From Matt Abbott:
I find it interesting that Father Maciel apparently was "bisexual." It could be that his reported abuse of seminarians had more to do with the abuse of power than with homosexuality per se. Then again, when one reaches an extremely high level of moral depravity, it probably is easy for that individual to engage in unfettered sexual activity with men, women and even children, considering his or her conscience is nearly, if not entirely, dead. Diabolical indeed.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
For Atlantans Present and Future Who Are Wary of LC/RC
From Life-After-RC combox comment:
It will be difficult to find a church/school in Atlanta that does not have at least a mild RC infestation (although it gets a little easier every day!) For schools, Queen of Angels/Blessed Trinity, Holy Redeemer, and Our Lady of the Assumption are all filled with enough Pinecrest refugees that you will be safe. St. Jude the Apostle never really bought into the whole LC/RC thing, but that school is particularly hard to get into. Pinecrest and Holy Spirit are RC schools.
LC got its foothold in the Atlanta area in All Saints parish and it remains a stronghold. Avoid St. Monica's in Duluth, Mary Our Queen in Norcross, St. Andrew's in Roswell, and St. Brendan's in Cumming.
Good luck to you and your family.
It will be difficult to find a church/school in Atlanta that does not have at least a mild RC infestation (although it gets a little easier every day!) For schools, Queen of Angels/Blessed Trinity, Holy Redeemer, and Our Lady of the Assumption are all filled with enough Pinecrest refugees that you will be safe. St. Jude the Apostle never really bought into the whole LC/RC thing, but that school is particularly hard to get into. Pinecrest and Holy Spirit are RC schools.LC got its foothold in the Atlanta area in All Saints parish and it remains a stronghold. Avoid St. Monica's in Duluth, Mary Our Queen in Norcross, St. Andrew's in Roswell, and St. Brendan's in Cumming.
Good luck to you and your family.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Good Guy and Bad Guy
From Milenio:Marcial Maciel, el traidor y el héroe
Diego Petersen Farah
2009-09-05•Al Frente
Dónde termina el héroe y comienza el traidor; dónde termina el ídolo y comienzan los pies de barro; dónde lo divino de Aquiles y lo mortal de su talón? El caso del fundador y líder de los Legionarios de Cristo, Marcial Maciel Degollado, es, por lo extremo y exagerado de la doble cara del personaje, paradigmático para observar esa endeble línea que separa lo uno de lo otro. Es también un buen ejemplo de la dificultad de construcción de ídolos en tiempos mediáticos. Decía el doctor Farah que cuando se inventó la luz eléctrica se acabaron los fantasmas. Igual podríamos decir que los medios terminaron con los santos. La construcción de la santidad pasa necesariamente por la construcción de una hagiografía (una biografía limada y pulida para evitar cualquier borde o rugosidad en la vida de un santo) y eso requiere un control de la información imposible de logar en estos tiempos.
El héroe-traidor no se hace solo. En la construcción de una historia fantástica (la hagiografía es un género fantástico) dicen los teóricos del lenguaje el personaje central requiere siempre de una ayuda. Maciel, el idolatrado y elogiado, se debe en gran medida a su carisma y su capacidad simuladora, pero nuca hubiera sido lo que fue, en su faceta de héroe y traidor, si no hubiera contado, infinidad de veces, con la complicidad de su Iglesia, como lo ha demostrado Fernando M. González en Marcial Maciel. Los Legionarios de Cristo: testimonios y documentos inéditos (Tusquest, 2006). Marcial era un hombre terriblemente carismático e igualmente ignorante. Nunca fue capaz de concluir los estudios y uno de sus tres tíos obispos le dio, finalmente, “la base por bola” y lo ordenó sacerdote sin haber concluido filosofía y teología. Otro momento clave de la complicidad institucional fue durante el primer proceso por abuso de menores, cuando, en una maniobra rápida y precisa, se archivó el asunto con ocultamiento de pruebas incluido.
Pocas cosas son tan complejas para una institución, cualquiera que ésta sea, como sobrevivir al carisma del fundador. No importa cuál, partido, ong o empresa, todas las instituciones pasan por ese calvario que es liberarse del mito fundante. El proceso más recurrido es la sacralización del fundador. Esto es, cuando el fundador comienza a ser un lastre lo mejor es convertirlo en estampita: colgar su imagen por toda la institución, simplificar su pensamiento en cuatro frases (si no lo tuvo se inventa, eso no es problema) y comenzar el proceso de reconversión de una institución carismática, donde todo pasa por el líder, guía y fundador, para transformarse en una institución eficiente. Es un proceso complicado y no pocas instituciones mueren en el intento o simplemente se quedan a medias con una especie de tara fundacional.
En el caso de Los Legionarios de Cristo el proceso de liberación será muy complejo y difícilmente sobrevivirán sin una escisión. En el caso de las sectas o grupos religiosos la escisión en ese momento es muy común (la palabra secta es la correcta, pues esto sucede siempre en el periodo preinstitucional, pero se volvió políticamente incorrecta y ya no se quiere usar ni cuando es adecuada). La Iglesia de la Luz del Mundo, por ejemplo, sufrió ese proceso antes incluso de la muerte del hermano Aarón.
Hay dos elementos permanentes en disputa y que constituyen los elementos básicos de la lucha de poder: la sucesión y la administración de la memoria. La escisión de los Legionarios, me parece, vendrá por esta última (Maciel murió en “olor a santidad” pero el cadáver se descompuso muy rápido). La única forma que ha encontrado el actual grupo dirigente de los Legios para sobrevivir dentro del escándalo es separar a la obra de su fundador. Sin embargo, hay quienes consideran que negar la memoria de Maciel constituye en sí mismo una traición al líder y a su pensamiento, y, por lo tanto, a la institución. El otro gran problema al que se enfrentará la Legión de Cristo en este intento por reconvertirse es separar la conducta de Maciel de la conducta institucional. Primero, porque si bien es cierto que los delitos y los pecados los cometen personas y no instituciones, también lo es que hay instituciones que propician y favorecen la conducta delictiva. Maciel diseñó una institución a la medida de sus delitos (no hay que olvidar que la pederastia es un delito, independientemente de si se considera o no pecado, y de absoluciones públicas o privadas a la condición humana del padre Maciel). El famoso cuarto voto, esa especie pacto de omertá con la que controlaba todo lo que sucedía a su alrededor, es ya parte de la cultura de los Legionarios de Cristo y les va a costar mucho trabajo cambiarla. Los escándalos de pederastia que aparecieron entre otros miembros de la Legión estaban escudados y protegidos por el mismo diseño institucional.
Marcial Maciel, al igual que Fergus Kilpatrick, el personaje de Jorge Luis Borges en El tema del traidor y del héroe, tiene que morir para que subsista la institución que él creó, y él corrompió. La diferencia es que Kilpatrick, el traidor, fue condenado a convertirse en héroe, y por ello lo asesinaron sus mismos compañeros de partido para luego elevarlo a los altares. Por el contrario, Maciel, el héroe, ha sido condenado por sus discípulos a convertirse en el traidor; su imagen será borrada de la Legión y su retrato bajado de los altares. Amén.
diego.petersen@milenio.com
Friday, September 4, 2009
Bonds of Friendship
Stolen from life-after-rc combox. This is very sad. Gisselle asked for comments on declining membership in the Regnum Christi and got this from an RC member:
In the deep south metropolis we have been 350 for over 5 years. Reports and numbers have not been updated in a long time. We haven't really grown in 5 years. Many are waiting for the visitation to end before they leave. Many stay for the bonds of friendship on the teams. One member told me it was like holding a friend's hand as they die.
The Reilly/Marti Letter. Why and Why Now?
For the past few days, I have been holding off on commenting and posting anything concerning the recent letter from two of the three territorial directors of the Legion of Christ to Regnum Christi members in the United States, and parts of Canada. Of course, I had initial reactions to the letter, but I wanted to let everyone express their opinions before giving my own on this matter.
The letter comes at a time when even more news has come from Mexico concerning some of Maciel’s children and their legal case. Some financial information was revealed by the Mexican attorney, Jose Bonilla. The particular article that Bonilla wrote was criticized by some, since he called for anyone with more information to contact him. But Bonilla is a wise public relations man, and both civil and criminal cases are often more about public relations than they are about in court strategy. Time will tell if Bonilla’s particular strategy will pay off.
My first reflection on the now infamous letter from Reilly and Marti has to do with the why and the why now of this missive. Even the casual observer of the Legion will know that the Legion of Christ is a highly centralized group: any decision, sometimes even seemingly minor ones, are vetted by the General Direction in Rome, Italy. And certainly any media releases are reviewed, and often written in Rome and then published under the signature of the Territorial Directors. (As I have mentioned often in the past, Scott Reilly is certainly not intellectually capable of doing something of this nature on his own and Julio Marti is not a native English speaker.)
Another interesting part of the “why” observation has to do with the fact that this letter was limited to only two territories in the United States (including parts of Canada), and, to the best of my knowledge, has not appeared officially in other countries. For some reason, the major superiors in Rome felt that there was some underlying problem specific to these two areas in the United States/Canada that warranted such a letter. Unfortunately, this tells me that the intentions, motivations, and expressions of sorrow and apology in the letter are less than totally sincere. Sincerity would have merited a much wider announcement, and not one so narrowly targeted.
Why now? The timeline, as with most things concerning the Legion is somewhat cloudy. Legion officials, and sometimes the exact same officials have hinted at in some instances, and definitively declared in others, that major superiors knew of Maciel’s behavior and siring of illegitimate sons and daughters at different times. However, the letter implies pretty strongly that these facts were known by Legion superiors in early 2005, when Maciel retired as Director General of the Legion of Christ. There are several testimonies now to the fact that at least one of Maciel’s sexual partners and at least one of his grown children were present near the time of his death. Persons present at the time have said publicly that Maciel’s attendants (Legionaries of Christ and Consecrated Members of the Regnum Christi) who were there at his bedside knew the identities of these persons. The question is why now after nearly five years is there a letter which finally acknowledges some of the sordid facts?
Some have postulated that the timing is due to the Apostolic Investigation. Others have guessed that it might be due to the revelations of Jose Bonilla in Mexico. But there has to be something that makes the timing apropos in the United States/Canada and in these two territories. Do special situations exist? I think that a clue can be found in the content of the letter. There seems to be no obvious and logical reason in the stream of content of the letter for mentioning what the Legion would call defections from the Congregation and the Movement. The very fact that the letter tries to minimize this occurrence indicates that there is more to it than the Legion is willing to admit publicly.
I do not pretend to have more information than the other brilliant sources that are now out there, but please do remember that Exlcblogger has never let his readers down, and has always had the facts, even when others claimed them to be outlandish.
Stay tuned for more reflections on the content of the letter.
The letter comes at a time when even more news has come from Mexico concerning some of Maciel’s children and their legal case. Some financial information was revealed by the Mexican attorney, Jose Bonilla. The particular article that Bonilla wrote was criticized by some, since he called for anyone with more information to contact him. But Bonilla is a wise public relations man, and both civil and criminal cases are often more about public relations than they are about in court strategy. Time will tell if Bonilla’s particular strategy will pay off.
My first reflection on the now infamous letter from Reilly and Marti has to do with the why and the why now of this missive. Even the casual observer of the Legion will know that the Legion of Christ is a highly centralized group: any decision, sometimes even seemingly minor ones, are vetted by the General Direction in Rome, Italy. And certainly any media releases are reviewed, and often written in Rome and then published under the signature of the Territorial Directors. (As I have mentioned often in the past, Scott Reilly is certainly not intellectually capable of doing something of this nature on his own and Julio Marti is not a native English speaker.)
Another interesting part of the “why” observation has to do with the fact that this letter was limited to only two territories in the United States (including parts of Canada), and, to the best of my knowledge, has not appeared officially in other countries. For some reason, the major superiors in Rome felt that there was some underlying problem specific to these two areas in the United States/Canada that warranted such a letter. Unfortunately, this tells me that the intentions, motivations, and expressions of sorrow and apology in the letter are less than totally sincere. Sincerity would have merited a much wider announcement, and not one so narrowly targeted.
Why now? The timeline, as with most things concerning the Legion is somewhat cloudy. Legion officials, and sometimes the exact same officials have hinted at in some instances, and definitively declared in others, that major superiors knew of Maciel’s behavior and siring of illegitimate sons and daughters at different times. However, the letter implies pretty strongly that these facts were known by Legion superiors in early 2005, when Maciel retired as Director General of the Legion of Christ. There are several testimonies now to the fact that at least one of Maciel’s sexual partners and at least one of his grown children were present near the time of his death. Persons present at the time have said publicly that Maciel’s attendants (Legionaries of Christ and Consecrated Members of the Regnum Christi) who were there at his bedside knew the identities of these persons. The question is why now after nearly five years is there a letter which finally acknowledges some of the sordid facts?
Some have postulated that the timing is due to the Apostolic Investigation. Others have guessed that it might be due to the revelations of Jose Bonilla in Mexico. But there has to be something that makes the timing apropos in the United States/Canada and in these two territories. Do special situations exist? I think that a clue can be found in the content of the letter. There seems to be no obvious and logical reason in the stream of content of the letter for mentioning what the Legion would call defections from the Congregation and the Movement. The very fact that the letter tries to minimize this occurrence indicates that there is more to it than the Legion is willing to admit publicly.
I do not pretend to have more information than the other brilliant sources that are now out there, but please do remember that Exlcblogger has never let his readers down, and has always had the facts, even when others claimed them to be outlandish.
Stay tuned for more reflections on the content of the letter.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Bonilla Destapa la Botella
Legionarios de Cristo. Convocatoria con relación a sus bienes y finanzas31 Agosto 2009 por conlajusticia
Con motivo de la entrevista que en breve sostendremos con el Obispo Ricardo Watty Urquidi, delegado apostólico designado por el Vaticano para realizar la visita de inspección a los Legionarios de Cristo en territorio de la República Mexicana, consideramos importante investigar sobre los bienes y las finanzas de la Legión de Cristo, por lo que convocamos a nuestros amigos y lectores de todo el mundo, a que nos envíen la información que sobre el particular consideren importante, la cual complementara el resultado de la investigación profesional correspondiente.
Como ejemplo de lo solicitado, con relación a las empresas nos permitimos hacer de su conocimiento entre otros, los siguientes datos:
Han constituido diversas empresas como RELIM, S.A. DE C.V., que es una inmobiliaria, cuyo representante legal es el Sr. Armando Arias Sánchez.
Precisamente esa persona es igualmente el representante legal de INVESTIGACION Y ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES, S.C., que es la razón social de la Universidad Anahuac México Norte.
Asimismo, es el representante legal de una gran cantidad de personas morales propiedad de la Legión de Cristo, entre las cuales se encuentran los diversos colegios de su red. Estos datos son de acceso público en los Registros Públicos de la Propiedad y del Comercio de las diversas entidades federativas en donde fueron constituidas.
Igualmente, existe otra empresa denominada PEÑA CASTILLO, S.A. DE C.V., que es la propietaria del inmueble en donde se encuentra establecido el COLEGIO OXFORD.
Curiosamente Peña Castillo, es un pueblo en Santander, España, lugar de origen del Padre Faustino Pardo Villa, L.C., uno de los fundadores del Instituto Cumbres, en la Ciudad de México, en el año de 1954.
Por lo que se refiere a las finanzas, en un juicio civil por daño moral seguido en contra del COLEGIO OXFORD, exhibieron un peritaje contable en donde se hace constar que el colegio supuestamente tiene perdida contable. ¿Será?, ¿Y el dinero donde está?, ¿Estarán igual los demás colegios?
Tenemos el documento que el Padre Jesús Quirce, L.C., ordeno se le entregara a uno de mis representados que consiste en un fideicomiso que hizo Marcial Maciel para proteger a sus hijos, en el Cititrust (Bahamas) Limited, subsidiary of Citibank N.A. en Nassau, Bahamas, lugar que de acuerdo a la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE), mediante lista de fecha 14 de agosto de 2009, es un paraíso fiscal.
Por último, recibimos información de que algunos de los sacerdotes extranjeros de la Legión de Cristo, han estado ilegalmente en el País como ha sucedido inclusive con el Padre Jesús Quirce, L.C.
La información puede ser remitida mediante comentario a esta entrada o al correo electrónico: conlajusticia@yahoo.com.mx y será tratada con confidencialidad si así lo solicitan.
Stupid is Still Stupid
No matter what language you say (or sing) it in.
A person attending the recent mass at Chesire for novices to profess tells us:
Prayers of the Faithful as written in the program for the Mass:
"3. Preserve and increase the love of Christ and the spirit of the Founder in all religious families consecrated to you, and in a special way in the Legion of Christ."
Now I'm not sure if this was omitted or not because the petitions were sung in Latin and I didn't notice the text until later but the fact remains that the founder is still in the program for this Mass.
A person attending the recent mass at Chesire for novices to profess tells us:
Prayers of the Faithful as written in the program for the Mass:
"3. Preserve and increase the love of Christ and the spirit of the Founder in all religious families consecrated to you, and in a special way in the Legion of Christ."
Now I'm not sure if this was omitted or not because the petitions were sung in Latin and I didn't notice the text until later but the fact remains that the founder is still in the program for this Mass.
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