Archbishop O’Brien warns against joining Regnum Christi
February 25, 2009
Confirming my own sentiments, which I have held since working for a Regnum Christi outfit for three years, Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore told the General Director of the Legionaries of Christ that he cannot in conscience recommend that any lay person join Regnum Christi. About Fr. Maciel, Archbishop O’Brien had the following to say:
“It seems to me and many others that this was a man with an entrepreneurial genius who, by systematic deception and duplicity, used our faith to manipulate others for his own selfish ends.”
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Wow
Definitely good news.
Every bishop should follow suit.
Sad to see because of how many good people were involved in RC, but I certainly agree with the Cardinal (and frankly would have before the recent half-disclosures).
Katerina said exactly what I said after reading this . . . . “Wow”
I wonder which, if any, bishops will follow suit.
Wow is right!
What ever you feel about the issue. Do take the time to pray for those involved with the LC or RC. They have been shaken to their core and I am quite sure it has been a huge crisis of faith for many. I am sure this Lent will be a time of great trial for these folks. Let us pray that God’s Will be done in their lives.
peace to all
Enjoy Lent
Archbishop O’Brien isn’t the only bishop to be brave like this, weren’t LC and RC banned in St. Paul, too? And that was years ago, when they were very much in John Paul II’s graces.
Yes, the Diocese of Minn./St. Paul and many orders (including the T.O.R.s at Franciscan) suspected them early on… I think many more should do the same, although I also think that the Church at large should address the members of RC to remind them that they too are part of the (extra)ordinary Catholic faith. In other words, that they lose nothing from the fall-out of Maciel. Sadness is in order, but we should also rejoice in the truth. As many of you know, this entire issue has sparked a reaction from me to re-access a lesser publicized form of religious compulsion–organized efforts in the Charismatic Renewal via communes and covenant communities.
Well, I am praying for those involved because I know many who converted to the Church via them so they may be very vulnerable right now.
My son was in the Legion for three years. My sister, mother, father and myself were very involved with the RC. When my son left the order, my family and I were literally treated like pariahs and were thrown out of the RC. Me being divorced did not help matters. The LC, in my opinion is little more than a cult, as was the RC.
I found the women in the RC to be very judgemental and condeming. The treatment of my self and my family have shown me a different side of the Catholic Church. I have very little to do with it any more and rarely go to Mass. My son has left the church altogether.
I was a Legionary for 9 years and left in 1971. I never felt I was in any cult but I probably was, as we practically worshipped MM as a living saint, as has been said by many before me. Only young men enter the Legion, full of enthusiasm and ready to dedicate themselves to their vocation, their minds open to their new lives. Our minds were captured by the MM saintly personality long before we knew it, and long before we had any reason to doubt it. and we identified our committment to Christ and the Church with our committment to MM. Such is the simple nature of the personality cult and it is why it is unrecognizable to young dedicated legionaries, and the only reason the legion and it’s members, including RC’s (I was a founder of one of the first small RC group in Mexico) are in crisis is because they never recognized it, nor more than their superiors who were pushing the worship recognized it.
Has anyone ever read the history of the Popes? If you do you will realize that the Church survived in spite of them and their appaling behaviour, and so it will probably be with the Legion. The problem for them will be separating their in-grained worship of MM from the reason they entered the Legion in the first place. I think it has to be also said that they lost their way a long time ago, and that way has also to be recovered. They, myself included in those days, were quite fanatically focused on the goals of the Legion, the Kingdom of Christ on Earth, to the exclusion of all other considerations, such as basic respect for other people and their opinions and wishes. their beliefs and their relations with family and friends. If these things did not serve the goals of the legion they were irrevelant and consequently perceived as dangerous to the Legion mission and to be exorcised from the Legionarie’s life. Even while studying at the University in Rome we were forbidden to talk to other students in case the pure legionary spirit would be tarnished through the contact. No point in someone out there contradicting this, I got it from MM himself as I spent a lot of time with him, in groups and alone. I’m sure there are many Bishops who will recognize this (Bishop O Brien?). I feel, for anyone interested, that we have to see this crisis for what it is, not what we would like it to be. The Legion is in crises because of a double life, not only that of MM, which is absolutely reprehensible, but of the legionaries themselves, locked in to a cult personality that is no longer viable with a fanatical focus on legion growth to the exclusion of all else on the one hand, and the simple truth that the kindness and love for our fellow human beings and deep respect for family and relationships is the only thing that will ever bring people to God, on the other. If, in the end they cannot make this jump, then it’s probably better for everyone if they all just go home. It’s also time they stopped the pious language, all the beautiful words and expressions that cover the agony of the souls that find themselves in darkness.