H/T: Food Fight in the Cafeteria
The Archbishop of Baltimore sent a letter to the superior general of the Legionaries of Christ asking for a liaison Legionary priest that would keep him informed of the order’s and Regnum Christi’s activities within his Archdiocese. More specifically, the archbishop asks for the names and locations where Legionary priests minister, the identification of all Regnum Christi groups as well as their “activities, meeting location and schedules, membership rolls and methodologies for gaining new members.” Then the Archbishop sets a series of conditions for the Legionary/Regnum Christi members that are active in the Archdiocese such as: “to avoid any undue sense of vocational obligation, ongoing and individual spiritual direction is not to be given to persons under the age of 18.“
Emphasis mine. I would recommend reading the two-page letter in its entirety.
UPDATE I: One of our readers has pointed out that Archbishop O’ Brien wrote about this ongoing situation with the Legionaries of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement on June 10th in The Catholic Review. The post gives us a better context for his petition:
I have met a good number of Regnum Christi members who lead exemplary Catholic lives and see this movement as a God-send. But I also am well aware of the challenges that have led a number to leave the movement, some angrily insisting that Church authority must act to correct the excesses they claim have endured. Hence, the dialogue these last five and more
years.
UPDATE II: National Catholic Reporter has a complete interview with Archbishop O’ Brien on the matter.
Can you describe what led you to issue this letter?
When I came into the archdiocese, I was told by our Vicar General that there had been a long series of exchanges between the cardinal and the locals of the Legionaries about programs going on in the archdiocese that our pastors didn’t know about, didn’t know the extent of them, didn’t know the nature of them. There were seemingly heavily persuasive methods used on young people, high schoolers especially, regarding vocations.
June 11, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Asking the LC is one thing, receiving a true answer is quite another.
June 11, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Tshust cool it, Herr Mark. Ze legionaries have a Tsherman branch. You do not vant to get zem angry. Zey vill come in ze night and give you ze special haircut – ze one ze founder loved on his Jungens.
June 11, 2008 at 3:13 pm
K,
And tread carefully (and with much prayer). The LC can be like a roaring lion.
June 11, 2008 at 3:17 pm
No albino assassin monks though, right ?
June 11, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Katerina, where does your particular interest in the LC stem from ? When I was in Rome, I photographed a bunch of young priests/seminarians after the Papal mass. They all had basically the same haircut – I was later told that that’s their ‘thing’. LC/RC certainly get people talking.
June 11, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Perhaps, Gerald, it is the dubious history of their founder and their inability to separate themselves from him, persisting in an attitude of extreme denial alongside an element of psychological sickness?
June 11, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I’m at sea, here. What is a good place to get the context/backstory on this? Anyone have a link?
June 11, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Minion, the former members certainly sound like they came out of a cult. The spiritual direction for minors sounds particularly dangerous, given the methods, topics and overall emphasis on guilt & sin. Ironic, really, given the countless accusations re: the founder’s sex life.
June 11, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Zey vill come in ze night and give you ze special haircut -
Hahaha… the “special haircut”!
June 11, 2008 at 3:38 pm
On a side note:
Gerald – Did you blog about your site’s recent name change?
June 11, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Katerina, here is a photo of the LCs I took in Rome :)
http://bp0.blogger.com/_AiM_qVeVUEY/RiK02×2pu3I/AAAAAAAABEs/8ZfIFOFTifY/s1600-h/youngpriests+copy.jpg
June 11, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Michael – I did it because otherwise I might have hunted down the 10000000000th person to quip “the cafeteria is open” :) Due to my ‘gay heresy’, that is. Given the combox battles, I think the title is apt. As is the photo from Animal House :)
June 11, 2008 at 4:00 pm
The heritically evil ReGAIN website should be back up sometime tonight, when our troll webmaster gets around to fixing it after pillaging some poor catholic monastery.
June 11, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Just click on my name to be taken to the ReGAIN site. Afterall, my name used to be Legion.
June 11, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Good news, Katerina. Really any group should be checking in with the Bishop where ever they are located just out of respect.
June 11, 2008 at 4:06 pm
matt talbot,
Jason Berry’s work is a good start.
Gerald,
Did you notice the same square metal glasses; the double breasted suits; and the virtual inability to ever see a legionary without another publicly?
di kingdum kum!
June 11, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Sorry for the off-topic question again:
Gerald – But did you blog about the name change? Just curious. If not, do you plan to?
June 11, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Mark – Thanks — That said, A cursory look makes me kind of sorry I asked. Yeesh.
June 11, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Not explicitly, it’s been a topic in comboxes for a while, like two weeks ago I mentioned the new title – “you don’t agree with the church, change the name”. And they’re right, I don’t, so I did. I’m doing some more reading on sex now. Anyone read Foucault’s books on sex ? I’ve read his prison & insanity books. I wonder if the LC/RC have special sex rules. Aquinas only deemed missionary position licit (and masturbation worse than incest). I just get into more and more trouble :)
As far as an explicit post on the name goes, I don’t know if I can handle another Leviticus quote in the combox :o)
June 11, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I thought it was a even letter after I read it. I have met some Priests and also people associated with their lay movement and they seemed on fire for the Lord. All new orders and movements have tension.
It is much like on the Flip Side the often over top Criticism of “The Way” especially among the more Traditional Catholics. I understand their concerns and some are valid. But no doubt’ they are doing good work for the Church.
I hope Catholics keep in minds when they are looking at these groups that might be a tad different the Holy Father’s latest comments
Pope: Ecclesial movements, an important new development of the Council, and still misunderstood
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=12283&size=A
This goes from ThE Way, to the Legion, to OpusDei, etc.
A more charitable view while helong these groups find a place in the Church and develop their mission is a good thing.
That being said I would love to see Bishops take a more active eye on what is happening in their Parishes ,
June 11, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Very nice letter, very nice. it’s great to see that the bishop isn’t letting people before 18 yrs have spiritual direction from them. if i remember, they’re manual is pretty much,: ever since the beginning of the world, you have been called by God to a certain vocation. why is it that at this moment, you are at this place, this moment, talking to a legionary priest? you need to be generous to God, sacrificing everything to him. the only way to really see whether you are called to something is to try it out. well, look, it turns out there is a candidacy program in the summer. and we love the Pope!
i really hope the legionaries become more humane in the next couple of decades. when i was in cheshire, ct., i think the best part was lunch time when i saw some of the personalities of their seminarians because before then, they all looked robotic to me.
June 11, 2008 at 6:42 pm
The lack of charity and respect given these movements from some of you indicates to me where you seem to have fallen spiritually. If you look at many saints of the past, you will find that they and their movements were HIGLY questioned and persecuted within our own Church!
We have legionaires and regnum christi in our area, and they are renewing our parishes which have become apathetic to our faith and “politically correct” rather than in line with our Holy Father. Whatever concerns there may be, and should be addressed, the legionaires are NOT promoting pro-choice politicians, raising to sainthood lost souls like Cindy Shehan, or backing down and allowing our “progressive” world to be the voice from the pulpit, rather than Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Please join me in praying for the Legionaires of Christ and all who are answering the call to renew our Church! And please contemplate this quote:
“So instead of loving what you think is peace, love other men and love God above all. And instead of hating warmakers, hate the appetites and disorder in your own soul , which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed, but hate these things IN YOURSELF, not in another.”
Thomas Merton
Maybe it is time to put down your stones and pray.
June 11, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Andrea,
Maciel was a repaeted child molester. The LC still holds to their denial that he was a man thrown especially and graciously into the innocent suffering of our Lord.
June 11, 2008 at 7:22 pm
The lack of charity and respect given these movements from some of you indicates to me where you seem to have fallen spiritually. If you look at many saints of the past, you will find that they and their movements were HIGLY questioned and persecuted within our own Church!
“Fallen spiritually”–spoken like one who has been “formed” by the sacrosanct Legion.
No saint has ever been accused of molesting children. There’s no comparison here. Fr. Maciel’s life and writings do match with any of the “highly questioned and persecuted” saints you refer to. The Church, yes. The self-serving and hypocritical Legion, no.
June 11, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Good! Now when is he going to clamp down on the Jesuits?
June 11, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Good! Now when is he going to clamp down on the Jesuits?
What are the Jesuits doing in Baltimore that would require a “clamping down”?
June 11, 2008 at 7:41 pm
If you look at many saints of the past, you will find that they and their movements were HIGLY questioned and persecuted within our own Church!
So therefore the Maciel is a saint and his movement is holy?
That is the fallacy of the undistributed middle. Get some training in logic.
June 11, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I think the problem is that the word Cult is thrown around a little too much. I have heard it as to various movements in the Church and have been described as a cult.
There is a tad of a little Un Christian Charity toward the LEgion Members that I can detect in this thread as well as others I am seeing on the web that are discussing these issue. That is a tad disturbing
Again I am pretty traditional Roman Catholic that thinks it would be great if Half the MAss was in Latin. But the CUlt stuff, they are all Robots stuff sounds like a lot of what I saw as to friends in the Charismatic Renewal and what some were accused of.
Perhaps the LC needs to be purified or reformed but we are talking a order feeled with many whose lives are fire for Christ
Over at Amy Welborn some brought up an interesting point. Since we are going to watch what the LC will be doing as to youth what shall relace it with. As he said:
“But I began thinking back to myself when I was a teenager. Back then, I was an evangelical Protestant, and I was on fire for God. I went to Sunday morning services, Sunday school, Sunday evening youth group, Wednesday night small group Bible study and accountability groups, occasional weekend activities, retreats, summer service trips, weeklong summer camps, etc. My whole life revolved around my faith.
Now, I’m Catholic, and I watch the teenagers in my parishes struggle to live out their faith. I taught CCD to 7th-grade girls for a couple years (in two different parishes), and many of my students desperately wanted to live out their faiths. They wanted lives that revolved around their faith. But in our parishes, that wasn’t exactly a strong possibility.
There is Sunday Mass, of course, and depending on the parish there may be daily Masses available or maybe even perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. But generally, most Catholic parishes offer very little to devout teens.
CCD generally stops after confirmation, somewhere between 7th and 9th grades. So the teenagers in most Catholic parishes don’t have regular Sunday School available to them, as evangelical Protestant teens do. And the youth groups in most Catholic parishes are laughable — small, poorly attended, hosting few activities, staffed by leaders who have no sense of what young people need or want and sometimes hold rather heterodox beliefs. The bishops’ document “Renewing the Vision” provides a good vision of youth ministry, but I’ve never seen it fully (or even halfway) implemented in a parish.
Is it any wonder, then, that LC and RC are so attractive to devout teens who want their lives to revolve around their faith, who want their faith to matter?
Those who are concerned with LC and RC, instead of only policing what LC and RC are doing among young people, ought to take a long, hard look at what most parishes and dioceses offer teens and young adults.”
Amen to that
June 11, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Wow! Some of you are pretty angry! I apologize for coming off as judgemental, I am the last one worthy to judge, believe me!
I am in total agreement with you that if there is truth to anything Fr. Maciell was accused of, that is HORRENDOUS – I guess I assumed most l people these days would take that for granted! And I have discussed this with many people whom I trust, including a friend who formerly worked for the Register and knows one of the priests who made accusations against Fr. Maciel – he tends to believe there may be something to the accusations, although he has first hand knowledge of the wonderful work for our faith the Legion is accomplishing, and refuses to condemn the legion as a whole.
As to the Saint comparison, I am not at all saying Fr. Maciel is a Saint, but I do know that both St. Francis and St. Anthony of Padua were falsely accused of fornication (not even counted as a sin these days, right???) during the time they were building their orders. The point is, where there is great good and God seems at work, there tends to be great evil and confusion as well. We do have an Enemy, after all!
I certainly don’t claim to have perfect logic, I obviously can’t even spell!!! I feel like that baby from the poem “We are infants crying in the night, infants crying for the light, with no language but a cry.”
I do think jh kind of shares my point in using the Merton quote.
As to the Jesuits, I went to a Jesuit College in Detroit that was DECIDEDLY contrary in many ways to Church teaching. I am WELL aware that this does not represent all Jesuits, or even Jesuits as a whole – maybe the same idea working here?
We are not perfect. We will not be perfect until we are (God spare us!) united with Him! I applaud all of you who with a true heart are really trying to follow Him in this fallen world, in our own fallen natures!
I am not a member of regnum christi, and I have not been “formed” by the legion. I do not put my faith in anyone but our Lord, and pray constantly for His mind, not mine!
June 11, 2008 at 8:38 pm
What are the Jesuits doing in Baltimore that would require a “clamping down”?
They’re busy being Christians of course. And you know how that irritates people.
June 11, 2008 at 8:45 pm
“The lack of charity and respect given these movements from some of you indicates to me where you seem to have fallen spiritually. If you look at many saints of the past, you will find that they and their movements were HIGLY questioned and persecuted within our own Church!”
Did it ever dawn on you that maybe, just maybe, people here have either A)been a LC or RC member or B) known friends and family members who were LC and RC and thus the reason we are deeply concerned about it? I am glad your experience with them has been positive. Now, you need to go find some members who have left and hear their stories.
June 11, 2008 at 9:44 pm
JH-
Folks ought to consider carefully what Archbishop O’Brien has done. He has basically said that ongoing, individual spiritual guidance like the kind practiced in the RC clubs Conquest and Challenge (to kids as young as 5th grade) is inappropriate. I tend to agree. Does this mean that there ought not be kids groups? No, of course not…can’t RC run clubs without there being this kind of objectionable “spiritual direction” or guidance?
June 11, 2008 at 11:18 pm
MPI,
The spiritual direction from the 3gf’s was one of the reasons I decided not to let my daughters get involved with Challenge, and of course that so many RC’s (I don’t know any LC’s) are apologists for one of the most notorious child molesters the Catholic Church has ordained.
Maybe the LC/RC apologists could start coming up with something better than “Jesuits bad!” and “some saints were falsely accused” and “All the LC/RC’s I know are totally awesome and you’re committing calumny by warning folks about us”. These aren’t very good defenses.
June 12, 2008 at 2:24 am
Andrea,
I understand your worry but as a person who has experienced LC, I would not encourage anyone to go there unless you are already spiritually formed and can think rationally. The fact that the Legions think that they are perfect, as if self-criticism is a bad thing, should make you raise your eyebrows.
A prominent bishop in the U.S. said that they are a mixed bag because they don’t have a good understanding of spiritual freedom. And I agree. They do not know what freedom is. What is good, true, and beautiful should solicit a person to affirm them, but they never force them. Beauty does not overwhelm but awaken freedom (Balthasar). Their so called spiritual direction is a joke. In fact, I would say that if a priest was trying to convince a young man to enter LC and the young man says, “No,” but the LC priest is still trying to convince him, it seems that a good appropriate response of the young man is to tell the LC priest to go F himself and tell him to remember his humanity. (okay, that might be disturbing to a lot, and i am the first to tell people to respect even dissident priest, having the attitude of st. francis, but in cases like these, telling the person to go F (actually say the word) himself may wake him up a little)
Sorry but when you have bishops and the Vatican having a suspicious eye on your movement and you are denying it, there is still something wrong with you.
Look, the LC is an attractive order, but they need to understand that the urgency of saving the world does not take away your humanity.
June 12, 2008 at 6:24 am
The LC uses appearances to manipulate how people perceive them. The neat haircuts (physical) and orthodox preaching (intellectual/spiritual) are still just a smokescreen. Everything is hyper utilitarian, every moment, every thought, every action MUST in some way contribute to GROWTH – in numbers, acceptance, influence, power. This is allegedly for ‘the good of the Church’, but the ends never justify the means. In other words, the LC is an out of control con game that does its best to look good and fool people so that it can use them. See the secrecy rules posted on the Amy Welborn link and Cafeteria Catholic.
An LC will lie directly to your face if it is ‘for the good of the group’ because ‘it IS God’s will’. See? It is a cult in the Moonie / Hari Krishna sense – just with a Catholic face, because Maciel discovered early on – you can fool people – IT WORKS!
June 12, 2008 at 11:27 am
http://www.catholicreview.org/subpages/storyworldnew-new.aspx?action=3824
This is a must read to understand this situation. It is Abp O’Brien’s explanation of the decree.
A few excerpts:
During the five years prior to my arrival as Archbishop, Cardinal Keeler had shared correspondence and meetings with the leadership of the Legionaries of Christ on a number of occasions reflecting many of our pastors’ valid concerns: for instance, regarding a lack of pastoral transparency at times and a tendency to conduct parallel programs within our parishes without the knowledge of local pastors. In some cases undue pressure was placed on individuals to conform to the rule of Regnum Christi and in a context of secrecy. In addition, some youth programs tended to alienate parents from their children, and various clubs and activities for high-schoolers often presented the vocation to priesthood and consecrated life as an obligation rather than an informed choice. In short, a lack of necessary transparency.
The call to priesthood or consecrated life requires a discernment process that rightly should involve parents and other family members. This deeply personal, life-changing decision requires the love and support that can only come from family and close friends, and their caring involvement is crucial for anyone who feels he or she has been called by God to serve as a priest or a consecrated man or woman.
June 12, 2008 at 11:37 am
Thanks Glenn. I’ll update the post.
June 12, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Wow Apolonio. I don’t ever remember you being this angry. What happened to the kinder, gentler Apolonio that used to post a year or so ago?
June 12, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Mabe it was Cheshire, CT. ;)
June 12, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Policratus,
Don’t you work at one of their schools? What do you have to say? It would be interesting to hear your input.
June 12, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Greg,
Nah, I’m not angry. I actually curse a lot but I’m the same person. I’m just not as moralistic as I was a year go.
June 12, 2008 at 3:06 pm
It truely boggles the mind:
http://ncrcafe.org/node/1906
An interview with the Archbishop where he tells it like it is. This just gets more and more amazing.
June 12, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Nice interview. The archbishop knows what he’s doing. He said, “I’d love to know, for example, the percentage of priests who stay after ordination.” Bullseye. It’s funny how they are proud of the many priests being ordained but they are quiet about people who leave. Again, I met a former legionary who was a great blessing in my life and he told me that he has the same mentality that he had when a priest came to his classroom one day to this day. The priest said, “The world is dying.” And that’s true, he said. Yet, he could not handle the lack of respect for freedom, for humanity, for true friendship. I asked him whether he was scared that he just did not have the ability to obey, that the saints like Teresa of Avila stressed about obedience even when the superiors are horrible. He said it was a valid thing to say, but the obedience that the LC require is something that should not even be in their rule books. That is, the silent vow that LC have on obedience. As I look at it now, the problem that they have is that they don’t have authentic friendship and friendship is what makes us human.
It’s a really sad day and yet joyful because John Paul taught the movements that obedience to the bishop is the way we can know that the charism is authentic and mature.
June 12, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Eddie is the man!
June 12, 2008 at 4:30 pm
O’Brien says he will ban the Legionaries if they fail to comply
!!!! How many updates am I going to have to make to this post! Wow, this archbishop is really brave!
June 12, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Wow, this archbishop is really brave!
His bravery probably comes from all the time he has spent around “our boys” in uniform.
But seriously, I’m pleased to see O’Brien doing something I can agree with.
June 12, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Take out the popcorn and diet coke, people. This is going to be a long feature with plenty of exciting scenes.
June 12, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I think that is a very good interview of the Archbishop and also very fair. I tpoinjtws out the problems and yet points out the good they are doing. Again movements take time to develop.
I do hope if the LEgion does comply and meets these requirement that it will be noted by it critics
June 12, 2008 at 6:44 pm
“Again movements take time to develop.”
…And yes Mrs. Kennedy, your husband has been shot, but it is a beautiful day and tomorrow always comes….
June 12, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Yes, Mrs. Lincoln, besides the shooting, did you enjoy the play?
June 12, 2008 at 7:03 pm
“And yes Mrs. Kennedy, your husband has been shot, but it is a beautiful day and tomorrow always comes….”
I am not exactly sure the point you are trying to get across. I will quote the article
JA:Opus Dei was founded in the late 1920s and the Legionaries in the 1950s. If one wanted to be an optimist, is it possible to say that the Legionaries are moving down a path that Opus Dei and others have travelled before, and that they too will change?
AB O’Brien I hope so, because it does a lot of good. It’s 96 percent good work, and 4 percent that’s almost a sect. It’s just 4 percent … but if it’s a question of immoral or even illegal operations, even if it’s just 1 percent, you’ve got to address it.
I am tad concerned about that 96 that does good work. I am not so ready to take a hammer and destroy a Church movement into a million bits that does good work and produces good fruits.
We see similar struggles and moments as to the Neo-Catechumenate Way. Which by the way has had it majors source of controversies especially the last couple of months
I saw some troublesome in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal but what once it was engaged in a constructive manner it has became a grace to the Church in many places.
June 12, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Wow – you guys are ultra liberal! And ultra ANGRY!
I do not support the legion personally, but your attacks and true VENOM tells a lot. I see a lot of self righteousness, if I could only hear one drop of truth or humility, I could be convinced. Or especially what Our Dear St. Paul, to whom this liturgical year is dedicated – “but without love”…
I’m signing off this site. It is not good for my soul – and I am so saddenned that so many of you represent our Church. This is why we are the last group in which bigorty is accepted by our country.
In the end, May God bless your souls, so you may answer His grace.
June 12, 2008 at 11:41 pm
andrea,
being humble actually means loving the truth more than yourself no matter where it comes from, even from a hypocrite or proud person or even a person “without love.”
June 13, 2008 at 12:32 am
This is why we are the last group in which bigorty is accepted by our country.
Except for black people, Muslims, the poor, Appalachians, women….
June 13, 2008 at 3:58 am
Andrea
So following Bishop’s statements is what it takes to be “ultra liberal”? If I didn’t know better, I would think some of the things you have said about yourself was not true. There is a rhetorical tactic and flourish throughout all you have said as a means to belittle and ignore the issues at hand, the kind which is normative by members of a certain little group..
June 13, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Yeah it was kinda weird how “liberal” was mentioned. I was thinking about how Andrea said that she was sad that we represent the Church. Frankly, I love the fact that there are some angry, stupid, and weird people here. I know I belong ;-) The Church is the concrete reality that Christ was made to be sin.
If there is no tension in the Church, then there is some problem. The Church should make us restless.
June 13, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I think Andrea is a troll
June 13, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Except for black people, Muslims, the poor, Appalachians, women….
…Hispanic and Southeast Asia immigrants
June 14, 2008 at 8:35 am
Has anyone seen their Father Jonathan shill for the Fox News Network?
One time he defended Sean Hannity from a strident priest head of some prolife organization, which I cannot remember., while all three were present. The whole thing was like some Renaissance revenge tragedy.