Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Godot Got Here. Vatican orders apostolic visitation of Legionaries of Christ

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican has ordered an apostolic visitation of the institutions of the Legionaries of Christ following disclosures of sexual impropriety by the order's late founder, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado.

The announcement of the unusual investigation was posted on the Web site of the Legionaries of Christ March 31, along with the text of a letter informing the Legionaries of the pope's decision.

The letter, written by the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said the pope wanted to help the Legionaries of Christ deal with its present problems with "truth and transparency." It said the visitation would be carried out by "a team of prelates," who were not identified.

Apostolic visitation is a form of internal church investigation ordered by a pope and undertaken by his delegate or delegates. The pope sets the jurisdiction and powers of the visitation, which usually ends with the submission of a report to the Holy See.

In February, Legionaries of Christ officials in Rome disclosed that Father Maciel had fathered a child. Sources in Rome said the order was also looking into accusations of financial irregularities by Father Maciel.

In the past, Father Maciel had been accused of sexually abusing young seminarians in the order. After investigating those allegations, the Vatican in 2006 told Father Maciel to renounce public ministry as a priest and spend the rest of his life in prayer and penitence; the Vatican did not, however, confirm that sexual abuse had occurred.

Father Maciel died Jan. 30, 2008, at the age of 87.

Cardinal Bertone's one-page letter, dated March 10, was addressed to Father Alvaro Corcuera, director general of the Legionaries and its lay association, Regnum Christi.

"The Holy Father is aware of the noble ideals that inspire you and the fortitude and prayerful spirit with which you are facing the current vicissitudes, and he encourages you to continue seeking the good of the church and society by means of your own distinctive initiatives and institutions," the cardinal's letter said.

"In this regard, you can always count on the help of the Holy See, so that with truth and transparency, in a climate of fraternal and constructive dialogue, you will overcome the present difficulties. In this respect, the Holy Father has decided to carry out an apostolic visitation to the institutions of the Legionaries of Christ through a team of prelates," it said.

Details of the visitation were not made public in the announcement. Jim Fair, the order's U.S. spokesman, said the order knew little more than what the letter stated.

"We know they're going to be visiting. We'll cooperate and prepare. But all we know is what's on the site," Fair told
__________________
They lied before. Will they lie again?

Monday, March 30, 2009

Patience pays...




It seems that Godot is on his way.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Cassandra Strikes Again!

Pity, Cassandra that no one believed you
But then again you were lost from the start
Now we must suffer and sell our secrets
Bargain, playing smart, aching in our hearts
Sorry Cassandra I misunderstood
now the last day is dawning
Some of us wanted but none of us would
listen to words of warning
From the ABBA song, Cassandra
Legion of Christ delays explanation of Rev. Maciel


More than a month has passed since revelations that the Legion of Christ's founder, Rev. Marcial Maciel, may have fathered a child, the LC appears to delay a response due to an internal debate over its "charism." He is also accused of paedophilia.

More than a month has now passed since the February 3 revelation that Rev. Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, fathered a daughter. The Legionaries immediately admitted it officially and claimed to be surprised at the discovery of inconsistencies in their founder’s life. But this was only a provisional response that avoided specifics out of concerns for privacy and suggested that a fuller accounting was being prepared. That fuller accounting is now delayed and the reasons why are emerging. Church officials must reconcile two divergent views on the question whether the Legionaries have a “charism” and a “mission” given to them by God and already acknowledged by the Church.
A promise of “materials to inform the Church and the public about all of this” was first made on February 13 by Rev. Owen Kearns, publisher of the Legionary National Catholic Register. Some inside the Legion and the Vatican expected these to be issued on February 24 and the Catholic News Agency was told so.
The statement could be expected to address specifics, at least in general terms: Was the daughter’s mother a “mistress” or was the child conceived in an act of statutory rape, another instance of Father Maciel’s pedophilia? Is there another child? Was money embezzled or misused? Is Father Maciel’s sexual abuse of his seminarians now officially admitted to? Will Father Maciel’s public accusers, whom the Legion calumniated for years, be acknowledged and apologized to? What are the consequences of Father Maciel’s sins on the life of his institute?
These questions are painful enough for the Legionaries to answer honestly, especially since for 12 years in public they only ever defended their Founder with untruth and evasion. But the statement would also begin to lay out for the order a path on which to continue in a post-scandal future and that will need the approval of Catholic Church authorities. The Church will not now allow the order to decide its future entirely on its own.


Saturday, March 7, 2009

VATICAN: APOSTOLIC VISITATOR FOR THE LEGIONARIES OF CHRIST SOON

VATICANO: PRESTO VISITATORE APOSTOLICO PER LEGIONARI DI CRISTO (STAMPA)

(ASCA) - Citta' del Vaticano, 6 mar - A metterlo nero su bianco e' stato da ultimo, nella sua edizione odierna, il quotidiano argentino ''Clarin', uno dei piu' autorevoli di tutta l'America Latina: la Santa Sede starebbe per inviare un ''visitatore apostolico', ovvero un ispettore ufficiale, per valutare la situazione del movimento dei Legionari di Cristo, fondato da p. Marcial Maciel e tra la realta' piu' dinamiche e in crescita dell'intera Chiesa cattolica. P. Maciel, morto nel 2008 a 87 anni, era stato oggetto quando era ancora in vita, di numerose e fondate accuse di pedofilia, tanto che papa Benedetto XVI lo aveva condannato ad una vita di solitudine, preghiera e penitenza, senza pero' permettere che il processo canonico contro di lui giungesse a termine. Nelle ultime settimane, poi, e' giunta la notizia che p. Maciel avrebbe condotto per anni una doppia vita, con una figlia, ora 22enne, che vive in Spagna, frutto di una lunga relazione con una amante al cui mantenimento economico provvedeva lui stesso. Notizie che hanno scosso profondamente i Legionari (e il movimento laicale ad essi legato, Regnum Christi) mettendo in discussione il carisma del fondatore, centrale per l'identita' della congregazione. Un trauma cosi' forte che persino numerosi membri dei Legionari, soprattutto Oltreoceano, hanno invocato l'intervento della Santa Sede. Fra questi p. Thomas Berg, direttore del Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person in Usa, che in una lettera pubblica ha chiesto esplicitamente l'arrivo di un visitatore apostolico. ''I superiori dei Legionari hanno fallito, e fallito miseramente, nel rispondere adeguatamente a questa crisi'', scrive. In molti infatti fanno notare che i leader della Legione, i piu' stretti collaboratori di Maciel, non abbiano potuto rimanere all'oscuro di tutto per decenni. Di fronte alle indiscrezioni su un prossimo arrivo di un visitatore, fonti dei Legionari spiegano all'ASCA che ''si tratta di informazioni in cui non viene citata una fonte ufficiale''. Si tratta quindi di ''notizie vaghe, supposizioni o illazioni''. ''Alla luce di cio' - e' la conclusione - non abbiamo altro da aggiungere a quanto abbiamo detto in passato''. E che si tratti di un ''momento doloroso'' lo conferma anche il successore di p. Maciel alla guida dei Legionari, p. Alvaro Corcuera. ''Stiamo vivendo - ha scritto in una lettera ai membri del movimento dell'inizio di febbraio - momenti di dolore e sofferenza; e in questo dolore, un'esperienza dell'amore infinito di Dio che ci chiede di andare avanti con pace e bonta', poiche' l'unica cosa che vuole nelle nostre vite e' che sperimentiamo la felicita' di essere suoi figli''. Senza citare colpe o reati specifici di p. Maciel, Corcuera ammetteva pero' che ''e' anche vero che e' stato un uomo e questi temi che ci hanno ferito, sorpreso stanno gia' davanti al giudizio di Dio. E' vero che c'e' molto dolore e molta pena. Come in una famiglia, queste pene ci uniscono e ci portano a soffrire e gioire come un solo corpo. Questa circostanza che viviamo ci invita a vedere tutto con molta fede, umilta' e carita'. Cosi' la mettiamo nelle mani di Dio Nostro Signore, che ci insegna il cammino della misericordia infinita''. Di fronte allo smarrimento e alla confusione che regnano nelle centinaia di case e istituzioni dei Legionari in tutto il mondo, e in particolare nei seminari che riescono ancora a fornire alla Chiesa cattolica decine di preziose nuove vocazioni al sacerdozio, si ritiene probabile che la Santa Sede procedera' prima o poi ad una qualche riorganizzazione del movimento.

El Mercurio Reports Vatican Study for Intervention for the Legion of Christ

El Vaticano estudia intervenir Legionarios de Cristo

La posibilidad de llevar a cabo esta supervisión está siendo analizada por el prefecto de la Congregación para los Institutos de Vida Consagrada, el cardenal Franc Rodé, quien hasta ahora no ha autorizado su inicio.

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO.- Al comienzo era sólo un rumor, pero hoy ya es un tema debatido al interior de El Vaticano: Se está estudiando intervenir la congregación católica Legionarios de Cristo y así orientar su futuro en medio de una crisis interna.

Así lo da a conocer hoy el diario Clarín de Buenos Aires y la agencia mexicana Notimex que cita fuentes al interior de la Santa Sede: “El Vaticano estudia intervenir la orden con el nombramiento de un Visitador Apostólico a fin de salvar a los Legionarios de un final estrepitoso o de una disolución a mano de la Santa Sede”.

La posibilidad de llevar a cabo esta supervisión está siendo analizada por el prefecto de la Congregación para los Institutos de Vida Consagrada, el cardenal Franc Rodé, quien hasta ahora no ha autorizado su inicio.La idea surge luego de que la cúpula misma de la Legión aceptara públicamente el 4 de febrero que su fundador, Marcial Maciel fallecido hace más de un año-, tuvo en vida "actitudes no correspondientes a un sacerdote católico".

Informaciones previas aparecidas en medios de Internet y algunos blogs católicos señalaban que Maciel mantuvo una relación amorosa durante muchos años. Según una investigación del diario The New York Times, de ese vínculo nació una hija.

Se trata del primer "mea culpa" de la congregación sobre las acciones de su fundador, pero la aceptación pública de las conductas de Maciel también ha provocado una "fuerte crisis" al interior de la orden.El sacerdote, que murió a los 87 años, fundó los Legionarios de Cristo en 1941, cuando apenas tenía 20 años, y en 1959 creó su brazo laico, Regnum Christi. La orden creció hasta convertirse en una de las más influyentes congregaciones de la actualidad: cuenta con unos 800 sacerdotes y 2.500 seminaristas en más de 40 países. También gestiona una importante universidad pontificia en Roma.

Pese a que fue muy cercano a los dos últimos papas, en especial a Juan Pablo II, los últimos años de la vida de Maciel estuvieron marcados por controvertidas acusaciones. En 1995, estallaron denuncias en su contra por abusos sexuales, hechas por cerca de una treintena de ex seminaristas de la orden, que se remontan a los años 40 y 50, cuando algunos de ellos eran niños.
Maciel dejó de ser el líder de la orden en 2004, y en 2006, el Papa Benedicto XVI le ordenó que se retirara a una vida de "oración y penitencia" y que abandonara sus responsabilidades sacerdotales tras una investigación del Vaticano sobre las acusaciones.

Propuesta de una supervisión apostólica no es nueva

El 9 de febrero pasado el escritor católico estadounidense George Weigel, acreditado biógrafo de Juan Pablo II y reconocido como cercano a la Legión, propuso públicamente la supervisión apostólica.

"Sólo después de que se haya llevado a cabo ese tipo de auditoría moral e institucional y se haya verificado públicamente como auditoría limpia, podrá la Legión de Cristo y la Iglesia entera afrontar las cuestiones sobre su futuro", escribió.

En un artículo de su blog On the Square (En la Plaza), Weigel estableció que la visita de un delegado del Vaticano a todos los centros de los Legionarios del mundo puede dar certeza de transparencia.

"Sólo puede ser salvada (la orden) si hay una divulgación completa y pública de las maldades de Maciel y si se realiza un examen de las raíces y las ramificaciones de la posible complicidad en esas maldades dentro de la Legión de Cristo", añadió.