And the Beat Goes on...

or maybe, "Will You Still Love me Tomorrow?"

From the Legion of Christ website:

In his letter, dated January 13, 2009, Father Álvaro Corcuera, LC, the general director of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi, wrote: “The year 2008 has marked the beginning of a new stage in the life of the Legion and the Movement, which calls to mind Christ’s words when he asks us “launch out into the deep” (cf. Luke 5:4). We remember the first anniversary of Nuestro Padre’s passing away; the best way to live it is in a spirit of prayer, asking for the grace to accomplish the plan God has entrusted to us, and to bring to its fullness the charism that it is now our turn to faithfully pass on. We approach this anniversary clearly aware of our commitment as trustees of a gift we share in the Church.

Oh My, Fr. Karras!

Friday, January 30, 2009

requiem for a dream
One year ago today the Founder of the Legion of Christ, our Founder – Nuestro Padre – passed away. Instead of recalling with pride and nostalgia my thirty year participation in the foundation in privileged close company of the Founder, I find myself nearly disconsolate. Outrage, grief, a deep unutterable feeling of betrayal and deception have been growing in my soul for nearly six months as bits and pieces of the truth have painfully been made known to me.

Up until very recently I defended Fr. Maciel in public and private, knowing that the very essence of my identity as a Legionary priest depended on it. Now there is nothing to defend. It has all collapsed, and with it, a lifetime of enthusiastic commitment and high idealism.

I sit here humbled and heartsick with one earnest plea for the present leadership of the Legion: please, do the right thing. For the love of God and in honor of the hundreds of men, like yourselves, that have given their lives to the Congregation, bearing the burden of a fidelity that our Founder demanded of us but was unable himself to deliver: do what is right.

Put the truth first. You owe it to us all. Tell us the whole story, tell us what our options are now and set about the reform of the Legion.

The Legion must go forward, purged of the toxins released into its bloodstream by years of machiavellian duplicity, and recreate itself solely on the merits of its works.

No more spin, no more platitudes, no more intimidation to keep the Legion’s men from thinking, questioning, seeking the truth. Step aside if need be and allow others – with clear motives and fresh eyes – to save all that is good in the Congregation and dissipate once and for all the inner culture of deceit and control. A canonical visitation conducted in rigorous transparency might yet save the Legion of Christ.

I am amazed and grateful to God that so much good has and continues to be done by a religious order that has venerated and nourished its spirit from a Founder now discovered to be the antithesis of the very spirituality and discipline he imparted to us while so brazenly and artfully occulting his other life from us.

So please, do not pretend that this is not devastating to all of us. Do not act like nothing has happened and that nothing should change. Have the basic decency to come clean with your own men and trust them enough to help you take the Legion to where it must go from here. Full disclosure is the only option. You’ve tried everything else, now, finally now, give truth a chance. You may be pleasantly surprised by the strength, resiliency and commitment of us all.

May God continue to guide us, in spite of ourselves. Peace.

Something must be up!

Is This Enough?

Legion of Christ and Zenit say wait and see if CellAdam really works.

Zenit says: We recommend that readers interested in the drug do their own research, or wait for the results of the clinical trials that will be completed in the next few years.

Nothing about the pyramid scam involved in the maketing.

Nothing about the claims of clinical trials already conducted.

Nothing about how they are probably banking the cash by preying on sick people looking for hope.

Wednesday Photo Caption Contest

Image source.

Take the Therapy Tour!

Take the Tour For CellAdam!
Cost: $1,850.00 (does not include airline tickets, lunches, any medical care other than one consultation or any other options) If it is necessary to receive the Celladam therapy, the cost of one month supplies, depending on the recommended Protocol will cost from $290.00 to $510.00.
Upgrades available. Magnetic Immune Therapy, too.

Exlcblogger is havng a hard time absorbing all of this: pills, drops, creams, magnets, shrines, Virgin Marys (what's next, Papal leeches?)

There is a business scheme (a page which has been restricted to "members only" a couple of days ago) which might explain why the Legion of Christ is promoting this garbage.

Follow the money.

Giving false hope to make money...
What a freaking crock!

Exlcblogger Had to Put This Up, Just Can't Believe It. SCAM!!!

A Believe-It-or-Not Cancer Drug
CellAdam Is Successful, Natural, Ethical
By Edward Pentin
ROME, JAN. 22, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Imagine a medicine that has a staggering 75% success rate in treating cancer, and yet is a natural and ethical product, owned by a nonprofit company headed by devout Catholics.
Too good to be true? That's what I thought. The medical world is not short of bogus cancer "cures." Treatment for the disease is a multi-billion dollar industry that has led to questionable or unproven methods springing up throughout the world.
Yet this little-known product, which works by rebuilding the body's own adult stem cells and destroying tumour cells, already has a 25-year track record as a highly effective cancer treatment. Called CellAdam, it is most effective in preventing the early stages of cancer. But it also impedes the malignant process, and has an analgesic effect in the hopeless stage of an advanced tumour. Because of its natural composition, it has none of the hallucinogenic effects you get with morphine. The ingredients simply include a fatty acid complex extracted from soy and sunflower.
"This is a totally unusual and huge breakthrough," says Dr. Thomas Janossy, president of Biostemworld, the company producing the drug internationally. "In the next two to three years, it will become the first anti-cancer prescription drug in the world that is nature-based."
So why has hardly anyone heard of it? According to Biostemworld, the reason is because it was developed in Hungary during the country's Communist era. CellAdam was discovered, by chance, by Adam Kovacs, a Christian Hungarian researcher, who put his whole life into finding a cure for cancer.
Imre Beke, Biostemworld's chairman, calls it a "diamond in disguise" because of the numerous obstacles that have prevented this drug from reaching a wider market.
The first hindrance has been the Hungarian language. "As the researchers of this drug only speak Hungarian, it's not been widely published in international media and so nobody really knows about it," says Beke. Then there was the country's Communist past and personal rivalries that remained even after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Breaking out
"Envy, old skirmishes and conflicts, pharmaceutical companies worried about losing their market share in the cancer business -- which is huge -- all played a part," Beke explains. Moreover, Kovacs was a medical assistant and not part of the Hungarian medical establishment. The country's medical professionals, perhaps envious of his discovery, always blocked the drug from wider distribution.
"Now", says Beke, "we're really breaking out."
I caught up with Beke, Janossy and their public relations officer, Maria Dalgarno, while they were visiting Rome earlier this month. They were staying, it should be noted, not at the Hilton, but at the modest Generalate of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception. Their purpose was to meet members of a Catholic hospital run by a religious order whose charism is to help the sick.
The company wants the order, which has 400 cancer researchers in Italy, to carry out human and animal research on the medicine. They wouldn't name the order as negotiations are still continuing, but the hope is it will carry out more quantitative analysis to make the alternative therapy more viable. It can then also be formally classed as a drug, have more credibility and be distributed more widely.
The Catholic factor in this is significant. Rather than make large profits from CellAdam, the company wants to plough all revenues made from the drug back into research, or to help Church missions. "We had a lot of opportunities to sit down with many medical research centers," says Janossy. "But the inventor, who is a Christian, was looking for people who spoke Hungarian, were Christian-Catholic, and who had scientific and business backgrounds. Somehow we got together."
Janossy says the company steered clear of the United States because of its heavily profit-oriented pharmaceutical industry, and instead looked toward this Italian Catholic hospital. "Their whole approach to healing is so different," Janossy says. "The president is a priest who's not picking up a salary. All the profit goes back to research or is sent to the missions. That is extremely unique. So we said, 'OK we will share this product and the potential it has.'"
Nonprofit
Once any cancer drug hits the market, it can generate revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars. Biostemworld is expecting CellAdam will generate over a billion dollars once it becomes fully viable in about two to three years. "It's huge," says Janossy, "but we want the profit to be shared or managed by a Catholic interest where the hope is that the profit will help the people in need. It's a very unusual approach."
So what evidence is there that this drug really works? Apparently, there is no shortage of testimonies, in addition to the company's claim that it has a 75% success rate. There is a bus driver in Hamilton, Canada, who has just found out that after taking CellAdam for less than a month, a 5-centimeter tumour has been reduced to the size of pea and now he doesn't have to worry about having chemotherapy.
There is the case of a woman with lung cancer -- the hardest kind to treat -- which had become so bad that she had gone home to die. "She started to take CellAdam and within two months she was practically clear," says Janossy.
"Constantly, every couple of days, there are these dramatic cases." Janossy says an ongoing 10-year study in Hungary is currently focusing on two groups of cancer sufferers. One group, who all went through chemotherapy, have since died, but those who have been taking CellAdam are still alive.
CellAdam works by breaking down a shield that is preventing cancer cells from communicating with the body's natural immune system, allowing it to kill the cancer cells. "It is putting back your immune system into balance," explains Beke, "assisting your immune system to cure the cancer, enhancing your own system to be natural and letting a natural process take over a sick body." Certain cells react better than others to the drug, such as breast, lung and large intestinal cancer cells, melanoma malignum and certain types of obstetric tumours. But even large tumours can be blocked by CellAdam, claims Biostemworld.
Prevention
It's best track record, however, is as a cancer prevention therapy. When used as a dietary supplement, it works by building up the body's adult stem cell count. Stem cells can decrease by as much as 80% in the course of a lifetime, leading to signs of ageing, a weakened immune system, and diseases such as cancer. With CellAdam and its other nature-based drugs, Biostemworld claims it can restore that count by as much as 75%, exceeding a similar product in California by 50%. Not only do they prevent cancer, but other diseases too.
Furthermore, Biostemworld argues its products are without the dangers associated with synthetic drugs because they are less toxic. Janossy says pharmaceutical companies prefer synthetic drugs because they are easier to patent and so make more money. But he adds that synthetic drugs tend to mimic what is already available in natural drugs, some of which have been used in countries such as China for over 4,000 years.
But perhaps the most persuasive proof of this drug's effectiveness is the belief among those running Biostemworld that this discovery is Providential. Global cancer deaths are expected to rise by 45% by 2030, overtaking cardio-vascular disease as the biggest cause of death, and putting great strain on health services and society. "We feel in a lot of ways that Our Lady has really inspired us," says Maria Dalgarno who is also a member of the Catholic movement Focolare. "[Governments] know the system can't manage it -- they've said it. There's no way they can take care of all those people."
She pointed to the growth of euthanasia, which is gaining popularity in the West as demand for health care for the elderly increases. "My first thought when this company was forming was: bingo, this had to come because the medical establishment is saying: 'What are we going to do with all these old people?'"
Dalgarno felt it was "truly God's work," not only because it could help counter the push toward euthanasia, but also because their products are less expensive, less dangerous and more ethical. Embryonic stem cell research plays no part in this medicine.
"We put our work daily under the protection of Our Lady," says Dalgarno, "knowing she is guiding our work and the 'mission in the health field' that we feel called to."
Like the Good News, this does seem too good to be true, but perhaps that just shows that this drug really does have the Divine hand behind it.
More details on CellAdam and Biostemworld's other nature-based disease prevention products can be found at: http://biostemworld.com/portal/
* * *
Edward Pentin is a freelance writer living in Rome. He can be reached at: epentin@zenit.org.
Original link.
Image source.

More to come on this....

Legion of Christ Enters Bizarro World (if they were not already there)

Mysterious cancer treatment 'backed by the Virgin Mary' is plugged by major Catholic news agency
UK Telgraph Blog link
Posted By: Damian Thompson at Jan 24, 2009 at 10:25:00 [General]

"Zenit, the Rome-based Catholic news agency, has a reputation for accurate and careful reporting. So what on earth is it doing effectively advertising CellAdam, a "natural" cancer cure whose manufacturers claim to be working under the special protection of the Virgin Mary and believe it will earn a billion dollars?

The report, by the English Catholic journalist Edward Pentin, conspicuously fails to explain precisely how this tumour-reducing drug works, and repeats utterly meaningless "research findings". Counterknowledge.com has my full fisking of this appallingly credulous piece of journalism, which contains statements such as this:

Janossy [from the manufactuers, Biostemworld] says an ongoing 10-year study in Hungary is currently focusing on two groups of cancer sufferers. One group, who all went through chemotherapy, have since died, but those who have been taking CellAdam are still alive.

You don't have to be Ben Goldacre to work out just how dodgy that statement is. Apparently, an unnamed religious order is preparing to test this medicine, which Biostemworld wants to keep out of the hands of unscrupulous US pharmaceutical companies. Instead, profits will be ploughed back into Catholic charities. Hmm. Here's another quote:

CellAdam works by breaking down a shield that is preventing cancer cells from communicating with the body’s natural immune system, allowing it to kill the cancer cells. “It is putting back your immune system into balance,” explains Beke, “assisting your immune system to cure the cancer, enhancing your own system to be natural and letting a natural process take over a sick body.” Certain cells react better than others to the drug, such as breast, lung and large intestinal cancer cells, melanoma malignum and certain types of obstetric tumours. But even large tumours can be blocked by CellAdam, claims Biostemworld.

It’s [sic] best track record, however, is as a cancer prevention therapy. When used as a dietary supplement, it works by building up the body’s adult stem cell count. Stem cells can decrease by as much as 80% in the course of a lifetime, leading to signs of ageing, a weakened immune system, and diseases such as cancer. With CellAdam and its other nature-based drugs, Biostemworld claims it can restore that count by as much as 75%, exceeding a similar product in California by 50%. Not only do they prevent cancer, but other diseases too.

Again, what is Zenit playing at, reporting these claims so uncritically? Pentin even says that "perhaps the most persuasive proof of this drug’s effectiveness is the belief among those running Biostemworld that this discovery is Providential". That is proof?

I should add that Pentin writes authoritatively for The Catholic Herald on Vatican affairs, where he knows what he is talking about. I am at a loss to explain the disappearance of his critical faculties on this occasion. And I'm even more surprised that Zenit ran the piece."

You Know What They Say About Big Hands....

Fr Roberto Aspe, L.C. - His Hands are Bigger

His hands are bigger, I told myself one day gazing at an enormous bronze image of Christ, elegantly deformed, that is in the Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola in Mexico. In front of those hands, proportionally very big in comparison with the whole figure, I realized that God was offering me his hands to carry me and help me take on the commitment of consecrating my life to him as a layman...

Exlcblogger is not making this up. Read it here.

Image source.

Cool Blog, Dawn!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009
What's wrong in Baltimore is right in Arlington as Legion priest gives spiritual direction to minors

Check out the blog here.

Leave a comment! Love to hear what you have to say.

We need more traffic!

Please tell a friend to check out exlcblog today!

Drowning in Papal Content

The Vatican apparently has been experimenting with the idea for several months through H20 News, a video news website run by members of Regnum Christi, the lay wing of the Legionaries of Christ. The concept is to upload videos containing a 60- to 90-second summary of papal audiences and speeches. H20, which was begun in 2006, is financially self-sustaining and carries the full backing of the Vatican.
It is not clear whether the organisation, which also oversees the Zenit online news agency, will be responsible for uploading papal content on the new YouTube channel.

What to think?

From Tomorrow's Trust

Have They Changed? Now THAT is the Question.

A reader comment on California Catholic Daily:

Posted Thursday, January 22, 2009 5:35 PM By Penny In 2006, in The Tidings, Rev. Richard P. McBrien said, "The Legion is said to have a dozen universities, including one in Rome and its newest in the United States, the University of Sacramento. In every instance, the Legion has secured the permission of the local bishop, but its relations with other bishops have been rocky, to say the least. The Legionaries were expelled from the diocese of Columbus, Ohio, in 2002 for allegedly disruptive activities in a parish school, and later from the archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis for operating what Archbishop Harry Flynn has called a "parallel church"... What makes the Vatican's action against Father Maciel so devastating for the Legion is that he was not simply its founder. According to the full-length exposé by reporters Jason Berry and Gerald Renner, 'Vows of Silence' (Free Press, 2004), Legionaries take vows never to speak ill of Father Maciel or their other superiors, and to report any member who does. As Father James Martin, associate editor of the Jesuit weekly, America, has pointed out, 'The distinctive [spirit] of the order comes from the founder. His life is studied, his words are quoted, his picture and statues are everywhere' (May 19, 2006)... Father Neuhaus has refused to change his opinion. 'It wouldn't be the first time that an innocent and indeed holy person was unfairly treated by church authority' (New York Times, May 20)." Sounds scary. Today, on the University of Sacramento's website, I didn't see Fr. Maciel mentioned even once. Have they changed?

Wednesday Photo Caption Contest

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This phrase is getting old. And inaccurate.

The Sacramento Bee is pretty pro Legion of Christ, and still using the cliche

The University of Sacramento is run by the Legionaries of Christ, one of the fastest-growing orders in the Roman Catholic Church.

Well, with dwindling numbers in the US and only 4 ordinations of gringos this year, some revision is in order, methinks.

Image source.

Need a job in the middle of nowhere?

Requirements:
Can you yell at kids at the top of your lungs?
Can you identify leaders (the richest of the rich kids)?
Can you take vocation pressure?
Can you live on a below subsistence wage?

If yes, you're hired!

Take a look here to see where.

Boniface is "Tired of old 'fruits' argument"

From Unam Sanctam
(and this has nothing to do with elderly gay men)

...I find serious fault with this "fruits" argument. This is the same old canard that...ha[s] been throw[n] around for decades now when any sensible criticism is leveled against the alleged apparitions: It must be from God because of all these good "fruits." This is an argument I totally reject, and I intend to give a thorough rebuttal to this oft made assertion here.

And, boy, does he. Well worth the read here.
The context is Medjugorje, however arguments are applicable to the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi.

This IS a Change

From the 6th World Meeting of Families in Mexico

Father Álvaro Corcuera, director-general of Regnum Christi and the Legionaries of Christ, clarified that the congregation and apostolic movement he represents are not seeking to be protagonists, but rather to serve and collaborate with all the other ecclesial realities.

From the Zenit of Christ news service.

Image source

Another "Guess Where?"

Wednesday Photo Caption Contest

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Any guesses?

Oh, dear. Practice what you preach!

From a meditation by Fr. R.E., LC:

2. Jesus Preaches with More Than Words. Our Lord Jesus went about doing only good: healing the sick, comforting the lonely, forgiving sinners, and preaching the Gospel.

Very nice, but Legionaries are content with the last two on the list. They just get other people to do the first two for them. They call that apostolic elitisim efficiency.



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Indeed, who is Catholic?

Exlcblogger does not approve of Catholics who point fingers at others to say that these others are less than Catholic. This usually amounts to the finger-pointers just saying that they themselves are MORE Catholic.

Read an interesting take here which mentions the Legion of Christ and their University of Sacramento.

Review of "Our Father Who Art in Bed"

On Fr. Brian Van Hove's blog.

Exlcblogger hears that a new edition of the book will be titled: Our Father Maciel Who Art in Bed.

Sins of the Past

A recent on-line photo essay published by Newsweek includes Fr. Maciel among a pantheon of 12 fallen preachers. He comes up at number 10. So much for finger-pointing at the Protestants.

They are gonna have a hard time of it.

Catholic order aims to stem clergy shortage
by Juanita Westaby The Grand Rapids Press
Saturday January 03, 2009, 5:40 AM

Nice wish, but ordaining only 3 or 4 Americans a year is no grand solution.

You can parse through some of this neoclergyman's story here:

He said he's aware of criticism that the Legionaries' target wealthier families and communities."Part of that is true," he said. "Why? Because our order is dependent on fundraising, and part of our methodology is to reach out to leaders in different fields of work."The Legionaries have been influential, especially among the laity of Regnum Christi, in shaping conservative orthodox thought. Its founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, died in February after being censured and ordered to a life of "prayer and penitence" following an investigation of sexual abuse allegations in 2006. DuMont said he wishes the Legionaries' hallmark charity could be applied to Maciel. "It's sad to see he has been so calumniated," he said. "We have to be careful as Catholics not to say something that we do not know is true."
E-mail the author of this story: localnews@grpress.com

Photo from AP Photo by Ed Andrieski

Hmmmmm...

From another a blogger's question (Get Your Ex Back):

Was this a good reason to break up with my girlfriend? I broke up with my girlfriend because she wasn’t able to debate about the “Philosphy of Pornography”. I want to date a girl who is “Philosophical” and my girlfriend just doesn’t have enough education in philosophy. My girlfriend has a REAL DEGREE from the University of Toronto (a major University) while I have a DEGREE in Philosophy from the Legionaries of Christ which is a questionable cult that offers questionable education.

Extremists?

In answer to a blogger question:

Ryan said,
January 1, 2009 @ 4:19
am
You can find extremist and reasonable people in any religion or belief Extremist is not an adjective related to the religion "per se" nor a to a specific religion (excluding may be some extreme sects). It is more often related to single believers or groups of believers who are integrists and believe that not only they represent the hypothetical "only truth" but also that they need to impose it to others or tho destroy them. The extremist will never have doubts nor will accept the existence of different beliefs..In this you have typical examples in Christian history and many contemporary ones (just read some "Christian" messages in this thread of YA) Evangelical russians in Sacramento like the one who killed a man because he was gay, are Christian extremists. Watchman on the Wall, KKK, Lambs of Christ, Christian Patriots, Arian Nations are Christian extremist at least, probably Christian terrorists. Christian Identity, Pineas Priests, CSA of the Lord, are for sure extremists.Pastor Fischer of Jesus camps, the British "Evangelical Alliance", the Italian and South American Legion of Christ, Pat Robertson, Christian Broadcasting Network, The American Center of Law and Justice are other examples. Hinduism extremism has reinforced in the last few years, up to reach almost a majority in Indian Parliament. Hindu extremist movements are united in the so called Sangh Parivar. Islamic extremism, like Christian extremism, may vary from violent forms and terrorism (Islamic Jihad, Al Qaida and many others) to non violent mysticism (Sufi, M'zhab). You forgot many other main religions (there are extremists in anyone of them)