You Know What They Say About Big Hands....

Fr Roberto Aspe, L.C. - His Hands are Bigger

His hands are bigger, I told myself one day gazing at an enormous bronze image of Christ, elegantly deformed, that is in the Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola in Mexico. In front of those hands, proportionally very big in comparison with the whole figure, I realized that God was offering me his hands to carry me and help me take on the commitment of consecrating my life to him as a layman...

Exlcblogger is not making this up. Read it here.

Image source.

Boniface is "Tired of old 'fruits' argument"

From Unam Sanctam
(and this has nothing to do with elderly gay men)

...I find serious fault with this "fruits" argument. This is the same old canard that...ha[s] been throw[n] around for decades now when any sensible criticism is leveled against the alleged apparitions: It must be from God because of all these good "fruits." This is an argument I totally reject, and I intend to give a thorough rebuttal to this oft made assertion here.

And, boy, does he. Well worth the read here.
The context is Medjugorje, however arguments are applicable to the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi.

They are gonna have a hard time of it.

Catholic order aims to stem clergy shortage
by Juanita Westaby The Grand Rapids Press
Saturday January 03, 2009, 5:40 AM

Nice wish, but ordaining only 3 or 4 Americans a year is no grand solution.

You can parse through some of this neoclergyman's story here:

He said he's aware of criticism that the Legionaries' target wealthier families and communities."Part of that is true," he said. "Why? Because our order is dependent on fundraising, and part of our methodology is to reach out to leaders in different fields of work."The Legionaries have been influential, especially among the laity of Regnum Christi, in shaping conservative orthodox thought. Its founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, died in February after being censured and ordered to a life of "prayer and penitence" following an investigation of sexual abuse allegations in 2006. DuMont said he wishes the Legionaries' hallmark charity could be applied to Maciel. "It's sad to see he has been so calumniated," he said. "We have to be careful as Catholics not to say something that we do not know is true."
E-mail the author of this story: localnews@grpress.com

Photo from AP Photo by Ed Andrieski

What do you think of this answer from vocation.com?

Kassie asks:
During the past Holy Week, I fought a strong call be be consecrated. I finally realized that I was being selfish with Christ and that I needed to offer him back all that he has given me, and that I can give up anything for him after what he has done for me. Immediately, I experienced peace. The question of whether I was called to consecrated or married life was no longer imperative. I felt as though Christ was helping me find my generosity by asking for the biggest gift I could give him, and when I realized that I could give him that, he was happy. Now, I am unsure if the call to consecration was just me being afraid that he would ask for the biggest sacrifice, or whether I really do have a vocation. I am 17 years old and a Junior in high school, and am unsure how I should go about preparing for college without knowing exactly what Christ wants. Was he simply testing my generosity in order to bring me closer to him (I am so much closer to him now and have received so many graces) or is he asking for a vocation?
Sincerely, Kassie

Dear Kassie,

We go through many stages in discovering our vocation: searching, apparently groping in the dark, moments of clarity, consolation and conviction, and times of doubt, distraction and temptation. These and others are unpredictable and vary from one person to another, and at times the whole journey can be quite a roller-coaster of emotions and perceptions. To get to your situation: 17 with one year of high school to go, you have experienced the peace that came from offering yourself totally to Christ, yet now you are wondering if you really were being generous, and you are unsure of how to prepare for college if you don't know exactly what Christ wants.
Kassie, I think it will help you to stick to the facts, and the first one is that you did sincerely offer Christ everything out of gratitude for all he did for you. You simply put him in the center and told him nothing else mattered. The most important thing to do now is to keep him there, right in the center. When you get worried about other things, keep coming back and never let go of this anchor: there is only one way to repay Christ for all he did to save us from sin, and it is to give him all we are, and do whatever he wants.
Now, does he want you to consecrate yourself to him? Here, you have another fact to consider. When you decided to put Christ at the center, the thought of consecration came into your mind. That does not happen to everybody, and it may be (only "may be", not "is") a first indication of a vocation. So, it is good to look around and see if the other signs of a vocation are there in your life (Is there an attraction? Are your motives spiritual? Do you have the normal maturity for your age? Are you aware of what you would be giving up? Are you doing it freely, not out of fear? etc.) It would be good to speak about all this with your spiritual director if you have one, or with a priest you trust.
Then, a final fact, our vocation is God's plan for our lives. So trust him. He is not going to want you to do something and then not give you the opportunity to find out what it is. God after all is intelligent, much more than you or I, and we wouldn't make a mistake like that. So, if you start looking he is going to place what he wants you to do in your path. I think it would be wise to think Christ may be calling you, and the best way to find out if he is, is to start looking into where it may be. There may be a religious Congregation or a Movement you know or have heard about that has made you curious, start there. I imagine if you start looking now, by the time you are half-way through your senior year you will have a fairly good idea if you have a vocation or not, and where it is to. And that will give you a good idea if you should be looking into college or into following the vocation right away. God bless.

Fr. Anthony Bannon, L.C.

Text and Photo from www.vocation.com

Less Queen Helene, but more Cookie cut faces

Another website? Who pays all the web fees?
Whynotpriest.org
Well, Christmas is a time for legions of identical, saccharine Gingerbread men. One says that he wants to help the poor. Well, abandon ship. You just ain't gonna be able to do that in the Legion of Ginger Christ.

I can think of a lot more "why nots?". Can you?
Why not help those who you booted out?
Why not keep more RC members in?

By the way, there is no mention of the Legion sponsoring the site. Quelle surprise!

Photo credit.

What ever happened to the Irish?

Vocations Ireland has a nice piece on the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi. What the heck ever happened with the Irish experiment? Marcial Maciel got tons of them at the start, and then many left as priests. Is it any wonder why the bishops there are wary? (For those who do not know, the Legion of Christ is restricted to a schedule of a couple of dioceses per year for recruitment in Ireland, and the LC has only one vocation from the Emerald Isle every few years or so).

"Brothers, you have a vocation until your superior tells you 'Brother, you do not have a vocation'"

Fr. Ownen Kears, summer 1984 to the candidates of the Legion of Christ.

Thanks for the quote, G.F.

Image source

Marriage and Vocation???

Sharyn decided to pursue God’s call for her. She went to Spiritual Direction through the Regnum Christi Movement and decided to find out what her vocation was. She thought, it’s either one of 2 choices; be married to God, or married to a man.

This otherwise lovely couple shared this on their wedding blog site. This thought is pretty weird and very limiting. Exlcblogger thinks that this thinking is totally backwards and quite dangerous.

See the story here.

A fascinating piece!

Journey to priesthood long, but rewarding
By myrecordjournal.com
Please click above and read the entire article, but a bizarre (involving sensational contrasts or incongruities) part follows:

"As priests in training, they have to be celibate, a sacrifice Devereux said is difficult to describe. Sometimes, people go through the seminary and are unable or unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices to become a priest, he added. If a candidate for the priesthood is not truly called by God to serve, it's best for them and the church if they leave, Wirfel said.

Devereux believes the failure to identify men unsuited for the seminary may have contributed to the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. Although pedophiles make up only a small percentage of Catholic priests, Devereux said one is too many.

Nine people accused the founder of the Legion of Christ, Marcial Maciel, of sexual abuse in the 1970s. Although one of those took back his statement, more allegations have surfaced since Maciel's death in January.

When Richardson was researching the Legion of Christ on several Web sites before attending the seminary, he learned of the allegations and said he was concerned.

"They were some serious allegations," Richardson said.

He spoke with a priest he knew at home about what he learned. The priest told Richardson he had worked with Maciel for three years, but never got the sense that he would do something like that, so Richardson felt more at ease about joining the seminary.

"We have a deep appreciation for him because he's our founder," Richardson said."