Call for Action Against Facilitators

From a comment on xlcrc.com by Anthony concerning a post by Fr. Karras on his blog:

Consider this second excerpt:

"I will take this a step further – and believe me, it has been a long, dark and painful journey to this point – and say: who among us, Legionaries of 20, 30, 40 years or more – being of sound mind and discerning conscience – would have endured even one minute of the teaching, preaching, discipline, spirituality, methodology, spiritual direction, ‘questions’, conferences or writings of Fr. Maciel had we known that at the very time he was hypnotizing us with his lies he was sexually abusing seminarians, fathering children, running around on the congregation’s dime, duping popes, cardinals, bishops and benefactors…

It was our ignorance that held the Legion together. The LC is founded, not on the supposed sanctity and inspiration and charism of its Founder, but on the gullible and impressionable idealism of his hapless followers."

I can tell Fr. Karras who would have endured Maciel's chicanery: precisely the people who have facilitated his wickedness, used him to obtain positions of power in the congregation, persecuted those who sought justice for the abused and attempted to maintain their authority in spite of all their wrongdoing. It was not simply the ignorance of gullible Legionaries that held the Legion together but the deception and duplicity of those who are currently in control of the Legion. These people need to be stripped of power and held accountable for their crimes. These people are not of advanced age or frail health. Canonical action should be taken against them.

Jason Berry on the Vatican Investigation

Talk about having been right all along. And vilified for it...

Vatican investigates Legionaries of Christ
The Catholic Church looks into cult allegations — and $1,000 hams.
By Jason Berry — Special to GlobalPost
Published: July 19, 2009 20:54 ETU

Editor's note: A sweeping Vatican investigation of an international religious order — and the cult of personality built around its founder — has just begun in Rome. Five bishops are delving into the finances and internal dynamics of an organization suspected of influence peddling. Award-winning investigative reporter and author Jason Berry has tracked these events for years in a book he co-authored and a documentary he produced on events leading to the Pope's decision to investigate. In this exclusive report for GlobalPost, Berry breaks new ground on the Vatican investigation of the Legionaries of Christ, and the case against Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder.

ROME — Pope Benedict XVI recently appointed five bishops from as many countries to investigate the Legionaries of Christ, a religious order founded in 1941 by the late Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, a Mexican priest who is accused of sexually abusing young seminarians, and who left a grown daughter who was born out-of-wedlock.

Even after death, Maciel wields power through the influence he secured.

While the American Catholic Church has been publicly battered by two decades of priest sexual abuse scandals that erupted in the press and devastated church finances with hundreds of millions of dollars spent on compensating victims and legal fees, the Maciel scandal has gone largely unnoticed by most of the American press.

There’s a reason: For decades, the Legion shunned the media while Maciel cultivated relationships with some of the most powerful, conservative Catholics in the world. He also forced his priests and seminarians to take vows never to criticize him, or any superior. The legion built a network of prep schools and an astonishing database of donors. In Maciel's militant spirituality, Legionaries — and their wing of lay supporters, Regnum Christi — see themselves as saving the church from a corrupted world. Behind the silence he imposed, Maciel was corrupt — abusing seminarians and using money in ways that several past and present seminarians liken to bribery, in forging ties with church officials.

The silence Maciel imposed on his followers allowed Maciel to pursue a double life.

_________________

Exlcblogger will continue to publish snipets from this article.

Read the 5 page article here

Strength in Precarious Numbers

Ordenan más diáconos para demostrar fuerza, acusan

They ordain more deacons to show their power

Noemí Gutiérrez
El Universal
Domingo 28 de junio de 2009
noemi.gutierrez@eluniversal.com.mx

El especialista en temas religiosos Elio Masferrer Kan aseguró que en las últimas semanas los Legionarios de Cristo han ordenado a decenas de diáconos para demostrar que la congregación sigue fuerte y sus miembros no han perdido la vocación religiosa.

Elio Masferrer Kan, religion expert, stated that during the last few weeks, the Legionaries of Christ have ordained dozens of deacons to show that the congregation continues to be strong and their members have not lost their religious vocation.

Tras el anuncio de que ya inició la visita pastoral que ordenó el papa Benedicto XVI a la legión, consideró que reorganizará la línea de trabajo.

De acuerdo con información difundida por los Legionarios de Cristo, serán ordenados en Roma 38 diáconos, 19 de ellos de México.

According to information put out by the Legionaries themselves, 38 deacons will be ordained in Rome and 19 in Mexico.

En entrevista, el antropólogo dijo que a la legión los “alcanzó la historia” y tendrán que reconocer que los abusos y excesos cometidos desde su fundación.

Explicó que la Iglesia católica decidió “limpiar la casa” luego de conocerse abusos sexuales y escándalos. Masferrer Kan indicó que aunque no se harán públicos los resultados de la visita apostólica —regida por el secreto pontifici—, en poco tiempo se reorientará el trabajo de la misión.
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It is pernicious that these men would be allowed to be ordained in the middle of a huge visitation. Where is the total free will in this? They may be getting ordained in an institute which will be radically different... it just seems unjust that the Church would allow this. Once again, the Legion plays with people as if they were mere numbers.

What do you think?

Thanks for the tip, Anon.

Visitators' Contact Information

Ricardo Watty Urquidi

Obispo de Tepic (México)

Avenida de las Flores No. 10

Fraccionamiento Residencial La Loma

Tepic, Nayarit

(311) 214-4645

(311) 214-4647

(311) 213-2023 (fax)

diócesis@diocesisdetepic.org.mx

Charles Joseph Chaput

Arzobispo de Denver (USA)

1300 South Steele Street

Denver, CO 80210

303-722-4687

shepherd@archden.org

Giuseppe Versaldi

Obispo de Alejandría (Italia)
Via del Vescovado 1
15100 Alessandria, Italia

0131.51.22.11
0131.44.48.97 (fax)

info@diocesialessandria.it

Gianfranco Ghirlanda

Pontificia Università Gregoriana (Rettore)

Piazza Della Pilotta 4

00187 Roma (Italia)

06 6701.1.5597 (Secretary)

06 6701.5419 (fax)

Visitators

Clockwise from top left:
Ricardo Watty Urquidi, Bishop of Tepic, Mexico
Charles Joseph Chaput, Archbishop of Denver, Colorado, USA
Giuseppe Versaldi, Bishop of Alessandria, Italy
Gianfranco Ghirlanda, S.J., Rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, Italy

Visitators named for the Legion of Christ (no question mark now)

These were some of the names Exlcblogger had heard, but the Jesuit, Fr. Ghirlanda, was a surprise. Watty Urquidi is bishop of Tepic. Exlcblogger had heard it would be the archbishop of Guadalajara.


VATICANO/ Nominati gli ispettori per i legionari di Cristo
Redazione
martedì 5 maggio 2009

Saranno tre vescovi e un sacerdote a guidare l'ispezione ordinata da papa Benedetto XVI sulle istituzioni legate all'ordine dei Legionari di Cristo, dopo le accuse al fondatore Marcial Maciel di abusi sessuali e relazioni illecite, dalle quali sarebbe nata anche una figlia. Lo riferisce l'agenzia messicana Notimex citando «fonti confidenziali».

Della commissione faranno parte i vescovi Ricardo Watty Urquidi, messicano, Charles Joseph Chaput, arcivescovo di Denver, negli Stati Uniti, e l'italiano Giuseppe Versaldi, vescovo di Alessandria. Con loro, anche il sacerdote gesuita Gianfranco Ghirlanda, rettore della Pontificia università gregoriana di Roma, incaricato delle indagini negli istituti educativi dei Legionari. Potrebbe poi aggiungersi in un secondo momento un incaricato per il sud America.

Nei prossimi mesi la «visita apostolica» toccherà tutte le comunità della Legione nel mondo e si concluderà con la consegna di un rapporto, protetto dal segreto pontificio, alle autorità vaticane.

Exlcblogger has heard that some are saying that the church not will announce publicly the names of the people who covered for Maciel. This would be for the "good of the church".

What the HELL does that mean? Enablers of crimes against children get a free pass for the good of the church? Total BULLSHIT! And total diabolic criminality.

Article source: Ilsussidario.net.

Visitators named for the Legion of Christ?

That is what Exlcblogger is hearing.

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?

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

Read the complete article by Cassandra Jones on spero news here.

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.

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.