Something you wrote really struck home, namely: "Some young men and women have recently come home for short periods of discernment." Some years ago, I was one of those young men. I had been to the Legion's summer Candidacy meat grinder in Cheshire. No discernment at all, to speak of, just a hard-core sales pitch to join LC if they liked you. Of course, while they rolled out the red carpet for the clean-cut young men from Christendom College (very nice guys, actually), I saw 3 different overweight young men visit for a day or two, and basically get blown off.
My story could be called "How the Jesuit Saved My Life." I came home in late August one summer after Candidacy very torn over whether to return to Cheshire for Novitiate, or go to a solid Catholic university for further studies. The LC superior warned me "If you don't follow your call to the Legion now, the same opportunity won't come around later on."While I was home, I contacted a Jesuit priest for help with my internal conflict. "I want to be generous, and give everything to God, but I just don't feel right about it," I told him. "Is that selfish? If God calls me to do something I hate, then shouldn't I just follow His holy will?" The good Jesuit responded: "Frank, one of the bedrock principals of discernment from St. Ignatius is that one should never make a serious life decision without a sense of true peace, be it marriage, religous life, job change, etc. If you don't feel at peace with the decision to join the Legion, that's a clear sign not to proceed."
An older person, as I am now, has the sales resistance to push back against the LC's high-pressure tactics. Younger folks, generally, do not have that same sales resistance. They are idealistic and eager to please those whom they hold in esteem. That was certainly the case with me at that age.
The one smart thing I did that summer was to listen to the Jesuit. I'm so thankful to God that I never made the mistake of joining Maciel's circus.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Glad He Didn't Join the Circus Afterall
Stolen from the combox on life-after-rc:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
Any news about Alvarito's circus yesterday evening?
Hey, that elephant looks like Maciel - not another photoshop, is it?
"that elephant looks like Maciel"
Poor elephant!!!!
What an awful thing to say about the elephant! That's animal abuse! I'm calling PETA.
Can't be. There's no way Maciel could perform in the circus today since I have it on good authority that he's due at the premiere of Halloween II.
It's true! One of MM's aliases was Michael Myers. It's not just their initials and perverse sexual attraction to teens of both genders that gives it away. Ever wonder why MM wears a mask? Or why Maciel's death "coincided" with filming for Rob Zombi's reboot of the franchise?
Goldmember? Oh, not that Myers.
Doesn't anyone have a report on the meeting last night in Atlanta? With Fr AC?
"Doesn't anyone have a report on the meeting last night in Atlanta? With Fr AC?"
Can't you see it from the pic - it was a 3-ring circus!!
Has anyone else heard this rumor, that Fr Owen Kearns is contemplating leaving the Legion?
http://exlegionariescom.blogspot.com/2009/08/fr-owen-kearns-lc-comtemplates-leaving.html
Wasn't he one of the LCs who was apologetic in those early days of February?
Yes he was and this seems like a strange rumor given his ridiculous statements in the past - but then I'd believe anything at this point.
Wonder if he's one of the 23 already rumored to be leaving.
Let's see if this rumor has meat on it.
Personally, I would think the priests who had most vociferously defended--publicly-- Maciel (but who really did not know of the charade) would be some of the first to leave. Especially if they are at all arrogant.
Once they really face the fact that they have been made complete asses by the order they devoted their lives to, I'd think they'd find the door pronto.
I know a particularly arrogant LC priest in a supervisory role, and I've been predicting his "re-assignment" (which is, I have no doubt, the way his departure from the Legion will be spun) for months now.
This could very well be a rumor, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it were true.
Sorry to insist, but has anybody heard anything about Alvarito's performance on Thursday?
Post a Comment