Relatives Challenge Woman's Will Leaving Estate To Catholic Church OrderWhen Gabrielle Mee died in May 2008 on the Greenville, R.I., campus of the Legionaries of Christ, her caregivers mourned the loss of the order's "grandmother."
Leaders of the secretive Roman Catholic order rushed from Connecticut and New York to pay their final respects. Six of her consecrated "sisters" carried her plain wooden coffin to the cemetery where she was buried next to her husband, Timothy Mee.
None of her family attended the service for Mee, who was 96 when she died. In fact, many of her relatives didn't find out that Gabrielle Mee had died until nearly a year later when a letter from the Legionaries' lawyer arrived, notifying them that the Probate Court in North Smithfield, R.I., was about to administer her will.
What relatives discovered is that since the mid-1990s Gabrielle Mee steadily turned over real estate and money — upwards of $7.5 million — to the Legionaries of Christ, which is headquartered in Orange, Conn.
Stunned family members are accusing the church of taking advantage of a lonely, deeply religious older woman. They have hired a Providence attorney to contest her will.
"As I started to research who this group really was it became clear that this is a cult that kept her isolated," said Mary Lou Dauray, Mee's goddaughter.
Although it is difficult to overturn a will, the family is hoping the order's sex scandal involving its founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, will be taken into consideration. The Courant reported in 1997 that Degollado was accused of molesting at least nine boys, aged 10 to 16, in seminaries in Spain and Italy in the 1950s and '60s.
And just earlier this year it was revealed that Degollado had fathered an illegitimate child, followed by the news that Pope Benedict XVI was ordering a papal investigation of the Legionaries of Christ. Degollado died in 2008 at age 87.
Family members believe that if Gabrielle Mee — who had received Holy Communion every day of her life since she was 12 years old — knew about the sex scandal and Vatican investigation, she would not have made the church her beneficiary. They are hoping to convince the probate judge of that.
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Family members are expected to ask the judge to hold a full hearing.None of the family is named in the will. Sherman said that would allow him to subpoena bank records and depose people.
The Dauray family — with many members living in Rhode Island — acknowledge that they didn't try to visit Mee often.
They don't want the Legionaries to end up with all her money, even if the family doesn't get any.
"Her money should go to a cause not involved with a cult," Mary Lou Dauray said. "Not necessarily us but to some charity."
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28 comments:
That is completely ridiculous. O and by the way her will was actually this because the religious order she was in actually was just lying to her... Ok. Even if that was true, it wouldn't hold up as an argument, she did what she did.
As much as I want to see the Legion reformed or dissolved, I do not see a problem with an old lady leaving her estate to whomever she chooses. I have read the full article. These relatives were not even aware she died. They were not in her life. They did not regularly visit her. Why is it their business?
If I grow old and have anything left of my estate (large or small) isn't it my business if I leave it to a religious group, or Greenpeace, or Girl Guides, or whomever I choose?
If I spend my final years in a religious community, doesn't it make sense that I might leave behind my estate to that group? Especially in the absence of loving relatives in my life?
They deceived her.
Do you think her intent was to support the founder's secret lover and child(ren)? His child molesting activities? His hair-dye, his suits, his Member's Only jackets, his Concord flights, his Mercedes and BMW's, his luxury hotels, his beloved Johnny Walker Black Label, and on and on?
Or better, to support the cult that he created? to support his trips to deceive the Holy Father? To support flying those who questioned "to the missions"?
and another:
"Mrs. Mee began searching for work of the church that she could support, and got to know the Legionaries of Christ. Upon entering the chapel and seeing that the tabernacle was in the center, she realized that the Legion was a faithful religious congregation and became a benefactor."
SHAME ON THE LEGION OF CHRIST, YOU HUSTLERS!!! AND FURTHER SHAME ON THE VATICAN FOR NOT PUTTING A STOP TO IT! Thank God for Pope Benedict, and for the victims who did not quit until it was exposed.
So back of the napkin, she was 78 years old (born 1915, consecrated in 1991) when she was "consecrated" (whatever that means) - REALLY?! How could we allow this transparant group of leeches to take advantage of people like this? To gradually isolate her and bring her to give her family's money (which she did not earn, mind you) to this cult?
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Family members believe it was around 1994 that they started losing contact with her.
"We'd always exchanged Christmas cards, but then all of a sudden we stopped getting replies from her," Suzanne Curry said. "We just assumed it was because she was getting older and couldn't write to us anymore, but now I am wondering about that," she said.
One of the last relatives to visit Gabrielle Mee in Greenville was Jeanne Dauray, whose grandmother Rachel was Gabrielle Mee's sister.
Dauray spent five days at the Regnum Christi center in 2001 and left "very disturbed" by what she had observed.
"The whole time I spent with Gaby we were never alone; there was always another woman there," Dauray said. "If anything was brought up in conversation that they didn't like, they would quickly redirect the conversation to something else."
Dauray said that Gabrielle Mee wanted to visit her sister Rachel, who was ill. She asked Dauray to help her mail a formal request, but it was denied by the group of priests that ran the religious center.
"I'm not even sure who really made the decision, but we walked into a meeting and they told her it wasn't a good idea for her to go see her sister," Dauray said. "Even after Gaby said how disappointed she was, they wouldn't let her go."
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Just, wow. Is this religion? It's a travesty.
I am sure Mrs. Mee would have been greatly disturbed by the actions of MM. Maybe she *had* heard of the allegations about him, which came out in 1997. She spent the last 17 years of her life in this community, which means 1991 to 2008. How do we know she did not subscribe to the ever popular RC attitude that says "look at the fruits"? Maybe the fruits were enough for her. We don't know.
Her relatives assert that she would never have knowingly carried on with financial support had she known of his double life. But they don't know, they were not really in her life.There are plenty of benefactors to this day who support the Legion financially, in full knowledge of MM's actions.
From a legal perspective, it would be difficult to prove what they *think* she might have done, or what she *might* have known about MM.
she was a wealthy woman without loved ones. Who should she have left her estate to but to the people who cared the most for her in her old age?
Did they care? As long as she kept her mouth shut and kept stroking checks, do you think they gave two shits?
Is it any wonder her relatives stopped visiting her, never being left alone (creepy!) and in the middle of the consecrated compound? Didn't they really cut off contact?
At the end of the day, I don't really care about the legal aspects, but about the abuse of an elderly woman with a good heart. I have no idea what a judge will say about the will. But shame on the Legion of Christ, on her "consecrated" caretakers.
I remember Mrs. Mee visiting and speaking to the LC community in Cheshire in the early 90s. She was a very sweet lady. I have no doubt she was fooled, manipulated and controlled by the Legion. Unfortunately, it will be a difficult case to resolve. The LCs have no shame - another quality taught to them by Maciel.
Good grief, she was not surrounded by armed guards, it was (likely) a RC consecrated! They are not pit bulls! If it there was something to be discussed, they should have discussed it. Who cares if a devout consecrated woman is sitting right there? If Mrs. Mee wanted them there, they had every right to be there. If Mrs. Mee wanted them out of the room, I am sure they would have left. Maybe Mrs. Mee wanted to be accompanied in these visits?
They were so worried abut their dead relative, they did nothing to pursue this matter until the news of the contents of her will?
Why do you assume she was taken advantage of? Were you there? Did you know her?
I have very firm ideas as to who I would like to leave my "fortune" to when I die. Some are religious organizations. Some of my kinfolk would be appalled or shocked at my choices. It is really nobody's business how I choose to dispense with my estate at my death. Nor is it our business how Mrs. Mee dispensed with her estate.
Some legal points:
Any will which devises an entire estate to charity and disinherits natural heirs is suspect. I say suspect, not per se illegal or fraudulent. Therefore, natural heirs have a right to contest it. I do not say a right to have it overturned, I say a right to contest it in probate court.
This is not a simple situation of a person sitting down and devising monies in an estate. This situation involves the presence of others who may have had influence over the situation. Whether that influence is undue or not is a question for the probate court to decide once the will is contested.
Some commentators here seem to be missing the point that contact with family members is limited by the LC's and RC consecrated's rules. If Mrs. Mee freely accepted and lived by that, then fine, but it would not make it entirely the fault of her family if there were estrangement.
Fraud is a deliberate act. If the RCs deliberately withheld information concerning Maciel from Mee, and if they knew or thought that such information might change Mee's testamentary dispositions, then they could be guilty of fraud. But this would have to be proven in court with evidence, just like any other legal fact.
Lawyers, please chime in.
I am no lawyer, but I will comment anyway!
Mrs Mee did not shut out her children from the will. She had no children. These are, I believe, nieces and nephews contesting the will. I wonder if a lawyer might comment on the difference here - is there a difference between the rights of her children and the rights of more distant relatives?
Let's say I didn't have a family, and let's say my Catholic faith had deepened over my years. If I did not have my husband and children who will probably fill my life even in my "golden years", I could certainly see the appeal of living in a religious community in my old age. I would love it. Being wealthy would not have anything to do with my "call" to this sort of life. And if I felt this life had been fulfilling for me, I would probably feel a deep love and gratitude towards my spiritual family, and want to offer them the security I can offer by leaving my estate to them.
Remember, she lived with them for 17 years.
In some states, afterborn (after the will is written) children do get a share even if they are not in the will. But that is the only difference between any decendants who would be in line for inheritance.
For example, for a person who leaves his or her estate to heirs, there is a pecking order for those who are alive or who ever existed in the first place. So, no kids, then the estate moves to the other levels of relation, and if one is already dead, to the children or heirs of that person. The formulas are complex, but no need to go into them, it is a just an example to show that if there are no children, then the other relatives have just as many rights, all other things being equal.
There is nothing wrong with leaving an estate to charity. Lots of people do it, but there is nothing wrong with contesting a will. Lots of people do that, too, with varying degrees of success or failure.
Before the family is toast in your estimation, remember that Mrs Mee cut off the communication (with the direction of those sweet consecrated ladies in her ear) and the Legion didn't inform the family of her death until it was almost too late to contest. That means almost a full year -- how "charitable" is that? Also, the family knew nothing about the Legion except that the story on MM broke in Feb, which brought the Movement back to the front of their radar screens.
They don't want the money -- they want justice. Rumour is that if they win, the money will go to cult awareness groups.
I would like to reprint the comment I sent to the Hartford Courant on Sunday, June 28 in response to their article on Mrs. Mee.
"This was a very biased and poorly researched article. Family members who bothered to contact Mrs. Mee on a regular basis knew exactly why she supported Regnum Christi and the love she had for their work. I am a nephew and godson residing in California with no direct affiliation with Regnum Christi or the Legionaires of Christ. I enjoyed regular phone conversations with Mrs. Mee because I chose to call her. I was contacted immediately after her death because my phone number was available on her desk. It was no surprise that my aunt, a very devout Catholic who was very aware and alert until she died, turned over her estate to Regnum Christi as they cared for her and had become her home in the years since her husband Timothy Mee had passed away. signed: truthblazer(06/28/2009)
I am a family member of Gabrielle and Tim's and someone who is helping with the effort to contest this will. Why? Not because any of us are interesting in receiving anything from it - we don't expect to - but because the money was originally trusted to more legitimate Roman Catholic religious orders who never attempted to swindle, control, or manipulate anyone. Gabrielle was a devout and trusting woman, and from my personal experiences with her and Regnum Christi/LC it was obvious she was being greatly manipulated.
As a former insider I can tell you that these people worked very hard to control those within their walls. It was nothing more than a cult operating under the catholic umbrella. Unmonitored conversations with outsiders were not possible. I have no problem believing that Mrs Mee was intentionally cut off from the outside world.
In response to truthblazer..you have no direct ties to LC or RC yet your dogma is the same. You say it, so it is.. I have tried for years through my close friend a retired Ursuline Sr. in NY to find my Aunt Gaby whom, by the way,
myself and sisters summered with in Weekapaug, RI...yet could never find her...truthblazer change your name or find out the truth!!!!!!!!!
Let's get the facts folks. The LC and RC use a technique coined "love bombs" in our to take over a person's life. The group infiltrated my aunt's life and love bombed her; as they used a coordinated effort to shower her with instant companionship. The stone walls went right into place to alienate Aunt Gaby from her nieces. The technique worked- LC and RC pass off this notion "We must care when no one else seems to care". They set the stage up nicely so they can accomplish the financial goals they set out to conquer.
It is interesting what authorities some "relatives" have become about Gabrielle Mee. Most of them had not had contact with her in over 30 years. They want to infer a level of intimacy by refering to her as Aunt "Gaby" when it most likely was Great Aunt "Gaby". Most of the so called relatives are two generations removed.
These "relatives" might try stopping and considering why they did not know where Gabrielle Mee was living when others in the family knew where she was living and what she was doing. I guess they equally did not know where Gabrielle Mee's sister lived. They obviously did not know much about Gabrielle Mee.
It was never a mystery to anyone who knew Gabrielle Mee that she and her husband would leave their estate to the Roman Catholic Church, and they did this by leaving their estate to the Legionairies of Christ and Regnum Christi.
What exactly is it that these"relatives" feel they are entitled to? [Gabrielle's MONEY??]
Monique d'Auray
The Legions were a cult that swindled an older woman and this has to be stopped. This whole case has been underhanded from the start with Mary Lou Dauray stating she would not speak with me over a phone unless it was a secure line. Mary Lou Dauray is being very deciteful for the charities she is involved in. Was Mary Lou involved with the Legionaires for she was the one who introduced my Aunt Gab to them. Now Mary Lou stands to gain a very large sum of funds from this estate. Someone needs to figure this out and stop things in their tracks.
Monique d'Auray - I am the neice of Gabrielle Mee and she was taken in by the cult of the Legionaires. As for the truth blazer I know he was part of the Legionaires and Mary Lou Dauray who stands to gain the entire estate at this moment introduced my aunt to the Legion. Did Mary Lou turn on the Legion and took them to court for the money to go to her charities that she has set up and controls the funds. This case needs to be brought to the light. To many strange things for everyone to disregard!
Deborah d'Auray - In response to my sister Moniques response, I too, would like to see this case come to light. Understanding that many people run charities in order to pursue a life style supported by others. Bottom line, these people are profitting from charities and they are as bad as the Legionaires. I say blood is thicker than water, let the legal heirs decide..
Monique d'Auray - The truthblazer should really not be calling himself the truth blazer. The truth as it to be known is one of the poeple who had introduced my Aunt Gab to the Legionaires. The other person being Mary Lou Dauray. As for saying the money should go to charity well everyone should really look up the chrities it would be going to if Mary Lou Dauray wins in court. Thank goodness I am a litigan nd half would go to me for all of the charities Mary Lou Dauray would like the funds to are her own!!!
Monique d'Auray - The truth blazer is truly Stephen Kelly hiding behind a name. He is not man enough to come foreward and say who he really is. He is a joke when he states all the things he has regarding my aunt. Shame on Mary Lou Daury and Stephen Kelly introducing my innocent Aunt to their scheme and then try to get everything back for themselves. How can Mary Lou call herself charitable. She is a joke. Her relatives are living in poverty and if it weren't for her father swindling from the Dauray fourtune she would not have anything in life. Her paintings certainly wouldn't make her money. They are a joke. I would be ashamed to call herself an artist if I were her. Wake up Mary Lou and see the world as it is. You have lived off my grandfathers funds and things have to stop. Charity does start at home and Deborah and Mary could use some so stop being a hipocrit please. It makes you look like a joke and your husband appears to be an overgrown party boy which I believe is quite funny. You once told me he was some thing. Believe me, tell him to stop embarrassing you in the public eye for that is exactly what he is doing. Tell him to grow up and get a real job. Funny how Deborah and I truly have turned out the best from Raymond's children and I am proud of it.Have a heart Mary Lou for your own family or stop saying you do things for charity. You are a HIPOCRIT. Charity does start at home! But don't worry every one has to answer for what they are doing in the end. MY HUSBAND AS SICK AS HE IS HELPS SAVES LIVES EVERY DAY WITH PRACTIVING MEDICINE. nOW THAT IS A TRUE SAINT! Not an overaged party boy. Hope you can live with yourself Mary Lou. If I were you I would not be able to. You are a person who thinks only of your personal gain and I will get this message out to the world if I have to and will spend my life doing it, I help my family with money when they need it and as much as I can afford and you do nothing but pretend you are a chrity girdI jope someday you can live comfortably with yourself for I will get the message out to all yout charities. YOU are a HIPOCRIT. No other way to state it. Please enjoy your holidays while your cousins are freezing and have no food. Have a nice holiday!
Monique d'Auray - The truthblazer needs to tell his real name of Stephen Kelley and how my Aunt Gab really met the Legionaires. Thanks to Mary Lou Dauray. Mary Lou is a HIPOCRIT. She has two cousins living in the worse poverty stricken area ever. How dare Mary Lou says she is charitable. Shame on YOU Mary Lou. I will get the word out to your charities on what you think is charitable. I am embarrassed to even have the same last name. Shame on YOU but your charities will know that you led my Aunt Gab to the Legionaires like the sacraficial lamb. Please do not call yourself charitable when your cousins live the say they do. I will let all your charities know what a disgrace you are to the Dauray name.
Your job as a future mother is to learn the god's ways and to help your child understand despite the negative reinforcement and conditioning of today's society. Without consciousous parents the child will have no hope, and may even exaserbate their disfavor by becoming corrupted in today's environment.
Your ultimate goal is to fix your relationship wiith the gods and move on. You don't want to be comfortable here, and the changes in Western society in the last 100 years has achieved just that.
1000 years with Jesus is the consolation prize. Don't be deceived into thinking that is the goal.
The gods tempt people for which they are most weak. Artificial Intelligence will create desire in people's minds for the following sins:::
1. Alcohol
2. Drugs
3. Preditory "earning"
4. Homosexuality
5. Gambling
6. Something for nothing/irresponsibility (xtianity)
7. Polygamy/superiority over women/misogyny (Islam)
Much like the other prophets Mohhamed (polygamy/superiority over women/misogyny) and Jesus (forgiveness/savior), the gods use me for temptation as well. In today's modern society they feel people are most weak for popular culture/sensationalism, and the clues date back to WorldWarII and Unit731:TSUSHOGO, the Chinese Holocaust.
It has been discussed that, similar to the Matrix concept, the gods will offer a REAL "Second Coming of Christ", while the "fake" Second Coming will come at the end and follow New Testiment scripture and their xtian positioning. I may be that real Second Coming.
What I teach is the god's true way. It is what is expected of people, and only those who follow this truth will be eligible to ascend into heaven as children in a future life. They offered this event because the masses have just enough time to work on and fix their relationship with the gods and ascend, to move and grow past Planet Earth, before the obligatory xtian "consolation prize" of "1000 years with Jesus on Earth" begins.
The Prince of Darkness, battling the gods over the souls of the Damned.
It is the gods who have created this environment and led people into Damnation with temptation. The god's positioning proves they work to prevent people's understanding.
How often is xtian dogma wrong? Expect it is about the Lucifer issue as well.
The fallen god, fighting for justice for the disfavored, banished to Earth as the fallen angel?
I believe much as the Noah's Flood event, the end of the world will be initiated by revelry among the people. It will be positioned to be sanctioned by the gods and led for "1000 years with Jesus on Earth".
In light of modern developments this can entail many pleasures:::Medicine "cures" aging, the "manufacture" of incredible beauty via cloning as sex slaves, free (synthetic) cocaine, etc.
Somewhere during the 1000 years the party will start to "die off", literally. Only those who maintain chaste, pure lifestyles, resisting these temptations, will survive the 1000 years. Condemned to experience another epoch of planet's history for their ignorant pursuit of xtianity, they will be the candidates used to (re)colonize (the next) Planet Earth, condemned to relive the misery experienced by the peasantry during history due to their failure to ascend into heaven before the Apocalypse.
Never forget:::It is not a house of Jesus.
If this concept of Lucifer is true another role of this individual may be to initiate disfavor and temptation among this new poulation, the proverbial "apple" of this Garden of Eden. A crucial figure in the history of any planet, he begins the process of deterioration and decay that leads civilizations to where Planet Earth remains today.
Which one is it? Probably both:::
One transitions into the other, allowing the gods to wash their hands of obligation to their Chosen One.
Shame. Shame on you. The antients ill-deserve the power they have at their disposal.
It is simply amazing the stories that can be made up by so called family members who have no real first hand knowledge about Mrs Mee.
I am a family member and yes, many stories were exchanged with my aunt as she did spend at least five months a year in Westerly, RI
Excuse me...Read Jeanne of the Ditch the mystery dauray...
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