Jose Barba, PhD, center, standing; Saul Barrales, right, seated, Maciel survivors with the blogger and his wife
MANIFESTO ON THE OCCASION OF POPE BENDICT XVI’S VISIT TO
MEXICO
Deceased are, together with our hopes of truth and justice
in the Church, several of the former Legionaries of Christ who, together with
the signers of the open letter to your predecessor, John Paul II, hoped since
1997 to receive an answer to that message. Instead they were ignored or reprehended
by Catholic authorities. Later we trusted that truth, charity, and our rights
would prevail in our canonical case against Fr. Maciel which we presented in
Rome on October 17, 1998 to the Sacred Congregation for the Faith
over which Your Holiness presided at that time.
Scarcely twenty months ago Your Holiness told reporter Peter
Seewald “… only around the year 2000 did we have any concrete clues (regarding
the accusations against Fr. Marcial Maciel).” But we, following the spirit of
the forgotten Council of Sardica, had sent a letter to John Paul II fifteen
years before. The letter was in fact delivered to the Vatican by the then
Apostolic Nuncio, Justo Mullor García, to be handed to the pope. In that letter
we laid out our convictions with a respectful and trusting attitude; and in
that letter we also made ourselves available for questioning and judgment so
the truth could be known; for the good of society and the Church we wanted
Marcial Maciel and us to be the subjects of a canonical process.
We asked John Paul II whether, in historical retrospect, the
canonical trial of the Legion of Christ founder would be too onerous a task.
And we went so far as to say “for many reasons it would be a shame for the
Church not to seek the truth in such a grave matter…” Because by not seeking
the truth diligently and by not doing justice, the
scandal would spread wider and the Magisterium’s credibility would be questioned
by many. And we could not understand how the Church’s ancient wisdom could have
been deceived so easily, at such high levels of the Hierarchy, for such a long
time, in so many places, in the face so many victims and so many complaints.
But we were not listened to or believed at the right time.
For a long time were we ignored for being simple rank and file members of the
Church. That is why we, as regular Christians, wish that the words of a German
theologian well known to you were taken into account: “Beside, before and above
the ministerial hierarchy there is in God’s ministry an often hidden hierarchy
of the spirit. There exists a hierarchy of holiness which is not the same as
and runs parallel to the ministerial hierarchy. Nearness to God is not a class
privilege.” (Karl Rahner)
For You, in your conversation with Peter Seewald, Marcial
Maciel was an enigma. For us the problem is the failure of the centuries’ old
wisdom of a Church that did not decipher the enigma in time nor has it resolved
the institutional metastasis of its works; the problem of a Church intimidated
by hidden but nevertheless very real powers. Your Holiness, scandalous too is
the presence among the higher clergy of pastors who live disorderly lives
tolerated by the Church; for telling the truth about Marcial Maciel we were
criminally attacked by them. Concretely, the Mexican episcopal conference,
composed in its majority by cowards, has shown no commitment to this case and
has been irresponsible and even servile.
We have carefully analyzed the trajectory of our case before
the Vatican, especially from 1997 on. We have also studied in great detail
documents regarding the Maciel case that were recently handed over to us from
inside the Church; our examination of such documents had led us to believe that
they were purposely kept hidden in the Vatican; it is humanly inconceivable
that the prefects and heads of the Vatican departments in charge of such grave
matters would not have been aware of their existence and content. It has been a
case of suggestio falsi (false
suggestion) and suppressio veri
(suppression of truth).
We never received an answer to our rightful complaints
lodged according to the rules of the Church’s own Canon Law. And, after
reprehending us several times for expressing our opinions publicly in the
secular media it is ironic that only through these same media did we learn
about the ambiguous and confusing decisions taken by the Vatican regarding the
Maciel case. We repeat that we presented our case on October 17th
1998 to the Sacred Congregation of the Faith which at that time was directly
under your supervision as prefect (executive director). In this context we
cannot but doubt and feel disconcerted by the decree De Delictis Gravioribus (Regarding Serious Crimes)signed by Your
Holiness on May 18, 2001; in this decree a very important clause is modified,
canon 1378, which had ruled that there was no statute of limitations in the
case of a priest guilty of solicitation in confession. The law was applied
retroactively and thus affected the complaint we had lodged against Fr. Maciel
three years previously on February 18, 1998 through our lawyer Martha Wegan.
The change in fact favored the depraved Fr. Marcial Maciel as it left us at a
serious disadvantage in pursuing our case against him.
The axiom cited by some clergy to the effect that “it is
better that eight innocent men suffer injustice rather than thousands of
Catholic lose their faith” has certainly not helped the manifestation of truth,
or the exercise of charity or the triumph of justice. Since the 1990s many
members have left the Church and many others find it hard to continue to belong
and be faithful. Their disappointment has increased as they experience clear
pragmatism and moral relativism despite denials by some Vatican spokespersons.
These objective realities, carefully studied and analyzed
during years of duress, have demonstrated that more than respect for the rights
of the human person, it has been public outcry and the weight of world-wide
secular opinion that have been the determining factors in ever so slowly
modifying the Hierarchy’s stubborn denial. Many of us faithful expected clarity
and reasons to trust. On the contrary we have seen almost systematic ambiguity
which, together with contradictions between orthodox doctrine and real praxis, has led us to internal confusion
and painful spiritual malaise.
We believe, Your Holiness, with greater conviction than
ever, what we expressed to Your Predecessor in our 1997 open letter: “We firmly
hold that only a just, transparent and brave Christianity will win the real and
active respect of young and old, of intelligent and brave men and women; of
people who are healthily critical, living as they do in a shallow world of mass
demonstrations, sheep-like movements, and of those who join good causes which
often do not lead to effective justice.”
Jose de Jesus Barba Martin and other victim-survivors of Fr. Marcial Maciel's abuse
