Chattah Box
July 20, 2009
http://chattahbox.com/world/2009/07/20/legion-order-under-seige-for-sexual-abuse-double-life-of-founder/
ChattahBox)—An extremely conservative cult-like Catholic religious order, named the Legionaries of Christ is under investigation by Vatican officials, after it was found that the order's founder engaged in numerous abuses, including sexual molestation of male seminarians, fathering a child, political corruption, financial mismanagement and the "brainwashing" of young converts.
 |
The order's controversial founder, Father Maciel Degollado, a Mexican national who founded the order in 1941, died last year at the age of 87 amid a growing scandal.
The Legionaries are awaiting an unprecedented Vatican imposed visit referred to as an "apostolic visitation," where a council of bishops will investigate the charges and financial affairs of the order and make a determination to its future survival.
The situation is so dire, and morale is so low, within the ranks of the order and the lay affiliate group Regnum Christi, that Vatican officials may have no choice but to completely close down the far-reaching religious order. The Legion boasts 800 priests, 70,000 lay affiliates and 2,500 seminarians spread across 21 countries, with a huge $650 million budget.
The extreme and secretive cult of personality surrounding Fr. Maciel Degollado formed the backbone of the religious order. And now with the passing of Degollado amid revelations of his shocking abuses, all the while demanding that members treat him as a living saint and adhere to the strictest moral standards, legion members are forced to admit the entire order was based on lies.
The stories of abuses were investigated in 2004, when least 30 witnesses testified that Degollado sexually abused them as youths. In his later years, he fathered at least one child with a woman. And he is accused of bribing cardinals and bishops with cash and expensive gifts to secure influence inside the Vatican.
The young seminarians were forced to take a vow of secrecy to never reveal any information or speak ill of Degollado. The young converts were made to read over a dozen volumes of every letter Degollado wrote, were subjected to brainwashing and trained in an environment of cult-like worship of Degollado.
Finaly in 2006, Pope Benedict XVI issued a rebuke and ordered that Degollado be removed from public ministry and spend his remaining days in prayer.
Despite the scandal, the Southern Catholic College in Atlanta recently announced it was joining 176 other schools that are affiliated with the Legionaries of Christ.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.