Saturday, September 12, 2009

Nothing New. And That is a Pity. Reviewing a Week in the Saga.

“A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.”

The weekend is here, and I find myself, again, with so many thoughts to resolve in my mind as the soap opera of the Legion of Christ never seems to really end. I think that many of us, if we had one wish, would spend it on this: just let is all end.

Statements have finally come out of the Legion. But strangely enough, these missives are being released in one country at a time, and under the names of territorial directors, those pesky little organizers who have no real power in the Legion of Christ's highly centralized scheme, and who cannot act publicly without layers upon layers of approvals from higher-ups.

Time to parse some of the happenings of the past week. First of all, as many a blogger knows, there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes of a blog. We bloggers do have email addresses and they do get used by our readers to send us information that, for one reason or another, is not deemed quite right for public consumption in the comment boxes. And I can tell you now, with certainty, the exodus from the Legion of Christ and the 3GF (consecrated women) of the Regnum Christi has begun.

Now on to the statements: from two territories in the United States, one in Germany, and now Spain.

And one glaring omission: no one has owned up to a single mistake.

In an outright attempt to avoid any responsibility whatsoever, even behaviors underlying the corrections made so far by the Vatican (spiritual direction gaffs, private vows...) are characterized as "long held Church traditions" or "approved by the Church at that time". (Remember, "if we are wrong, we will be wrong with Peter." It is never their fault. Ever.) The Legion of Christ, of course, is not capable of making any mistakes and is the victim in all of this. There has not been a single Legion official who has come to the realization that there just may be something that is more important than the Legion of Christ. Some organization, some value, some person, or some rights... anything. No. There is no higher value than the Legion, and it must be protected at all cost, even, and it seems, especially, at the cost of its own members, its victims, and the Church itself.

A second outrage that is present in these letters to Regnum Christi members is that they are directed internally. There is no recognition of anyone outside of the LC/RC group. Legionaries and RC members aim their drippy apologies at each other, and imply that they are the only victims, that they are the only ones hurt by Maciel's actions. And, of course, the only hurtful actions are Maciel's and his alone.

One last point. One that must be voiced. These letters all claim that Alvaro Corcuera is quietly going about a crusade to reach out personally to Maciel's victims. This is a bald faced lie. No victims have been contacted, and the Legion can put the words "quietly" and "in private" in front of its claims and be sure that no one can challenge their veracity: "it is being done quietly, so we can't tell you who or even how many have been so contacted". My information, after contacting many of Maciel's victims (many of whom, in turn, communicate with each other), is that no one has been contacted.

Lying from a Legionary is no surprise. Cover-ups are not a shock. Excuses and blaming faceless enemies is commonplace. What is annoying, however, is that there seems to be no end in sight.

Don't Catholics deserve something better from their priests?

I have no hope that next week will be any different.

Landon C.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do not despair. Things are happening.

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/09/12/index.php?section=sociedad&article=036n1soc

Anonymous said...

Hopefully the irony of this cowardly and infantile spiritual behavior of so many LC priests (the exceptions being the Fr. Bergs of the order---the real men who weren't afraid to face the truth, speak it, and apologize to those hurt by this Movement) during this crisis happening during the Year of the Priest won't be lost on Archbishop Chaput and the rest of the visitators.

Here are some of Alvaro's reflections on the theme:

"As we place ourselves at the service of our priests, we can also offer them the charism God has freely given us. God gave us this gift not only for our own advantage, but to serve the Church and all people. Our spirituality, our methodology, our resources for formation, our apostolates and works have to contribute to the good of the Church, and be an unconditional support for priests. We want to share it in simplicity, as a gift we received and which we want to put at the service of our brothers. "

The extreme lack of humility of the LC never fails to surprise me, even after all these years. Here they are, in the midst of a crisis in which they find out that the founder who designed the order was totally depraved, and instead of bravely and humbly reflecting on how the depravity of the founder might have affected the whole contruct, all they can seem to do is prattle on about the importance of sharing the great gift the child molester Maciel bequeathed to them to our diocesan priests during this very special year!!

Sometimes I really do think I've fallen into an episode of the Twilight Zone.

Anonymous said...

Victims must make a public and signed statement saying they havent been contacted yet.
That will blow Corcueras cover for sure, cause despite the blocking RC and LC do look and hear the media...

Exlcblogger said...

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/09/12/index.php?section=sociedad&article=036n1soc

In this article, several of them say that they have not been contacted, and no others from Mexico, have been contacted. The article carries today's date. His cover was blown ages ago.

Anonymous said...

It's hard to see big changes when they are made one tiny bit at a time. But there ARE changes. I see them in the faces of the Legionary priests in my area.

More and more people are waking up to the stench of this system of abuse created by the depraved mind of MM(Molester Maciel).

Don't lose hope. No matter what else happens, the pandora's box of facts about this order has been opened, and although Alvaro&Co are desperately trying to squeeze the lid back onto the box, they can never undo the truth that has been outed already.

Who would have EVER thought all this would be out there on the internet even 5-10 years ago? When I go back and find some of the ancient boards (like the ones on greenspun http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00ACOa where some guy named John Gecik is venomously attacking those who dare question the Legion's tactics), I wonder where all these vicious supporters of the Legion are now? We're not seeing too many of them in the comboxes. That alone tells you something.

A secret that was kept so tightly by so many for so long is now OUT, and there is no going back for the Legion. They will NEVER be able to go back.

Thanks be to GOD for the internet---and to people like YOU for persevering in getting the truth out there on your blogs.

Jeannette said...

For so many years, LC/RC members have been treating people like dirt. The Legion bullied and sued so that people are afraid to speak up but they're still around, and they haven't forgotten how they were treated. It's amazing how many people have quietly supported me but asked that their names not be used, so it's amazing to me that the Legion doesn't remember how many people loath them.

Anonymous said...

http://marietasyadelitas.blogspot.com/2009/09/legionarios-de-cristo-un-reino-de-fe.html

Anonymous said...

Yes, the Goebbels-like Legion apologists have all but disappeared. And it looks to me like most of the RC online hangouts like the Regnum Christi Members Facebook page, which were crawling with filled with posters as recently as Feb and March of this year, have pretty much dried up.

Here in the Baltimore-Washington area, I can attest that A LOT of RC members have quietly dropped out, often without bothering to give any sort of formal notice. People realize this thing is absurd -- the problems may have been obvious to outsiders for years, but this past spring the Movement had its Jimmy Swaggart-Caught-with-the-prostitutes moment. It cannot and will not recover.

Anonymous said...

Just get it over with and turn off the lights on the LC/RC for good. Moreover, someone should bring a civil or criminal RICO case for organized fraud against them. Use the lawyers against them instead....what goes around comes around.

Anonymous said...

The LC/RC used the Internet, the telephone and the U.S. mail service to solicit donations using fraud...that MM was a "saint", denied allegations, etc. all to separate people from their money. The leadership knew the truth....there's gotta be a crime there if not a major civil matter. Time to let the dogs out and sue them like they sued others. If you can't get them for the crimes get them for the cover up.

Anonymous said...

I never thought I'd ever see Minor Threat and the Legion in the same place. Are there punk rockers from the legion? hahaha!!!

Another exLegionary said...

STRAIGHT EDGE!!!

Anonymous said...

http://www.elmundo.es/suplementos/cronica/2009/726/1252792802.html

Guillaume said...

Dudes!

Just another post on this blog to say that I am keeping all of you in my prayers. It is hard for me to understand your grief, cause I was there when you were there, and no one ever bored me. I do feel great sorrow about all this, and most of all compassion for you. But now you're gone and I'm still around. Thank God the Legion is not going back, and from what I ve seen and been helping, it seems determined to go ahead. I hope God has good plans ahead for you and that you are ready to hear his call when it comes in the darkness every moment of your life.

God bless you!

Frenchy

Anonymous said...

Dude!!

Of course the Legion is determined to go ahead! What in the world would lead you to believe anything else was even possible in the Legion's eyes??? That would be like questioning whether the Borg would decide to stop assimilating! (Trekkie reference).

The Legion does not know how to do anything else. It will keep right on keeping on, singing the same old tired tunes, oblivious to the waters rising around it.

I am glad you are never bored. Many of us find that same old tired song extremely boring (yawn!!)at this point!

I highly doubt anybody here believes for a second that the Legion doesn't intend to keep moving forward. Must move forward, must keep recruiting, must keep assimilating! All for the Kingdom, ya know!

The day the Legion decides to stop recruiting will be the day President Obama decides to join the pro-life movement.

You never know, miracles have been known to happen. But barring a miracle, neither of those things are very likely to happen in this lifetime.

You are right that the Legion CANNOT go back. The pandora's box of truth has been opened, praise God. Now the Legion is moving forward (move on, people!) in its lies, but the truth is hounding them down. Damn pesky truth has a way of doing that.

God bless!

Anonymous said...

Five years ago, the Legion was at the height of its power, prestige and wealth. Maciel was fully in charge, revered by his followers as a living saint. He enjoyed the open support of the Pope, the Cardinal Secretary of State, the Congregation for Religious, and other top Vatican officials. Leading Catholic opinion makers were either enthusiastically supportive or at least silent. Even bishops were hesitant to express concerns publicly.

60 months later, Maciel has ended his life in total disgrace, his memory now excoriated by all non-Movement members and even by many who linger in the LC/RC. The Movement does not enjoy the support of the Pope (an open secret). Leading Catholic opinion makers ranging from Germain Grisez to George Weigel have denounced the LC leadership and called for drastic action against the organization. Essentially no one outside of Regnum Christi has come to the Legion's defense.

Recruitment is certainly way down, both to the Legion and to RC, and an significant exodus of members is underway -- not just rank and file, where some RC sections are imploding, but also prominent and well regarded Legion priests.

One can only imagine the short term and long term consequences to Legion fundraising of the recent news that donations have been going into a Bahamian trust account for Maciel's offspring, with the likelihood that the Legion will in the future be required to pay much more.

The whole house of cards has collapsed in a breathtakingly short period of time, and it cannot be rebuilt .

I do understand the frustration many may feel that events are not moving quickly enough and the almost desperate wish for a formal suppression of this organization. But take heart! If you step back a bit, the collapse of the Legion and RC has been nothing short of miraculous. God is good.