P. Julien Durodié: “… ”He creído, especialmente viviendo con el Padre Maciel durante tres años en la Dirección General, que él era también santo. ¿Por qué no? Pero nunca he puesto mi confianza sobrenatural en su persona humana. Mi fe no está afectada por su vida desordenada. Al contrario, está purificada. Por supuesto, estoy afectado por el escándalo, y el grito de las víctimas me hunde en el dolor. Pero todo esto no pone en entredicho el llamado de Dios”…
Fr. Julien Durodie: "I have come to believe, especially living with Fr. Maciel for three years in the General Direction, that he was also a saint. And why not? But I have never placed my supernatural confidence in his human person. My faith is not affected by his disordered life. On the contrary, it is purified. Of course, I am affected by the scandal, and the cry of the victims plunges me in sorrow. But all of this does not put the call of God into doubt..."
P. Douglas Barry: “… Después de un proceso de discernimiento que comencé en México tras conocer la impostura de nuestro fundador (múltiples vidas, engaños, y todo lo que ustedes saben o deberían de saber de sus actos de pedofilia, abuso de niños, homosexualidad, vicios, etc. que no me corresponde juzgar, pues Dios ya lo ha hecho) fui dándome cuenta que la mente deforme del fundador no sólo afectó su vida personal, sino que no pocas costumbres, procedimientos, estilos de vida, normas, y diversos aspectos de la congregación también estaban contaminados por resabios de esa mentalidad…”.
Fr. Douglas Barry: "...After a process of discernment, which I began in Mexico after learning of the deceit of our founder (multiple lives, fraud, abuse of children, homosexuality, vices, etc. which I cannot judge, since God has already done so) I began to realize that the deformed mind of the founder dis not only affect his personal life, but also not a few customs, procedures, lifestyle, norms, and diverse aspects of the congregation were also contaminated by the bad habits of this mentality..."
Madrid, 16 de febrero de 2010 (Por trastevere).- Dos nuevas cartas escritas por el P. Julien Durodié LC, Superior de la comunidad legionaria de París (Francia) y que continúa dentro de la Legión, y la segunda por el P. Douglas Barry que ha abandonado la congregación fundada por Marcial Maciel, han reabierto hoy el debate hacia el exterior de la situación que está atravesando la Legión de Cristo y el Regnum Christi en estos momentos en que se enfrenta a la “Visita Apostólica” ordenada por la Santa Sede y que deberá concluir el próximo mes de marzo.
Madrid, February 16, 2010 (By Trastevere). Two new letters written by Fr. Julien Durodie, LC, superior of the legionary community in Paris (France) and who continues within the Legion, and the second by Fr. Douglas Barry, who has left the congregation founded by Marcial Maciel, have reopened the debate today of the situation of the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Chrisit in these moments when they are confronting an "Apostolic Visitation" ordered by the Holy See and which should conclude next month.
25 comments:
I am proud of you, Fr Julien Durodié. In the sect, your public statement stands as an act of high treason. You will be blackballed. You will now be numbered among the "impure", while the truly impure inexplicably, psychotically will flaunt their phylacteries. They will strut in their fine "peacock plumage". They will explain you to the rest of the community as one who faults against "charity" and "unity" against the idol-Legion, as a troubled soul who sins by slander, with whom infinite patience must be had as with a retarded child. They shall condescendingly "be charitable" to you, all the while denying the real issue that you and Fr Douglas Barry bring up: the absolute wickedness of MM's actions and the perversion that he bequeathed us: the diabolical "spirituality", that is really only a cover for brain washing.
But behind your back, you will be slandered for your "sin" of "disunity", of "uncharity", and the stench of hypocrisy about you will nauseate.
"How can they preach never to speak or to think evil, all the while they stab me in the back!"
Don't go there, P Julien. Do not look for intelligent reasons for evil. Sin is inherently irrational, and you torment yourself uselessly looking for reasons where there is no reason.
Like the sin of Adam, that poisoned the human race and required the irrational murder of the God-man by perverse men for the restitution of God's gift of creation, the sin of MM, his perverse "spirituality" poisons us and must be paid for, and it does not appear rational to the victim who suffers it. Only the Heavenly Father understands and can compensate, and make the good eventually triumph.
Prayer, penance, suffering... that is the lot of the victim, your lot, that of a corredeemer, until this battle is won, or God and Benedict choose to eradicate the Legion.
Good for you, Fr Julien! Athlete of Christ, standard of Faith for your disoriented brethren! A few more like you, and God may yet save the whole hapless lot of the Legionaries. Prepare, then, to pay the price for your brothers' sins with your own purgatory...
I know that my praise for you here will do little to ingratiate you with the Sanhedrin. But I thought that you ought to know you're not alone. My poor prayers and those of many of my betters accompany you.
ER
I always perceive a fanaticism in subtle form when after a litany of confessed evils of the founder, a Legionary suddenly chirps up with, "But all of this does not put the call of God into doubt."
He seems unable to critically apply to the full content of the faith of the Church to the realities around him. If faith is faith, it must not only be about the virtue of faith- surrender/trust (fides qua) but also the content or wisdom of the faith (fides quae). Evaluate, reflect, read the signs...
Fr. Julien,
You can offer yourself in a holocaust of fidelity, but to what end?
1) Just because God has helped you to experience through the Legion so many goods that belong to the Church itself, does not mean the type of witness the Legion offers the Church now is what it needs or wants. It is egoism to expect that what seems to serve you is with all its horrors still able to serve the Church or your brothers.
2) The Legion you thought you knew was a fiction, it is dead. You began with the idea of following in the spirit of the founder, sharing his spiritual experiences. How do you do that now?
You began your path to the end that the institute would give a witness of holiness, it has rather through the one founder you will have forever, blasphemed the very nature of religious life.
You began thinking all methods were truly inspired, now they are merely human- more than cosmetic errors are there, and perhaps everywhere. You began thinking you were approved by the Church, now you see that approval was wrought with deception and manipulation.
3) The Devil has joined your company and you do not care? Do you not wish to box him in and send him back to where he came from? Is he not the Father of Lies, and how many lies can we count today in the life of the institute. How many more must be uncovered before you realize the harvest is in, the wheat must be separated from the darnel.
Perhaps up till now you were protected from the Devil's grasp because you did not know, but now you do- so apply the full measure of faith with its proper content, and see that vocation you have is first to the priesthood and to keep holy the things that are holy. Remedy the evil not just for you but the whole Church, cast out the profanation. Be a priest, for pete's sake, and bring an end to what dishonors God and his Church. Reground your vocation in a deeper critique of what is freedom and truth, humble witness to a priesthood without stain.
The only remedy for evil is suffering united in Faith and Obedience to the suffering of Christ. The rest are extrinsic modalities of the realization of the sacrifice: be it by the wooden cross, or by the sacrifice of leaving the community, or by staying with it and being criticized as a lunatic for it.
You and Christ decide.
Many of these arguments can be applied to Christ also. "Oh Master, would that not any of these things happen to you!" "Get thee behind me Satan. You know not that you speak according to how men think, and not as God."
er
er, are you saying that the response to a suggestion to LCs that they leave the Legion should be met with "get behind me Satan?" If so, I disagree.
You cannot compare the suffering of Christ, who suffered alone, to the suffering of an LC. Yes, the LC suffers, this is an awful time in the life of a Legionary. An LC that leaves the Legion, I hope, leaves not to remedy his own personal suffering but out of anguish that so many have suffered at the hands of the Legion, and because the Legion will never deign to stop at the roadside and bind the wounds of these suffering souls, which is wrong.
I hope they leave because they know this is unacceptable for priests, and they cannot stand by or align themselves with this congregation any longer. I hope they leave out of integrity, and humility, and a deep abiding trust in God's will to see them through to a future unblighted by scandal.
Vote with your feet and walk out the door already... Stop all this nonsense bible-babble.
The other remedy for evil is to renounce it and make reparation for the harm it has caused and the LC has done neither.
ER,
Ultimately yes, you and Christ decide. However some steps in discernment are not purely subjective, they have objective components as well. The point made here about Fr. Julien is whether or not his discernment shows the signs of someone who has maturely understood the gravity of the facts, or is he merely caught up in a preset script in his brain that locks out the wisdom of the faith itself.
Actually the LC has aided and enabled evil to continue with the cover-up of Maciel and the uncharitable response to all victims and those who have left LC and RC. Even this letter from Fr. Julien honors those who stay with LC that they have chosen the harder road.
“It is easier to leave the boat passing through the storm than it is to stay on board."
I thought the boat was the Catholic Church and not the LC and each priest needs to listen to their conscience and do the right thing for the good of the Church. It is not about staying on or getting off the LC boat. It is not about LC. It is about Christ and his Church and priests who gave their life for that - not for Maciel's methodology. I see priests more attached to their institution and their way of life than to the Church.
I cannot think of anything more evil that sadistically murdering an innocent by crucifixion, and yet, infinite good came out of Christ's crucifixion. The Legion may be very evil, but I don't think it is more evil than premeditated murder and, in the case of Christ, sacrilege. I believe that many of you exaggerate the wickedness of the Legion: it can be fully demon-possessed and a harem, and add whatever else you want. It is still not "absolutely evil", just as crucifixion is not absolutely evil. Some of you are over the top.
It is not necessarily obligatory to run from suffering evil. In most cases, it is good to run. But if it is necessary (as in the Redemption) or if it is not necessary but a corresponding good may come of it, then the act may be good, even heroic. If this were not the case, Christ's acceptance of the cross would have been sinful, an act of suicide, of wanton disregard for God's gift of life.
The athlete of Christ of course must measure himself well whether he has the trust and the virtue to submit to such a test. Christ does talk about the man who builds a tower, and the king who must face an enemy with a larger army...
I am not in the Legion (I am on a leave of absence). But my sincere admiration and praise goes to Fr Julian. I presume he has examined himself well. I do not presume to judge him too childish as not to be able to measure himself. He is probably well balanced if he can speak the truth for the good of his people (as he explains in his letter) while under duress of the group pressure and group think that permeate Legion ranks. Given his truthfulness and authentic concern for others, it is a safe bet that he is probably capable of measuring himself responsibly. Who are we to tell him otherwise?
We admire heros, like the fireman who runs into burning buildings not out of contempt for his own life, but for the good of the lives of others. Something like that is the Legionary who for the good of his sick confreres, remains to support and rebuild what others have destroyed. This is all the more admirable when the fireman is derided for the good that he is trying to do; when he is insulted and his holy motives are questioned.
Why do we have to interpret his act as misplaced fidelity to a demented "spirituality". I can interpret it as something more Christian: as love of neighbor, and therefore, of God.
As for me, I don't think I am up to the task. But if there are some Legionaries still capable of Christian fidelity, both authentic and heroic, the Church and the Legion stand in most need of them now. I think Fr Julian is praiseworthy, and until the Pope determines that the Legion should be suppressed, I encourage him to do the good he feels that he must. God sustain him in the Truth and in Charity.
ER
Right. But one just wishes he'd show a less childish attitude and some compassion for the victims.
Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional - those LCs that leave I believe do so to STOP the suffering that the Legion has historically inflicted on those that join it or meet it.
If you still love the Legion and your calling to it then that means that you still love Maciel and his "inspired" life: LC norms, mindset, spirituality, traditions.
But precisely these are the problems with the Legion - not Maciel's heirs.
The Legion was FOUNDED on and DESIGNED to perpetuate deceipt, theft and self-gratuity.
As it is Legionary priests cannot be trusted. They are living in cuckoo land.
What can change to give sight to these blind priests?
The European Visitator is to be named the Archbishop of Valladolid in Spain. This is the city next to Salamanca (european equivalent to cheshire) and Salamanca diocese is connected to the Valladolid Archdiocese, although I am not sure in what way - they use the word sufragan to describe the connection.
I wonder if this means he will be the LCs new Bishop?
Is this a coincidence?
http://www.elcorreo.com/alava/v/20100219/politica/blazquez-sera-nombrado-arzobispo-20100219.html
Dear Anonymous #9:
You really need to get on a reading program, ie., The Doctors of the Church, preVII papal encyclicals, catechisms, etc. You are proof of how poorly formed LC priests are and I have compassion for you. MM had you seminarians so involved with fundraising and obeying pharisaical rules that he forgot to provide you with solid formation. Now is the time for you to go on a traditional Ignatian retreat; read; read; and read some more; get a nonLC spiritual advisor (Institute Christ the King, Fraternity of St. Peter); and get down on your knees and discern.
To compare the current situation with the Legion with the crucifixion of Christ is really alarming.
Are you talking to me?
I have done all that you said: 30 day Ignatian retreat with a real Jesuit director, in seclusion and silence. A beautiful experience that helps me to this day. That was in the Spring of 2005, if memory serves me correctly. Fr Thomas Keneally, S.J. (RIP) directed me. As for my reading: I've read more than most who are not professional theologians (I am not a theologian). I am confident my doctrine is solid because I have put it by so many people and none have been able to convince me of error or heresy. It's the doctrine of the Cross: nothing more orthodox. We are here on this earth to suffer for love of Christ and our brothers. "If you wish to follow me, take up your cross, and follow me", says Jesus, our Savior.
I too am one of the wounded, though compared with some of you, mine are just flesh wounds. I have been hated and ostracized, and been the victim of psychological abuse that included being ganged up upon by a whole community. In other words, practically nothing compared to many of you. I had particular circumstances that allowed me not to be subject 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to predations such as some of you have undergone. I was lucky.
In your revulsion and wounds, many of you perhaps do not realize that you torture real Christians that try to bring order to this mess from within. I feel duty bound to try to give fellow Christians fighting the good fight some encouragement. They deserve it from us.
I am heartened to hear the rumor or trial balloon about a refounding. Anything less than that, I feel, will leave gangrene, which must be scrapped off, even with the bone if need be.
As for declaring the LC so evil as to be irredeemable: reflect that that sounds like a blasphemy. God is able to annihilate sin, destroy the machinations of the devil, turn the sin of Adam into the "happy fault by which we have received such a Redeemer", our Lord Jesus Christ; God raises the dead, and calls the universe and the angelic choirs into existence out of nothingness with his almighty Word, BUT He cannot save the Legion?
Maybe He won't. But that doesn't mean He can't. Who are we creatures to say God can't? As I've said before, the more people say God can't, the more I feel He will, if only to protect his Honor against such blasphemies. If you really feel that the Legion should not exist, great! But for Heaven's sake, stop provoking God to save it!
No, don't accuse me of wanting at all costs the resurrection, or better, the true creation of the Legion. God knows that about that I have a "holy indifference" (St. Ignatious's spiritual exercises) regarding the Legion's fate. But while I grieve over the scandal and hurt of many of you, I also feel for the brother and fathers within in their purgatory who also hurt and many of them deserve respect and compassion, no less than you.
God bless and Christ's peace to you.
Edmond Ritter
Edmond,
You have to keep in mind, a religious institute has a public face to the Church and the world. A public witness that is confirmed in the public nature of the vows. It's history, practices and membership have a high standard to meet in order to earn and sustain the right to exist.
It's not just about those inside. The mere continuance of LC can do proportionately greater harm to the faithful at large, lowering the standards as they have. Those inside would honor the Church most and heal themselves more by realizing that what they choose to do (with the Holy See) should not just fix the mess, but honestly evaluate that their public witness has been irremediably damaged, regardless of any internal reform.
"Those inside would honor the the Church most and heal themselves more by realizing that what they choose to do (with the Holy See) should not just fix the mess, but honestly evaluate that their public witness has been irremdiably damaged, regardless of any internal reform."
This absolutizes public testimony over the truth of ones relationship with God: if the sinner's internal conversion is authentic, then it will be God Himself who defends the sinner before a scandalized world, as Christ did for Zaccheus and for the Magdalen in the house of Simon the Pharisee(or the "repentant woman" who loved much, whoever she was -- we need not discuss if it was the sister of Lazarus or some other woman).
This line of reasoning is too worldly: the world's opinion of the Legion does not count as much as God's judgment. If the Legion converts HEROICALLY, in sack cloth and ashes, that joined to the Grace of God will draw good out of so much evil. God Himself and time will manifest the authenticity of the conversion. The Church honors the memory of SAINT Mary Magdalen, not that of the prostitute: such scandal can be healed, though this takes time and manifest contrition with effective reparation. What I accuse the Legion of is the pretension of fidelity without the reparation of the Magdalen and Zaccheus.
I do not believe your reasoning is according to Christ's mind. It is worldly. It does not honor God's infinite mercy, and it discourages the sinner from the heroic repentance to which he is called. Fr Julian and others like him must be encouraged! I am writing to encourage the good in him and the others. I don't believe your advise is helpful.
Perhaps you will object that the Magdalen and Zaccheus were sinners, and then became Christians, and did not relapse. Perhaps you will say that a different and more stern law must hold for relapsed sinners. I am of a different school. "There where sin did about, grace did the more abound." The greater the sin, the greater the opportunity it offers for God's glorification. Sinners, especially the relapsed, should be encouraged to conversion. A faithless world that does not believe in the convert's sincerity is no excuse for the sinner not to convert. The faithless world will eventually be forced to believe by the ardor of the sinner's reparation and compunction. But the sinner must believe in God's mercy and love for him. Your line of reasoning does not encourage it.
er
"If the Legion converts HEROICALLY, in sack cloth and ashes, that joined to the Grace of God will draw good out of so much evil."
That would be great...that is what we all have been waiting for and it has not happened. That is what I felt needed to do as an RC member but everyone wanted to carry on business as usual and my conscience would not let me so I had to leave.
I think ER that is why you are seeing so many post negatively. I agree God can do anything and his grace abounds where there is sin - but there must be repentance, conversion, public specific apologies, reparation and authentic love. Instead I have just seen cover-up and business as usual.
I send my prayers to you during your Leave of Absence. There are so many good men and priests that have been wrapped up in the lie of Maciel. I respect that you come on this blog and share your thoughts - it is great to see an LC priest thinking, dialoguing, and brainstorming how to deal with this scandal. God Bless you!
Except that their 'thinking' -and thus their 'dialoguing' are severely impaired by the party line. The question is not only sin, but CRIME committed by their disgusting founder and abetted by the institution as such.
I think it's important to keep in mind that the Legion is not only structurally dishonest, it is simply sick, insane. It's not reasonable to expect it to act sanely. We've got to lower our expectations over the short term. I personally regard the Legion as an insane parent. It is not wise to argue or demand it not to be insane. It is what it is. We must suffer along with it and work for its betterment or dissolution. I hope no one is making his or her own healing contingent upon the Legion's return to sanity. That would be insane, or induce insanity.
Don't dialogue with an insane person or institute. You may become insane yourself. Furthermore, you yourself will come off looking insane. Why ask the Legion as presently constituted for an apology? They cannot apologize. They are collectively crazy, though a few, or maybe more than a few are reasoning like us, and are as scandalized as you and I are.
May be that's the problem with many of us commentators: we see that the LC is off the wall, but we keep treating it and expecting it to act as if it were not.
None of this comment should be interpreted as making excuses for crimes. Those too should be punished and acknowledged. It's an integral part of the public penance we Legionaries must do.
God bless, ER
ER - Your last email raises an important point. I know that I too have spoken with LC/RC who believe strongly that a frank and open apology is owed to victims, but that this will not come about until the current leadership is removed.
ER:
"This line of reasoning is too worldly: the world's opinion of the Legion does not count as much as God's judgment. If the Legion converts HEROICALLY, in sack cloth and ashes, that joined to the Grace of God will draw good out of so much evil."
There is a difference between personal salvation and the status of a Religious Institute. Religious life pertains to the holiness of the Church as elaborated by R. Michael Dunnigan. Further, even if repentent leaders come forth they could still recognize that the scandal is so deep in its past that it can no longer serve the good of the Church as a group, letting the individuals go their way to bring for good in some other venue. That is not a caving into the opinion of the world, but the recognition that even repented sin has consequences.
There is an identity that crystalizes in foundation, a foundation that is now over, and it ties the order permanently to those events. Theoretically you could parse the good from the bad, but humanly it is next to impossible. This past must be shed wholesale, and I think there would be more peace about all things LC is more were ready to do that.
This would be similar to those Irish bishops who had the nobility to resign because of the scandal they caused is their passivity over the abuse in the reform schools there.
Conversion can be had, but if it is authentic is entails recognizing the consequences of the harm done, not only to individuals but to the common good of the Church as a whole.
There is a difference between personal salvation, and the salvation of an organization within the Church, and of the Church itself.
Organizations (like religious congregations) are intermediary of course between the individual persons and the Church as a whole.
If an "intermediary" organization is necessarily lost when it corrupts and falls into decadence, it would seem that the Church also would be necessarily lost by corruptions such as she has suffered in her past.
(Why? If all her parts suffer such a necessity, it would seem that the whole also does. Otherwise, there would be some part of the whole not subjected to that necessity -- contradicting the premise that every part of the Church necessarily is lost when corrupted.)
In fact, the Church has not been lost but miraculously preserved when she has suffered scandalous decadence and corruption in her history.
Therefore it does not seem that intermediary and corrupt organizations within the Church are necessarily lost for being corrupt. There is left open the possibility that they too can be saved, just as the Universal Church has been saved from internal schisms (for example), which naturally speaking, should have put an end to her.
I conclude that nothing makes necessary the extinction of the Legion (except possibly the recalcitrant and unfortunate perseverance of her members in their corrupt adherence to their sins).
Why the fascination with annihilating the Legion? I find it humorous that even as I receive junk mail rather personal and insulting from some anonymous Legionaries (how do I know it's from them? I know them! It's their m.o.), in this blog I find opposition when I try to defend them, and leave some room for hope for the scoundrels, which some of them definitely are.
What a life!
Back to my point. That the Church as a whole and individuals within her are not necessarily damned on account of their corruption or decadence or sin, makes it highly improbable that an intermediary body such as the Legionaries of Christ are necessarily ruined for being corrupt. This is a philosophical argument independent of the Theology, and puts into question the logic of such a universal necessity in all the parts without also being a necessity in the whole.
Theologically, I do not care for the determinism that implicitly ties God's omnipotent hands telling Him he cannot save anyone or anything, or puts into question the creature's capacity to convert with God's Grace, thereby limiting Grace's power.
ER
ER,
Truly you are never dull in your arguments.... It's late, and I will leave you with two articles which you may have read before but ponder them again if you wish to see my point about the consequences of the founders sin upon the institute, and how a religious institute is not just ANY intermediate structure in the Church, but the type for which the Church has and (perhaps) ought to dissolve. Sleep well.
http://krestaintheafternoon.blogspot.com/2009/04/sign-and-counter-sign.html
http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otr.cfm?id=4931
I agree about the consequences...
For such arguments to be conclusive and correct, you must prove that there are no other causalities at work than those human and eclesial, but there are. There is 1) that of God's omnipotence and grace, above all, and 2) that of the sinners who convert and allow that grace in them to become operative and powerful to undo the effects of sin in them and in those around them.
We have to see if the Legionaries as individuals will convert and do so heroically.
I would propose to the Pope what the worker of Christ's parable proposed to the land owner: give me another year to dig out the weeds and to manure the base of the tree. If by next year there is no improvement, I shall tear it out.
Many LCs did not know what was happening and did not collaborate. But as they come to know, they become culpable for not denouncing the truth of MM and above all, of their tainted "spirituality". So as not to spurn the grace of God that may yet be hidden in the Legion, let us give it another "year". Reconstitute it, impose the truth on them. Maybe it's hopelessly pathological. If so, let it be cut down and thrown in the fire. But to proceed too hastily risks disrespect for God's grace and is lacking in mercy for sinners.
That's my take. I think there are Legionaries who would judge me too severe.
ER
Yes, members can change but the patrimony is set (founder, history, spirituality), foundation is done. If you love them, why would you want them stuck with that?
Let's hope the Holy See will refound them in totem- new name and all. It simply will not be up for discussion. If good is in them, they will flourish once released from the bondage of all that is under the juridical person of LC.
In fact I hold ES to his word, if it really has always been about Christ, then this expulsion of the LC patrimony, should not be an issue.
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