Much Respect, Katie!

Exlcblogger has followed Katie and her husband on St. Joseph's Vanguard for a while now. And even if not in always in agreement, one cannot help but respect the journey.

So Many Wounded People
Author: Katie

• Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

Yesterday, I read the excellent and heartfelt interview given by Father Thomas Berg, formerly a Legionary of Christ. He speaks with keen insight regarding the sicknesses that plague the congregation of the Legion–domination clothed in the garb of obedience, groupthink, and overzealous personal devotion to Father Maciel.

His words helped me in two ways; first, I was helped to understand the perplexing behavior of many Legionaries, that which Father Berg describes as, “the shallowness of their emotional expression, the lack of empathy and inability to relate normally to others in so many contexts, the general sense of their being ‘out of touch,’ etc” and, second, his words helped me to more deeply forgive those LCs who had personally hurt me through their words and actions, those who failed to treat me as a person but rather as an apostolate-robot or as a set of resolutions on a “Program of Life”.

I also agreed with his analysis regarding the need for the Church and the Legion to discern whether theirs is a real, God-given charism or whether they are part of a deeply flawed human institution founded by a very twisted man through which God has worked much good. When I first left Regnum Christi, I was sure that RC’s was a valid charism which simply needed to be purified of the perversions introduced by Father Maciel. Now, however, I am not so sure. Father Berg spoke at least twice of the need for the Legion to self-critique, yet I don’t think that’s very possible. If a family is wounded by sexual abuse or alcoholism, they take on codependent relationships and usually can’t heal until they leave those bonds and seek help outside the family; only then can members return to the family and help others to heal. So, unless God gives extraordinary graces to very gifted individual LC’s who can lead the congregation in self-reform, they will need extensive outside assistance to begin their healing.

I join my prayers with those of so many other Catholics in asking God for wisdom and courage and compassion for the bishops appointed to the Legion’s visitation. I know that the Holy Spirit will inspire them, and I hope they take bold action to bring about healing and purification for the Legion and Regnum Christi. I would love to see the Legion enter a one-year period of prayer and fasting, during which they receive no new applicants and focus deeply on their personal and corporate healing. I would love to see the many young men and women who have been “immolated” past the warnings of their own reason return to freedom and a gentle expression of the Christian life. God bless them and help them. Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Consolation, pray for them.