

http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/215098?eng=y

New revelations about the second life of Fr. Marcial Maciel. He was not only guilty of sexual abuse, but also had a lover and a daughter. The Legionaries of Christ are in danger of collapse. Some are calling for an apostolic visitor. Or for direct intervention by the pope

ROMA, February 16, 2009 – For about a week and a half, an unusual letter has been circulating among the 800 priests and 2500 seminarians of the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, and also among the 65,000 lay members of the Regnum Christi apostolate, present in 30 countries around the world.

The letter is from the superior general of the congregation, Fr. Alvaro Corcuera. In it, he writes that "we are living a time of pain and suffering." And he asks everyone for forgiveness.

At the origin of this suffering is the founder of the Legionaries and of Regnum Christi, Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado (in the photo), who died one year ago at the age of 88, and was buried in his birthplace in Mexico, the village Cotija de la Paz.

In the letter, his successor, Corcuera, recognizes "all the good" achieved by the founder: "Through the charism he passed on to us, many people have received from God what has given meaning to our lives."

But immediately after this he writes:

"It is also true that he was a man, and these things that have hurt and surprised us – and I don’t believe we can explain with our reason alone – have already been judged by God."

Not another word, in the letter, about the "things" mentioned. But everyone in the Legionaries and Regnum Christi already knows: Fr. Maciel had a daughter, a young woman now just over the age of twenty living in Spain, born from a relationship that was not sporadic, but regular, between the priest and a lover he had.

The news did not come from the outside, but was discovered during a secret internal investigation. And it fell with unprecedented, explosive force on a congregation already shaken by a previous earthquake: this was also determined by the founder's conduct.

* * *

The conclusion of this previous tremor came on May 19, 2006, when the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, with the express approval of Pope Benedict XVI, ordered Fr. Maciel – who had retired a few months earlier as superior general of the Legionaries – to dedicate himself to "a reserved life of penitence and prayer, relinquishing any form of public ministry." Because of his advanced age and poor health, he was spared a canonical trial. But his guilt was recognized de facto: Fr. Maciel had sexually abused many of his young followers over a span of a few decades.

Both Fr. Maciel and the new directors of the congregation obeyed the order. But they have never publicly admitted the truth of those accusations.

But now that more transgressions have been revealed, the congregation's representatives say they consider the allegations to be true. In early February, the spokesmen of the Legionaries admitted them on a number of occasions. in the United States, Jim Fair told the "New York Times" that "we have learned some things about our founder’s life that are surprising and difficult for us to understand. We can confirm that there are some aspects of his life that were not appropriate for a Catholic priest." And in Rome, Fr. Paolo Scarafoni, former rector of the "Regina Apostolorum," the congregation's pontifical university, told the newspaper of the Italian bishops' conference, "Avvenire": "The discovery of these troubling aspects is certainly painful. But this takes nothing away from the work founded by Fr. Maciel, which if anything is a demonstration of how the Lord is able to use even imperfect instruments."

These last words reveal completely the serious question weighing upon the Legionaries: the terror that the disgrace of their founder could capsize the entire mission.

After the sentence in 2006, both the Legionaries and the Holy See did everything they could to separate the fate of Fr. Maciel from that of the congregation and apostolate that he founded.

But it was grueling work, in a community very closely connected to its founder since the beginning: he was followed, imitated, and almost venerated for decades as a model of extraordinary virtue for each and for all.

Today, after the discovery of more inappropriate behavior on his part, the endeavor has become even more difficult.

Fr. Corcuera, the current superior general, issued an appeal in the letter he recently sent out, to "see all of this from the perspective of the Heart of Jesus," and to "look forward, without stopping or growing tired of doing good."

But his authority has been deeply shaken. Fr. Corcuera was always extremely close to the founder. The latter's misconduct inevitably reflects back on him, and on other leaders in the congregation.

In part for reasons of personal conduct, therefore, the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ no longer seems to be capable of managing its own recovery.

Some of the priests who are highly respected in the congregation – Thomas Berg, Richard Gill, and Thomas Williams – see no solution other than an authoritative intervention by the Holy See.

Fr. Berg, the director of the Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person, has published an open letter in which he denounces the general collapse of confidence in the congregation's superiors, and calls for an apostolic visitor to be named by Rome, who would take command, determine the responsibilities of all, and impose the reforms necessary to save the good and get rid of the bad.

If this were to happen, it would be the Vatican congregation for institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life, currently headed by Slovenian cardinal Franc Rode, that would appoint the visitor and implement his guidelines.

But some do not trust a curia that today – the case of the Lefebvrists is instructive – is showing itself in a very bad light; and in the specific case, since Fr. Maciel's conduct came under observation in 1998, has repeatedly done more to hinder the investigations than to bring clarity.

In order to overcome the latest resistance, in 2006, it took a direct order from Benedict XVI to require Fr. Maciel to retire to a penitential life. The secretary of state at the time, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, defended the founder of the Legionaries to the end.

And now, for all the more reason, is the pope himself the only one who can save what is salvageable? This is the view of a famous Catholic American intellectual and a great admirer of the Legionaries of Christ, George Weigel, a member of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington. He expressed this opinion in a commentary published on February 9 in the online edition of "First Things," the most "Ratzingerian" of the Catholic magazines in the United States.

In Weigel's view, only a strong personality appointed directly by the pope and answering only to him can work with reasonable hope of rebuilding the Legionaries of Christ, "for the sake of the entire Catholic Church."