New Legion General Director and Central Government, Legionaries of Christ, February 6, 2014

New Legion General Director and Central Government

Legionaries of Christ
February 6, 2014

http://www.legionariesofchrist.org/eng/articulos/articulo2.phtml?se=243&ca=703&te=475&id=41096&csearch=703

Fr. Eduardo Robles Gil, LC, has been elected General Director of the Legion of Christ.

He was elected, along with other members of the central government of the Legion, on January 20, 2014, during the course of the ongoing Extraordinary General Chapter taking place in Rome.

The election was personally confirmed by the Archbishop Jose Rodriguez Carballo, O.F.M., secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life on February 6, 2014.

Along with his election, the Vicar General, Fr. Juan Jose Arrieta, LC, and one of the general councilors, Fr. Juan Sabadell, LC, were named by the Holy See. Two more general councilors, Fr. Sylvester Heereman, LC, and Fr. Jesus Villagrasa, LC, were elected by the chapter members. Fr. Jose Gerardo Cardenas Jimenez, LC, has been elected General Administrator. Fr. Clemens Gutberlet, LC, has been elected General Procurator.

Here is a run-down of the new central government:

General Director: Fr. Eduardo Robles Gil, LC.

Vicar General: Fr. Juan Jose Arrieta, LC.

General Councilor: Fr. Sylvester Heereman, LC.

General Councilor: Fr. Jesus Villagrasa, LC.

General Councilor: Fr. Juan Sabadell, LC.

General Administrator: Fr. Jose Gerardo Cardenas, LC.

General Procurator: Fr. Clemens Gutberlet, LC.

Fr. Eduardo has exercised his ministry principally in Spain, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. He has served as a director of several schools, as a superior of several Legionary communities, as territorial administrator for two years in Mexico and as a section director of Regnum Christi, spiritual director and local coordinator of apostolate. He helped found the Legion and Regnum Christi’s presence in Brazil. In 2011, he was named to the Outreach Commission created by Cardinal De Paolis to work with the abuse victims of Fr. Marcial Maciel. He began to serve as a major superior in the Legion in August, 2013, when he assumed the post of Territorial Director of Mexico.

“Since my ordination, I have served in different parts of the world and in different types of ministry: schools, family ministry, administration or as a superior of a Legionary community,” Fr. Eduardo recalls. “Now, I will have to get used to Rome.”

The General Chapter published the announcement of the election of the new central government simultaneously with the publishing of a communique in which the members of the chapter take a conclusive stance on Fr. Marcial Maciel and on the path of renewal the Legion of Christ has been travelling.

Fr. Eduardo summarized the intention of this communique in the following way: “The Chapter marks both an ending and a new beginning. This is what many of the chapter fathers feel and that’s how we have expressed it in the chapter hall. But, so that it can truly be a new beginning, it is necessary to put the challenges of the past in their place. This is why the Chapter decided to publish a statement for the Legionaries, the members of Regnum Christi and for all those who have been following our recent history. We can’t erase the past. We have to learn the lessons, mourn what occurred, trust in God’s mercy and, like St. Paul, run forward in pursuit of the goal of reaching Christ.”