Scientology takes over Cult Awareness Network; Legion of Christ takes out LENNON & REGAIN

Scientology takes over Cult Awareness Network; Legion of Christ takes out LENNON & REGAIN

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Legion of Christ also tries to sue out, buy out or take out opponents when they can.

They were successful in LEGION OF CHRIST VS LENNON AND REGAIN,INC, in Alexandria City, Virginia, August 2007

In Mexico City they could not silence their victims. See below.

First Legal Defeat for the Legionaries ಆಫ್ Christ : Judge orders the Colegio Oxford to pay damages to a child assaulted by his teacher.

By Sanjuana Martínez



Decision in child sex abuse case in Mexico.
"La Jornada"



After two years of litigation a civil court judge, Maricela Cruz Sánchez, has found the Colegio Oxford, located in Mexico City, liable for monetary damages due to the moral hazard caused to a boy who was sexually abuse at age three by his physical education teacher, Joaquín Francisco Mondragón Rebollo, who remains at-large.

"This amounts to the first successful lawsuit against the Legionaries of Christ," says attorney José Bonilla Sada in an interview with La Jornada. "With this verdict people who commit crimes involving the sexual abuse of minors within the Legion, founded by Marcial Maciel, are at last beginning to be punished."

The verdict is based on an employer/employee relationship linking the sexual perpetrator and the Centro de Educación y Cultura Ajusco, SC, controlling arm of the Colegio Oxford, whose director, María del Pilar Adelina Soto Maza, was found to be "guilty and negligent" due to the boy being sexually abused on the grounds of an educational institution operated by the Legionaries of Christ.

Judge Maricela Cruz Sánchez stated in her opinion that the school had "the moral obligation to educate, a duty to protect and care for those for whom they are responsible, given that parents place in educational institutions all the confidence that their children will develop physically, mentally and spiritually."

The 34 page document does not specify the amount of damages the legionary school must pay to the victim and his parents, but Bonilla Sada has stated no amount of money can make up for the immense harm caused to the boy and his family. "We have not even considered the amount of money. Our objective was not to get a lot of money. We never even thought about it. The important thing is that they be punished for causing moral harm, something which we have always alleged."

The verdict also states that "having committed an assault and sexual abuse against a minor, it remains manifestly clear that the responsible parties failed to do their job, and have not submitted any evidence that would justify, explain or exempt them from a failure to fulfill their obligation, and by extension their responsibility."

Bonilla Sada began the search for justice in his son's case more than two years ago. But he soon became an attorney for other victims of sexual abuse. "The verdict is a setback for the Legionaries of Christ because it exposes them to Mexican society as people who act unscrupulously in defense of criminals who commit sexual assault against minors, against those who were abused in their schools," he says.

In reference to the verdict against the director, María del Pilar Adelina Soto Maza, he stated that he felt it was a very serious matter that from the beginning she provided protection to the perpetrator rather than the victim. "It's awful that a woman of her status would be involved in these sorts of allegations. It's impossible to imagine that, instead of protecting the children at her school, she has set about to protect the perpetrating teacher and the supposed good name of the Legionaries of Christ and the Colegio Oxford. This goes against any educational principle or human virtue."

The attorney maintains that the Mondragón Rebollo, currently still at-large due to aggravated assault and sexual abuse charges, was and is still being harbored by the Legionaries of Christ. "We have shown all the evidence of the protections they have provided him. This the way the Legionaries have of blocking out the light with one hand in order to prevent the truth from coming out. But in this case they failed. Now the public knows how the Legionaries of Christ are institutionally linked to pedophilia."

Barack O'Bama is Irish!

Careful research shows Obama is Irish!
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Vatican: MAY GOD HELP OBAMA BRING PEACE

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican said Wednesday it hoped President-elect Barack Obama will work to promote peace and justice in the world.

"All of us are hoping that Obama will be able to meet the expectations and hopes directed at him," said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, who is chief spokesman for the Vatican and for Pope Benedict XVI.

Lombardi told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the Vatican hoped the man elected to be the United States' first black president would work for the cause of rights and justice, "finding suitable ways to promote peace in the world, fostering people's development and dignity while respecting essential human and spiritual values."

"Faithful are praying so that God may enlighten him and give him a hand in his huge responsibility, so that he will govern well," Lombardi said.

The pope will likely issue a statement wishing Obama well when he is sworn into office in January, Lombardi indicated.

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Post Legion & Regnum Trauma

Post-Cult Trauma Syndrome*
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After exiting a cult, an individual may experience a period of intense and often conflicting emotions. She or he may feel relief to be out of the group, but also may feel grief over the loss of positive elements in the cult, such as friendships, a sense of belonging or the feeling of personal worth generated by the group's stated ideals or mission.

The emotional upheaval of the period is often characterized by "POST-CULT TRAUMA SYMDROME":

-spontaneous crying
-sense of loss
-depression & suicidal thoughts
-fear that not obeying the cult's wishes will result in God's wrath or loss of salvation
-alienation from family, friends
-sense of isolation, loneliness due to being surrounded by people who have no basis for understanding cult life
-fear of evil spirits taking over one's life outside the cult
-scrupulosity, excessive rigidity about rules of minor importance
-panic disproportionate to one's circumstances
-fear of going insane
-confusion about right and wrong
-sexual conflicts
-unwarranted guilt

The period of exiting from a cult is usually a traumatic experience and, like any great change in a person's life, involves passing through stages of accommodation to the change:

=Disbelief/denial: "This can't be happening. It couldn't have been that bad."
=Anger/hostility: "How could they/I be so wrong?" (hate feelings)
=Self-pity/depression: "Why me? I can't do this."
=Fear/bargaining: "I don't know if I can live without my group. Maybe I can still associate with it on a limited basis, if I do what they want."
=Reassessment: "Maybe I was wrong about the group's being so wonderful."
=Accommodation/acceptance: "I can move beyond this experience and choose new directions for my life" or...
=Re-involvement: "I think I will rejoin the group."

Passing through these stages is seldom a smooth progression. It is fairly typical to bounce back and forth between different stages. Not everyone achieves the stage of accommodation / acceptance. Some return to cult life. But for those who do not, the following may be experienced for a period of several months:

/flashbacks to cult life
/simplistic black-white thinking
/sense of unreality
/suggestibility, ie. automatic obedience responses to trigger-terms of the cult's loaded language or to innocent suggestions
/disassociation (spacing out)
/feeling "out of it"
/"Stockholm Syndrome": knee-jerk impulses to defend the cult when it is criticized, even if the cult hurt the person
/difficulty concentrating
/incapacity to make decisions
/hostility reactions, either toward anyone who criticizes the cult or toward the cult itself
/mental confusion
/low self-esteem
/dread of running into a current cult-member by mistake
/loss of a sense of how to carry out simple tasks
/dread of being cursed or condemned by the cult
/hang-overs of habitual cult behaviors like chanting
/difficulty managing time
/trouble holding down a job

Most of these symptoms subside as the victim mainstreams into everyday routines of normal life. In a small number of cases, the symptoms continue.

* This information is a composite list from the following sources: "Coming Out of Cults", by Margaret Thaler Singer, Psychology Today, Jan. 1979, P. 75; "Destructive Cults, Mind Control and Psychological Coercion","Fact Sheet", Cult Hot-Line and Clinic, New York City.

Cult Expert Reviews "Our Father,..."

Link to bestseller

ONE BRAVE FORMER PRIEST

By Joe P. Szimhart (Douglassville, PA USA)

Would you, as a loving parent, send your seventeen year old son to dedicate his life to a highly manipulative organization controlled by a sexual predator? Of course, you would not and neither did the loving parents of John Paul Lennon but...it did happen. As told in this book, what happened was a culturally motivated, naive young man from Ireland accepted the glowing promise of Catholic recruiters to help form a new religious movement in Mexico in 1961. Lennon felt drawn to the adventure with holy men who would guide and protect his journey. What could be better? Despite lingering doubts about everything from his sexual expression to the existence of God Lennon signed on and served eventually as an ordained priest in the Legion of Christ for 23 years. He formally left the "congregation" in 1984. This book answers the question, why?

The Legion was founded by a young Father Marcial Maciel in 1941. In many respects, the Legion of Christ and its lay subsidiary Regnum Christi closely resembles Opus Dei, the Catholic organization maligned in The Da Vinci Code. Both are controversial, conservative, hierarchical Catholic groups formed ostensibly to provide members with rules for a saintly life and a way to serve others. Both groups target wealthy donors and aggressively seek favor from the Vatican. Indeed, Opus Dei's founder was a canonized recently. The same beatific fate may not befall Father Maciel as long as strong evidence continues to appear regarding his mismanagement of the Legion and his decades' long legacy of sexual abuse of young men.

J. Paul Lennon's self-published autobiography is the second significant exposé in English of the Legion and Fr. Maciel, the first being Vows of Silence (2004). There are many exposés in Spanish. Lennon's story brings the Legion experience into intimate focus through the lens of his life, his dreams, his sins, and his struggles. Lennon broke with the Legion after confronting the leader publicly about mistreatment of relocated members. He was also fed up with the double standards regarding vows of poverty while the leaders basked in favors and food from wealthy donors. Though Lennon never encountered sexual abuse personally while a Legion member, he documents what he learned after he left the group. Be prepared for specificity regarding Maciel's controversial behavior toward the end of the book. (The title refers to Fr. Maciel's dubious illnesses that required frequent time-outs for days in bed complete with injections of Demerol and erotic massages from boys).

'Our Father, who art in bed' reads well enough as a self-published effort by a first-time book writer. I enjoyed Lennon's anecdotes about his life in Ireland and Mexico. The reader finds a sense of place and culture as Lennon reflects on his struggles to make sense of his psychological isolation while serving others. The Legion restricted every aspect of a member's life including friends. "What friends" asks Lennon on page 111? "I had to have a motive and objective to contact outsiders; all activities not sanctioned by the very detailed rule had to be approved by my superior." He was able to visit his family only five years after he joined. Lennon would not know the songs of Bob Dylan or the other John Paul Lennon and The Beatles until after 1984. Lennon served as a priest in the Washington, DC area for 5 years after he broke away. He applauds the open kindness of Catholic clerics there who restored his faith in the Church. Nevertheless, Lennon requested and was granted a release from Holy Orders in 1989.

Lennon eventually recognized that his Legion experience matched many stories of ex-cult members from any number of other controversial groups. He and other ex-Legionites eventually formed a helping network called REGAIN that has a website. As his book documents, Lennon and REGAIN were sued last year by the Legion of Christ over violation of allegedly confidential information. This book is in part an appeal to the Church, the Legion and the public to recognize the truth of the matter. If nothing else, Lennon's legacy is set as one brave former priest that took on a festering cult that the Catholic Church has yet to adequately lance and to heal from. As a Catholic myself, and a professional consultant about cults, I can sympathize with Lennon's account thoroughly.

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER reviews "Our Father who art in bed"

INSIDE A PRIESTLY CULT

By Joseph C. Rigert

In my new book **





I noted how Pope John Paul II looked to Ireland to help maintain a strict morality in his church, but at the same time protected Macial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ and a notorious sex abuser. The pope did so even though Maciel was accused of sexually abusing more than 20 young seminarians and priests in his religious order. Why? I contended that John Paul didn't want to challenge the man who was churning out many, many priests who shared the pope's conservative beliefs.

But I didn't know why these priests remained so loyal to their corrupted leader. Now I know. As one of those priests, Paul Lennon explains in this book how the "great leader" brainwashed his followers, enforcing silence, isolation and blind obedience. Paul joined the order as an idealistic Irish youth of 17, and remained in it for 23 years, until he could no longer tolerate the repressive culture of the cult and left to rejoin the real world. Rather than describe Paul's experiences--like eight years separated from his family--I urge readers to obtain his book and get an unprecedented look inside the pope's legion.



--Joe Rigert, investigative journalist and author.

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