What is the point, after everything that has happened, of the continued existence of the Legion of Christ? I just can’t get a handle on it: perhaps my readers can explain to me what the great secret is.

The Legion has been supported wholeheartedly by nearly every pope back to Pius XII (though I can’t find evidence of support from John XXIII), and especially by Pope John Paul II. According to Wikipedia, the first paragraph of whose extensive article on the Legion (as far as I can see, objectively written, but what do I know?) sums up the problem, here is an enormously successful, and formerly thriving, institution within the Catholic Church which is now in crisis, for quite astonishing reasons: 

“The Legion of Christ is a Roman Catholic congregation established in 1941 within the Catholic Church in Mexico and directed until 2004 by disgraced Fr Marcial Maciel. It enjoyed the favour of Pope John Paul II. It has priests working in 22 countries, and had 800 priests and over 2,500 seminarians as members by 2010… Its lay movement Regnum Christi has approximately 70,000 members. It operates centers of education (minor seminaries, seminaries, schools and/or universities) in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Ireland, France, Germany, Canada, the United States, and the Philippines. In 2009, the Vatican ordered an apostolic visitation of the institutions of the Legionaries of Christ following disclosures of sexual impropriety by the order’s late founder, Fr Marcial Maciel.”

The trouble is first that the entire spirituality of the Legion is based to a quite extreme extent on the supposed heroic sanctity of its founder. According to a former Legionary priest, Fr Stephen Fichter: “Maciel was this mythical hero who was put on a pedestal and had all the answers. When you become a Legionary, you have to read every letter Fr Maciel ever wrote, like 15 or 16 volumes. To hear he’s been having this double life on the side, I just don’t see how they’re going to continue.”

And what a double life. Sex abuse of minors. Six illegitimate children. Mistresses housed in luxury apartments bought with the Legion’s money. The list goes on.

Fr Fichter, once the chief financial officer for the order, said he informed the Vatican three years ago that every time Fr Maciel left Rome, “I always had to give him $10,000 in cash – $5,000 in American dollars and $5,000 in the currency of wherever he was going”. Fr Fichter added: “As Legionaries, we were taught a very strict poverty; if I went out of town and bought a Bic pen and a chocolate bar, I would have to turn in the receipts. And yet for Fr Maciel there was never any accounting. It was always cash, never any paper trail. And because he was this incredible hero to us, we never even questioned it for a second.”

Pope Benedict first ordered an Apostolic Visitation of the congregation, and then appointed Cardinal-designate Velasio De Paolis to set about reforming it. You would think, would you not, that this troubled body would want to co-operate with him, and get everything sorted out: but no. Cardinal De Paolis has come to the conclusion that there has to be major change, and that this has to begin at the top. The trouble is, according to the leading Vaticanologist, Sandro Magister, “the superiors of the congregation, the most powerful of which is vicar general Luís Garza Medina, are by no means giving up on the idea of remaining in their positions of command, now and always.

“In mid-September, De Paolis asked Garza to give up the main offices that he holds, at least those of territorial director for Italy, supervisor of consecrated virgins of the movement Regnum Christi, general prefect of studies and head of the financial holding company Integer [the legion is immensely wealthy]. But Garza said no.”

Why not simply sack the lot, and start again? The reason probably has a great deal to do with the gentle pastoral style of Pope Benedict. As Cardinal De Paolis has made clear, “for now, neither he nor the Vatican authorities intend to remove the superiors of the Legion by executive fiat”. The reason, he explains, is that  “if we get caught up in the desire to prevail, and to impose our own ideas on the others, disaster is certain”.

Very admirable, no doubt. But the disaster, surely, has already happened. The Pope has to prevail. Here is an institution which vaunts itself on its obedience to papal authority: then let its superiors obey. Then the big clean up can really begin.

The problem for me, though, is still this: why not, after everything that has happened, simply close the whole thing down? That’s a genuine question: I would like someone to explain.

Every Sunday at Our Lady of the Roses Shrine there is a Holy Hour from 10:30 am till noon for the clergy.  Please join us each week in prayer for priests at this time.

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"Man shall not condone evil or rationalize sin. Homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God and man!  The Creator condemns those who do not repent of this sin." - Our Lady of the Roses, August 5, 1977

"Are you so blind that you do not recognize the acceleration of sin among you?  Murders abound, thievery, all manner of carnage, destruction of young souls, abortion, homosexuality, condemned from the beginning of time by the Eternal Father.  Yet sin has become a way of life.  Sin is condoned now, even unto the highest judge of your land and your lands throughout the world. As you have sown so shall you reap.  Sin is death, not only of the spirit, but of the body.  Wars are a punishment for man's sin, his greed, his avarice." - Our Lady of the Roses, August 14, 1981

The awesome Bayside Prophecies... https://www.tldm.org/../Bayside/
These prophecies came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995.

READ  YOUR  BIBLES
"Your word of homosexuality can be explained by the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Read in your Bibles or consult your clergy.  Find yourselves, My children, a humble, pious clergy.  Many have fallen away from the Faith." Our Lady, October 6, 1992 

WOE  TO  THE  PASTORS
"My children, can I bring you a message of joy when My heart is torn by the murders and the loss of respect for your elders?  Children against parents, parents going about, running to and fro, marrying and giving in marriage, living adulterously, consorting with evil, with homosexuals and lesbians!  What manner of life do you show for your children to make example of?  Woe to the parent that scandalizes his child.  It is better if that parent had died in his mother's womb!  Woe to the pastors that scandalize the children!  They shall burn in an eternity of hell for their deception!" Our Lady of the Roses, August 5, 1977 

PASTORS  HELD  RESPONSIBLE
"We hold the pastors of My Son's House, We hold them as being responsible for the fall of the children.  Be ye warned now, My children, that woe to the man who has this responsibility upon his conscience and his soul.  Scandals have been brought into the lives of your children.  Perversion, homosexuality, immorality, perverted sex, My children-where shall you stop but at the abyss!" Our Lady of the Roses, December 7, 1977

"YOU  WILL  BE  REMOVED"
"I am your God, and I say unto you:  continue to change My Church and you will fall!  You will build a secular church, bringing in all--even heretics, even homosexuals.  All aberrations condemned by the Eternal Father, you will permit in the name of humanism.  Nay, no!  I say unto you as your God.  You will be given a short reign, for I consider you then an abomination, and as such you will be removed." Jesus, May 23, 1979 

AN  ABOMINATION
"Man shall not condone evil or rationalize sin. Homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God and man! The Creator condemns those who do not repent of this sin." Our Lady, August 5, 1977

BLACK  CLOUD  OVER  AMERICA
"In the days of Sodom, so too were men giving themselves over to all the pleasures of the flesh: eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage. All manner of sinful lusts are being committed. Men shameful with men, women casting aside their role of motherhood and lusting after women. As it was in the days of Sodom, so now is this black cloud over America."  Our Lady, July 14, 1979

SODOM:  "WE  DESTROYED  IT"
"And the great issue now of homosexuality in your country, that shall be on the balance that Michael holds.  Unless this balance is evened by removing this evil from your country and bringing in just laws to prevent the spread of homosexuality, you cannot be saved; your country cannot be saved.  Because I repeat again, as I have repeated in the past:  When a country has given itself over to immorality and all pleasures of the flesh, and abominations of the flesh, then that country will fall!  If you do not believe Me, My children, I say:  You will read your history books, and you will find out that there was a Sodom and Gomorrah.  And what did We do to that abominable city, Sodom?  We destroyed it!  And what did We do to Gomorrah?  We destroyed it!  And We destroyed all who did not follow the plan for their redemption." Jesus, November 1, 1985 

 SIN:  FORERUNNER  OF  WAR
"For sin is always a forerunner for war, My children:  murders, persecutions, robberies, all manners of sins of the flesh, homosexuality, lesbianism, perversion, sodomy.  Sodom and Gomorrah fell for less sins than you have committed now upon your earth.  Noah took to the ark and the world was in a better state spiritually than your world now; for you have accepted a sophisticated manner of sin, based on man's reasoning and not God's truth." Our Lady, October 2, 1979 

ANY  COUNTRY
"Any country that allows homosexuals to roam and to seduce the young shall be destroyed."  Our Lady, June 30, 1984

HOLY HOUR
"I wish that there be held on these sacred grounds an hour of reparation on the Day of the Lord.  This hour will be for your Vicar and the fallen hierarchy in the House of God.  This hour will also be in atonement for the discard of the holy Day of God." - Our Lady, September 14, 1972

Directives from Heaven... https://www.tldm.org/directives/directives.htm

D63 - The Third Secret  PDF
D169 - Stigma of a Fallen Hierarchy, Part 1 PDF
D170 - Stigma of a Fallen Hierarchy, Part 2   PDF
D171 - Stigma of a Fallen Hierarchy, Part 3   PDF
D172 - Priestly Celibacy PDF
D174 - Homosexuality, Part 2  PDF
D177 - Seminaries  PDF

Articles…

A Rude Awakening - My experiences in the Legion of Christ 2000-2001
http://www.regainnetwork.org/article.php?a=47245755

Spiritual Schizophrenia - The Legion of Christ cannot affirm both a Wise Pope and a Holy Maciel
http://regainnetwork.org/article.php?a=47245965

Father Maciel suspended: New allegations against other Legionary priests on the horizon?
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/mershon/060525

Vatican says no to homosexuals in priesthood - approved by Pope Benedict
https://www.tldm.org/News8/homosexualityPriesthood3.htm

Vatican appointed seminary investigator says homosexuals should not be ordained
 https://www.tldm.org/News8/SeminaryInvestigator.htm

Cardinal George of Chicago reaffirms longtime Vatican teaching: no homosexuals allowed in priesthood
https://www.tldm.org/News8/homosexualityPriesthood.htm

John Paul II and a Vatican official speak out against homosexuals in the Catholic priesthood
https://www.tldm.org/News5/gays_in_priesthood.htm  

Clear Vatican statement against ordaining homosexuals: "a person who is homosexual or has homosexual tendencies is not, therefore, suitable to receive the sacrament of sacred orders."
https://www.tldm.org/News5/Estevez.htm

Bishop D'Arcy urges ban on gay priests
https://www.tldm.org/News7/D'Arcy.htm 

Philippine Bishops Conference bans homosexual seminarians and priests
https://www.tldm.org/News7/PhilippineBishopsBanHomosexuals.htm 

Santo Domingo Cardinal says gays do not belong in seminaries
https://www.tldm.org/News7/homosexualityCardinalNicolas.htm 

Austrian seminary: no more homosexuals
https://www.tldm.org/News7/HomosexualityAustrianSeminary.htm

American seminaries: "hell-holes of error and heresy"
https://www.tldm.org/news5/seminaries.htm

John Paul II orders cleanup of U.S. seminaries
https://www.tldm.org/news5/seminaries2.htm

Vatican document: homosexuals should not be ordained or admitted to the seminary
https://www.tldm.org/News5/Vatican_document.htm 

“This hapless bench of bishops”
https://www.tldm.org/News5/hapless.htm 

Gay and lesbian newspaper reports: “Victory at Bishops' Conference”
https://www.tldm.org/News5/WindyCity.htm 

The American bishops and homosexual priests
https://www.tldm.org/news4/scandal1.htm 

81% of clergy sex crimes committed by homosexuals
https://www.tldm.org/News6/homosexuality9.htm

What the Saints say about the sin of homosexuality
https://www.tldm.org/news7/homosexualitySaints.htm

What the Bible says about homosexuality
https://www.tldm.org/News6/homosexuality3.htm

Great Britain study says 43% of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals have a mental disorder
https://www.tldm.org/news7/GayMentalDisorder.htm

Our Lady of the Roses gave 17 requests to save America from annihilation
https://www.tldm.org/news5/17-steps.htm

Homosexuality and Hope: excerpts taken from a document by the Catholic Medical Association
https://www.tldm.org/news6/ssa.htm

America: Slouching towards Gomorrah
https://www.tldm.org/news5/gomorrah.htm

Homosexuality: dispelling the lies
https://www.tldm.org/News4/homosexuality2.htm

Supreme Court Justice Burger speaks out against homosexuality
https://www.tldm.org/news6/homosexuality1.htm

Sin is insanity
https://www.tldm.org/news6/insanity.htm

Links...

U.S. Bishops to Begin Inspecting Seminaries, National Catholic Register
http://www.ncregister.com/articulo.php?artkod=NTU-

Expected Vatican Ban Roils American Church, [U.K.] Guardian, September 22, 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5295980,00.html

Trust us to fix it, Catholic World News
http://www.cwnews.com/offtherecord/offtherecord.cfm?task=singledisplay&recnum=2791

Bishops meeting to avoid gay issue, Washington Times, June 15, 2005
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050614-114626-2482r.htm

Why won't our bishops solve the 'gay' priest problem? New Oxford Review, July-August 2004
http://www.newoxfordreview.org/note.jsp?did=0704-notes-bishops

How America's Catholic Church crucified itself, [London] Times Online, March 13, 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-1517560,00.html

Vatican Monsignor says gays shouldn’t be priests, Washington Times, September 20, 2002
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020920-85049356.htm

Catholic official argues against gay priests, Modesto Bee, September 19, 2002
http://www.modbee.com/24hour/nation/story/543081p-4290797c.html

John Paul II to Church: Risky seminarians must go, National Catholic Register, Sept. 15-21, 2002
http://www.ncregister.com/Register_News/091002sem.htm

John Paul II: Men with deviant affections can’t be priests, ABC News, September 5, 2002
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20020905_339.html

Catholic Medical Association: Homosexuality and Hope
http://www.cathmed.org/publications/homosexuality.html