Taking the Cult out of the Man [woman] -CULT RECOVERY ORGANIZATION

You know the Irish saying: You can take the man out of the bog [ignorance] but you cant take the bog out of the man, well this Irish article describes Cult Recovery and an Organization that helps those born into cults.
I am sorry to say, and it may shock you, but Children whose parents are in the RC could be considered Born into a Cult

Fr. Maciel forgave his Victims!

Rome/February 28, 1997

Mr. Clifford L. Teutsch
Managing Editor
The Hartford Courant
285 Broad Street
Hartford, CT 06115

Dear Mr. Teutsch,

Regarding the accusations made against me in the Hartford Courant of Sunday, February 23, I wish to state that in all cases they are defamations and falsities with no foundation whatsoever, since during the years these men were in the Legion never in any way did I commit those acts with them, nor did I make any such advances to them nor was the suggestion of such acts ever mentioned.

During the time that these men were in the Legion of Christ and even after they had left, I spared no sacrifice to help them as much as I could-as I have always done with every person the Lord has put under my care. I do not know what has led them to make these totally false accusations 20, 30 and 40 years after leaving the congregation. I am all the more surprised since I still have letters from some of them well into the 1970s in which they express their gratitude and our mutual friendship.

Despite the moral suffering that this has caused me I bear no ill will toward them. Rather I offer my pain and prayers for each one of them, in hope that they will recover their peace of soul and remove from their hearts whatever resentment has moved them to make these false accusations.

Yours respectfully in Christ,
Marcial Maciel, L.C.

LEGION & REGNUM SUPERIORS NOT READY FOR CHANGE!

Vicar General of Legion of Christ, Fr. Luis Garza Medina, scion of Mexico's Richest Dynasty, kisses Pope's hand but has not fully cooperated with Vatican Visitation.

Fr. Gill made a statement a year ago on American Papist blog that he was taking the Maciel scandal seriously and apologized to victims...

During the following 11 months he talked and worked with Superiors and Visitators. He does not believe Superiors are ready for change. He cannot wait and he is leaving. Below is text of Feb 2009 statement as Director of RC in NY. Fr. Gill's previous statement sheds light on his recent farewell letter.

"Statement from Director of Regnum Christi in New York {AmP exclusive}

From Fr. Richard Gill, Director of Regnum Christi in New York and of Our Lady of Mt. Kisco Retreat Center.

"I’ve been a Legionary priest since 1991 and I have always loved my Congregation and my priestly vocation and I only hope Our Lord has used it as an effective means of grace for many people to find their way to a deeper relationship with Christ.
I thought I knew Fr. Maciel. I do believe he did many good things for many people. I have benefitted greatly from the formation and life I have lived as a Legionary for twenty-eight years. I defended Fr. Maciel because to the extent I thought I knew him, I sincerely believed the allegations against him were baseless.
Yet, in light of what has been coming out about him, I must say I am terribly sorry to have defended him. I believe I acted in good faith, yet nonetheless did an injustice to the victims.
I am deeply sorry to the people who have suffered from these inexcusable and reprehensible actions of Fr. Maciel. No person should have to suffer abuse at the hands of a priest in whom they have put their trust. And his actions have damaged the holiness of the Church and contributed to the alienation many people feel due to similar scandals in the Church.
I offer my prayers and sacrifices for anyone who was victimized, so they may continue to heal and discover the love of Jesus Christ.

[A YEAR AGO FATHER GILL WROTE:]

I am confident that our superiors are working closely with the appropriate dicasteries of the Holy See to chart the best course forward for the Legion of Christ so it can be of better service to the Church and the Holy Father.

Fr. Richard Gill, LC

Our Lady of Mount Kisco Retreat Center
773 Armonk Road
Mt. Kisco, NY 10549

rgill@legionaries.org"

Posted with permission of the author.

Please keep all members of the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi in your prayers.

PROMINENT AMERICAN LEGIONARY DEFECTS -Fr. Gill sees Light of Christ and Leaves the Legion

See text
of this Experienced and Prominent Legionary Priest's  farewell to Regnum Christi members

An exLC remarked:

I believe he was made the director of RC in the Washington D.C. area. At some point he was sent to NY to be the RC director there. I think they sent him to Rome for studies for a period in between. He was a Chapter Father at the General Chapter in 1992.

Only Christ can turn Legion Darkness into Light

and if the Apostolic Visitation were successful and miraculously the Superiors and Directors of the Legion and Regnum cast away their "evil ways" of systemic lies and deceit, and total control of members; if they would only accept Christ the Light, then the prophesy of Isaiah proclaimed on the Feast of the Epiphany would be fulfilled.  

Arise, shine, Legion, for your Light has come!

Isaiah 60

 ¹ "Arise, shine, for your light has come,
       and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.  ² See, darkness covers the earth
       and thick darkness is over the peoples,
       but the LORD rises upon you
       and his glory appears over you.
 ³ Nations will come to your light,
       and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
 ⁴ "Lift up your eyes and look about you:
       All assemble and come to you;
       your sons come from afar,
       and your daughters are carried on the arm.
 ⁵ Then you will look and be radiant,
       your heart will throb and swell with joy;
       the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,
       to you the riches of the nations will come.
===============
Alas, it is the firm conviction of this blogger, and of many other former members, that the Legion and Regnum are DARKNESS THAT APPEARS AS LIGHT, DARKNESS MASQUERADING  AS LIGHT.  

And that, my brothers and sisters, is a hell of a demon to cast out.

New Years Wish for the Legion of Christ & Regnum Christi/ Deseos de Nuevo Anio para la Legion y el Regnum

that you put aside lies and deceit and that you live with honesty, sincerity, and truth as individuals, communities, and organization.

See I Peter 2,1
So get rid of every kind of evil, every kind of deception, hypocrisy, jealousy, and every kind of slander.

Que alejen de si toda mentira y enganio y que vivan con sinceridad, autenticidad y verdad como individuos, comunidades y organizacion.


That prospective members analyze the group and themselves before joining; that they seek second and third opinions; that they  listen to others, including their parents
the they be cautious about PREMATURE RECRUITING & IMPULSIVE DECISION MAKING.

Que los Candidatos analicen el grupo a a si mismos antes de entrar para EVITAR EL RECLUTAMIENTO PREMATURO Y LAS DECISIONES PRECIPITADAS

that all members are able to step back and assess their decision to JOIN LC and RC

that Superiors and Spiritual Directors STOP UNDULY INFLUENCING, and CONTROLLING the members under their care.

que los Superiores y Directores Espirituales DEJEN DE INFLUIR Y CONTROLAR INDEBIDAMENTE a los miembros bajo su cuidado. 

that you never let THE ENDS JUSTIFY THE MEANS, EVER!.

que nunca permitan que LOS FINES JUSTIFIQUEN LOS MEDIOS!

that you STOP DIVIDING THE WORLD INTO "INSIDERS" AND "OUTSIDERS", "US VS THEM"

que DEJEN DE DIVIDIR A LA HUMANIDAD EN "PROPIOS Y EXTRANIOS", "NOSOTROS CONTRA ELLOS"

that you have to courage to QUESTION YOUR LONG-HELD BELIEFS REGARDING THE FOUNDER, THE LEGION AND REGNUM CHRISTI.

y que tengan el valor de  CUESTIONAR SUS CREENCIAS ANTIGUAS RESPECTO AL FUNDADOR, LA LEGION Y EL REGNUM

that you STOP SEEING PEOPLE LIKE ME AS "ENEMIES OF THE LEGION" and be willing to MEET AND DIALOG so that together we can come closer to the truth.

y que DEJEN DE CONSIDERAR PERSONAS COMO YO COMO "ENEMIGOS DE LA LEGION" y estar dispuestos a encontrarse con nosotros y juntos buscar la verdad.

THE PRINCE OF TRUTH! - "How YOU WERE CONNED by Maciel, Legion and Regnum Christi" - #39 in the series How to get a Loved One out

Were you taken in by the Maciel tango?

Fr. Longenecker, "Standing on my Head", wrote

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Catholic Con Men

As the sordid revelations about Fr. Marcial Marciel--the founder of the Legionaries of Christ--keep emerging the faithful ask, "Why were so many taken in by him?"

What very few people stop to consider is the complex psychology of religious belief. Religious faith is the greatest adventure and brings forth the very best of human beings, but we have to be honest and admit that it brings forth the very worst as well.

Why do people fall for priests who turn out to be such stinkers? It's pretty complicated, but it goes like this: first of all, the bad priest himself is usually a complex character. He has deep flaws and serious sins deep down in his life. To compensate he tries very hard to be good, and what better way to be good than to become a priest? Becoming a priest helps him to cover up his flaws. He puts on a uniform everyday which proclaims that he is a holy man. The uniform allows him to play a part. He is comfortable being a good pastor, a caring person, a wonderful preacher, a man of prayer. It makes him feel better about himself and if he is not careful, he soon starts believing his own priestly image.

If he is charismatic, charming, debonair and dynamic he is even more attractive. If he is wise and wonderful and eloquent and compassionate and caring and almost Jesus himself, then he becomes even more popular and the real deep down problem is only made worse by the imposture, not better. Have you ever noticed how often it is the priests and pastors who seem the very best and most wonderful who are the ones who fall? Every asked yourself if the reason they were so wonderful is linked with their crash?

Furthermore, the whole church establishment from pope to people encourages him to merge his identity into his priesthood. He is not a man doing a job. He is to become what he was ordained to be--a self sacrificing priest. Now this is a great ideal and it is one which, when it works, makes for a wonderful transformation. However, the dark side is that all we get is a man in a priest outfit playing a part. The real monster still lurks below. If the inner problems are not resolved, the man soon starts living a double life. On the surface he is Father Fantastic. Everyone loves him. He's good at everything. Indeed he is "the best priest we've ever had..."

Furthermore, the whole dynamic of parish life contributes to build up the false image. Everyone loves Father Fantastic. Everyone looks up to him. In fact they invest an awful lot of spiritual capital in him. They put him on a pedestal. In fact, the people, rather than learning to love God (which is hard work) love the priest instead. They idolize him and he can do no wrong because they actually want an idol of a priest who can do no wrong. He epitomizes for the their whole religion. All this false religion does is to make the bad priest's conflict between his inner demons and the outer false image even worse.

Then the whole facade crumbles and Father Fantastic runs off with somebody or turns out to be an alcoholic or a pedophile or an embezzler or some other kind of skunk. Then everyone says, "How could it be! How could we have been taken in!" The sick psychology continues and Father Fantastic (who was only ever Father Flawed anyhow) is scapegoated by the community. He has gone from paragon to pariah. He's an outcast. He's guilty even when proven innocent.

Why were so many taken in by Father Maciel? Because so many people wanted to be taken in. It was easier and more exciting to believe the whole fabricated fiction than to take the effort to find out the truth and follow it.

I hope people will not misunderstand me and draw the conclusion that I am a cynic or that I don't believe holy priests are possible. They are, but the best priests I've known have been the dull ones. Give me a plodder priest any day. Give me the Samwise Gamgees of the priestly fraternity. When it comes to priests, remember all that glitters is not gold.

I'm not encouraging cynicism and doubt. I'm just saying that if you come across a priest or a monk or a bishop who is too good to be true...He probably is.

Posted by Fr Longenecker at Sunday, December 20, 2009
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PS BE SURE TO READ HIS RISPOSTE TO CRITICISM in Comments