The Last Laugh
Would you send your son or daughter to a school whose formative program was designed by a pedophile?
Would you seek guidance on issues of morality from a sodomizer?
Would you attend marriage counseling offered by a profligate womanizer?
Would you delegate the role of mentorship and character building to a pathological liar and conman?
Would you donate money to a cause founded by a thief whose only moral compass were the demands of his own outrageous lifestyle?
Would you expect the Catholic Church to entrust the formation of its priests to any of the deviants listed above?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these preposterous suggestions, then you will be pleased with the way in which the resolution of the scandal that is the
Legion of Christ appears to be approaching its ignominious end.
In roughly 90 days the Legion will hold its General Chapter, the pre-scripted tragicomedy that is supposed to sweep the truth of the embattled congregation under the rug forever and free its weary leadership from future scrutiny, responsibility and, best of all, criticism.
This is not the first General Chapter of the Legion, although its architects are the same as the previous two, held in the early ‘80s and again in 1995 under the controlling gaze of Fr. Maciel. The tone and contents of the first Chapters are an eerie reverse-prophecy of all that will be cosmetically altered come January 2014 as the Legion once again reinvents itself while remaining what it will always essentially be: the legacy of a perverse, devious and recklessly arrogant abuser whose name may no longer be mentioned, but who continues to live and breathe in the fraudulent masterpiece he engineered.
The conclusive documents of the Legion’s General Chapters may be found on the Wikileaks website. Although the translation is fairly poor, enough of the hubris and pathology on which the inner life of the congregation is predicated comes through to offer what will surely be a most interesting contrast with the carefully rendered documents that will be released after the next Chapter as proof of the Legion’s rebirth.
Whatever the outcome, nothing will erase the frustration and disgrace of the inexplicably missed opportunity to truthfully and courageously uproot and atone for one of the worst scandals in the Church’s history.
How did it get this far? When did the Legion become ‘too big to fail’ in the eyes of Church authority? Who’s heads would have rolled and who would have been implicated had the Vatican decided to launch a full and impartial investigation into the history, canonical legitimacy, inner workings and finances of the Legion of Christ?
The Catholic Church doesn’t need – never needed – this scandalous brainchild of Marcial Maciel, but it has gone to unfathomable, self-incriminating lengths to keep it on life support.
If mirth is permitted wherever Fr. Maciel finds himself at present, there is no doubt that he has that leering grin on his face that so many of us recognize well. Everything continues to go according to plan.
Unless Pope Francis still has a surprise or two up his sleeve, which we hope will be the case, Nuestro Padre, when all is said and done, got the last laugh.
Would you send your son or daughter to a school whose formative program was designed by a pedophile?
Would you seek guidance on issues of morality from a sodomizer?
Would you attend marriage counseling offered by a profligate womanizer?
Would you delegate the role of mentorship and character building to a pathological liar and conman?
Would you donate money to a cause founded by a thief whose only moral compass were the demands of his own outrageous lifestyle?
Would you expect the Catholic Church to entrust the formation of its priests to any of the deviants listed above?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these preposterous suggestions, then you will be pleased with the way in which the resolution of the scandal that is the
Legion of Christ appears to be approaching its ignominious end.
In roughly 90 days the Legion will hold its General Chapter, the pre-scripted tragicomedy that is supposed to sweep the truth of the embattled congregation under the rug forever and free its weary leadership from future scrutiny, responsibility and, best of all, criticism.
This is not the first General Chapter of the Legion, although its architects are the same as the previous two, held in the early ‘80s and again in 1995 under the controlling gaze of Fr. Maciel. The tone and contents of the first Chapters are an eerie reverse-prophecy of all that will be cosmetically altered come January 2014 as the Legion once again reinvents itself while remaining what it will always essentially be: the legacy of a perverse, devious and recklessly arrogant abuser whose name may no longer be mentioned, but who continues to live and breathe in the fraudulent masterpiece he engineered.
The conclusive documents of the Legion’s General Chapters may be found on the Wikileaks website. Although the translation is fairly poor, enough of the hubris and pathology on which the inner life of the congregation is predicated comes through to offer what will surely be a most interesting contrast with the carefully rendered documents that will be released after the next Chapter as proof of the Legion’s rebirth.
Whatever the outcome, nothing will erase the frustration and disgrace of the inexplicably missed opportunity to truthfully and courageously uproot and atone for one of the worst scandals in the Church’s history.
How did it get this far? When did the Legion become ‘too big to fail’ in the eyes of Church authority? Who’s heads would have rolled and who would have been implicated had the Vatican decided to launch a full and impartial investigation into the history, canonical legitimacy, inner workings and finances of the Legion of Christ?
The Catholic Church doesn’t need – never needed – this scandalous brainchild of Marcial Maciel, but it has gone to unfathomable, self-incriminating lengths to keep it on life support.
If mirth is permitted wherever Fr. Maciel finds himself at present, there is no doubt that he has that leering grin on his face that so many of us recognize well. Everything continues to go according to plan.
Unless Pope Francis still has a surprise or two up his sleeve, which we hope will be the case, Nuestro Padre, when all is said and done, got the last laugh.
I think this article, Peter Hopkin's comments, needs a serious redress.
Peter Hopkins LC is the same Peter Hopkins who was behind taking Paul Lennon and Regain to court a la scientology.
He makes no real address to the allegations about manipulation of conscience or going against parental authority. He picks out the Vatican's hope that the legion continues its good works over the serious flaws it points out. (Is it a stretch to say the Vatican hopes this? is this hope in the place of faith? as in I hope it rains because we're in a drought?).
Bishop Watty and the Vatican have clearly expressed that the Maciel effect has infected the entire Legion.
To acknowledge the mistakes/crimes/failings/sins of a dead man is one thing, to be able to recognise how that dead man has influenced your thoughts and behaviour is another. Maciel did NOT simply live a parallel life, his life AS a legionary was twisted and manipulative and this gave him power and wealth.
He was a sociopath and created systems to cope and live. Unfortunately his idea of living was exploitation and the systems he used to exploit have been in place in the Legion since the start. These are the serious problems that need addressed.
Fr. Hopkins has the luxury of making these comments about Gateway because the details, the dates and occurrences were contained in www.exlegionaries.com and comparable with the other US schools. This is the website that Peter Hopkins shut down.