AveWatch
February 25, 2009
http://avewatch.com/?p=114
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Ave Maria School of Law Chaplain Fr. Michael Orsi is back on the radio, this time on a station that will allow him to be heard in both Detroit and Naples, Florida. According to AMSL, Orsi will have his own studio in Florida, and will work toward “a daily morning broadcast live from the School”. Get ready south Florida and Diocese of Venice; you’ll be able to hear lots more stuff like the following from Tom Monaghan’s perpetually “agitated” priest (links go to story and audio):
- on sexual molestation
- on immigration
- on the sexual accountability of minors
- on discrimination
- on immodest dress and rape
In his February 7, 2009 radio program, Orsi shared his opinion of the perverted double-life led by Fr. Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaires (Regnum Christi). We have an MP3 of those comments. We will also draw parallels between those comments and the deposition testimony provided by Ave Maria School of Law Board member Kate O’Beirne on the “BoysCherries” gay pornography incident. (Click below for more…)
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Chaplain Orsi’s analysis of the scandalous harm that Maciel inflicted on innocents and the Church can be summarized as follows:
* the Legion does “an outstanding job” with their “loyalty to the Holy Father”
* it is “too bad that it happened”… but “God can write straight sentences with crooked lines”… example “King David”…
* “I’m not going to judge his soul and you shouldn’t judge his soul either”… “He may be in heaven right now. Let’s pray that he is.”
* “The guy goofed up and did a bad thing.”… “We’re all big goof-ups in one way or another.”
* Those who demand that the Legion be transparent and forthcoming are on a “bandwagon” for “prurient interests” and “dirty laundry”
The voice that you hear in the following clip is Chaplain Orsi, AMSL’s “Research Fellow in Law & Religion”, who is a Catholic priest with a Doctorate in Education.
+ Orsi on Maciel - MP3 (3 min., 25 sec.; 1.1 MB)
Prurient - “having or encouraging an excessive interest in sexual matters”. So, for all the perversion wrapped-up in Fr. Maciel’s double-life, those who would seek to understand the fullness of how this scandal occurred are, paradoxically, now the ones accused of “having or encouraging an excessive interest in sexual matters”. Such defensiveness makes one wonder if Orsi can distinguish between judging souls and judging actions.
Orsi ended by asking “Why do you have to embarrass a whole group of priests and brothers who are wonderful wonderful people?” Again, what we see in Orsi is an orientation toward clericalism and the avoidance of embarrassment rather than the seeking of justice and the purification of a holy priesthood. This primacy for the priest’s position, rather than for the victims’, is not inconsistent with his advocating for ephebophile priests who are attracted to teenagers: “With our belief in the infinite value of even one Mass, can we afford not to allow even the condemned to do what God appointed them to do. The bishops and the laity shouldn’t forget that these priests are still and always will be God’s chosen ones.”
Contrast Orsi’s “I don’t wanna hear all this bad stuff” approach with that of Diogenes who wrote, in our opinion, the most cogent analysis of Maciel’s deception and the Legion’s weak response (hat-tip, Fumare). Excerpts:
This is not on account of Maciel’s sin of sexual weakness, nor even on account of the sin of denying his sexual weakness. The fact of the matter is that Maciel was publicly accused of specific sexual crimes, and that out of moral cowardice he enlisted honorable men and women to mortgage their own reputations in defense of his lie.
Many of the greatest saints were repentant sinners. Yet not only did Maciel (as far as is known) go to his death without repenting, but he used wholesome Christian spirituality as a tool in the deception of others.
The article is worth reading in its entirety. Notice Diogenes’ concern for deceiving others, and the reputation of others… things that don’t make it on the radar at Ave Maria. Diogenes offers a brilliant analogy for the confusion that arises when a well formed conscience tries to spiritually “write straight” with Maciel’s “crooked lines”:
Or consider a woman whose husband ingeniously hid his infidelities from her for many years. Once she realized she had been deceived, the gifts he brought back from his business trips would be understood to have been instruments in that deception. Far from cherishing the jewelry he gave her, she’d feel that the diamonds now mocked the affection and fidelity they symbolized.
In our opinion, Fr. Orsi’s position is akin to saying “Hey look, you got some nice necklaces out of the deal. Quit the judgmental complaining about your husband’s soul.”
Those affiliated with Ave Maria’s leadership have a long history of favoring prestige and position while dismissing concerns for deception and injustice among the powerless brethren within their shared conservative orthodox Catholic circle. The following is a 2004 snapshot from the Legion’s website that, for years, defended against accusations of Maciel’s sexual abuse:
Consider these statements from two individuals listed above who also served as prominent Ave Maria Board members and staunch defenders of Tom Monaghan:
LETTER OF DR. MARY ANN GLENDON
(Board member, Ave Maria University; Author for Ave Maria University Press)
May 23, 2002
The recent revival of long discredited allegations against Father Maciel would come as a surprise were it not for the fact that the U.S. is currently experiencing a resurgence of anti-Catholicism. One would have thought that Father Neuhaus’s meticulous analysis of the evidence in First Things had put the matter to rest once and for all. As one who sat near Father Maciel for several weeks during the Synod for America, I simply cannot reconcile those old stories with the man’s radiant holiness. The most powerful refutation, however, comes from the spiritual vibrancy of the great organization he founded, and the thousands of lives that have been touched and transformed by the men and women he has inspired. As Our Lord has told us, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” That irresponsible journalists keep dredging up old slanders is perhaps best viewed as a tribute to the success of Regnum Christi and the Legionaries of Christ in advancing the New Evangelization.
LETTER OF FR. RICHARD JOHN NEUHAUS
(Board member, Ave Maria University; frequent defender of Monaghan management [1,2])
8 March 1997
I thank you for the statements regarding the scurrilous charges that have been lodged against Father Maciel. In recent years, I have come to know and respect most highly the work of the Legionaries, both in this country and in Rome. One cannot help but be greatly impressed by both the discipline and the joy evinced by so many young men who have followed the vision of Father Maciel in surrendering their lives to Christ and His Church. I confidently pray that your apostolate will survive and flourish long after these terrible attacks have been long forgotten.
Glendon was wrong. Neuhaus was wrong. And not just wrong about Maciel and “the man’s radiant holiness”, but also about the people they accused of being anti-Catholic, irresponsible slanderers who were the source of nothing but attacks. What about the harm that Glendon and Neuhaus did to the reputation of those who were proven correct? To what extent did Glendon and Neuhaus ever entertain, much less seek, any evidence to challenge their smug superficial knowledge of Maciel?
It is reminiscent of Kate O’Beirne’s slothful lack of effort in understanding the Law School’s BoysCherries incident that Chaplain Orsi invited upon the institution. O’Beirne’s deposition testimony will be the focus of AveWatch’s next installment:
“I don’t wanna hear all this bad stuff”, Part II: O’Beirne & BoysCherries
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