Fr. Maciel's Passionate Outpourings for Christ make my feeble efforts pale in comparison

Reviewing my spiritual diary from when I was a Legionary I came upon a passage where I was meditating on the Letters of Nuestro Padre, the Legion Founder, Fr. Maciel's,  Letters to his disciples...volumes of which were treasured by us Legionaries of that time...

I opened the first volume that day many years ago, before I left the Legion, before I knew of Fr. Maciel's abuse of seminarians, about his secret life and before I lost my respect for him...

and I found a letter he had sent to his mother, Maura, when he was 19 years of age

Full of passionate expressions of love for Christ, it made my efforts appears feeble and half hearted

Fr. Maciel’s saint’s day, onomastico, St. Martial

My reflections from 1980 on reading his letter #1, November 8^th, 1939 to his mother, Sra. Maura Degollado de Maciel, where he talks about his call to the priesthood.

<<

Why did I accept the call to the priesthood?

To do something for Christ who did so much for me. “Most give from what they have left over. Few gives from what they need.”

I also wanted to do something for others, for the less fortunate; this meant forgetting self and renouncing those simple pleasures of job, position, sport, hobbies, girls, wife, children…

It did not seem particularly dramatic at that moment. I felt exceptionally free. I thought it was the right thing to do. The other way was all right. I believed this was BETTER.

I still believe the best way of doing something for Christ and helping others is renouncing those “securities” for the adventure of the priesthood. 

Nuestro Padre is around the same age when he writes to his mother. 

-He talks about wanting to be a saint. This would never have occurred to me. I wanted to be a missionary. I did not think I would have to be a “saint”.

-His desires are expressed in much more poetic, passionate terms…

-He wants to “save many souls”   Me: help other people 

“That I love God so much…”     Me: do something for Him.

“Seek only sacrifice to prove my love for him.” I would accept sacrifice but I would not go looking for it!

“I want to transform myself into Christ.” I never thought of that; at that time. Maybe it came later.

“To rest in him to hear his heartbeats of love”. Much too romantic for my liking. 

His mindset is far above mine; probably a lot more mature from a developmental point of view; and certainly, a lot more spiritual.

He seems to desire a tremendously intense interpersonal relationship with Jesus.

Did he ever love a woman, besides his mother and sisters?

Did he ever “fall in love”?

Or did he simple consider these loves betrayals of his love for Christ,

as stains on a heart that was destined to love Jesus with that total and exclusive love? > >

---

My God, what a different impression in hindsight!

(2) Thomas Williams Agonistes

[Literary note: the title of Mr. Ruse's Crisis Magazine article on the reappearance of Thomas Williams in public life seems to harken back to a review T. W. wrote on Amazon regarding a book called C.S. Lewis Agonistes and which reads as follows:]
 
Does Not Disappoint,

March 12, 2006

By 

Thomas Williams

This review is from: Lewis Agonistes: How C.S. Lewis Can Train Us to Wrestle with the Modern and Postmodern World (Paperback)

I've read so many books on Lewis, many of them disappointing, that I'm always wary when I begin a new one. I picked up Lewis Agonistes because of the promise in its subtitle--that I would gain insights from Lewis' work on how to relate truth to the postmodern world. Almost every Lewis reader understands that the great British writer's incisive logic and imagination effectively sliced through modern thought, but perhaps few consider how he also addresses the postmodern error. Markos did not disappoint me. His book demonstrates a rich understanding of Lewis' body of work and does an insightful job of showing how it refutes both modern and postmodern thinking. It's a fine addition to anyone's Lewis Library. -- Thomas Williams, author of The Heart of the Chronicles of Narnia and Knowing Aslan.

===========
Blogger notes: it would seem that Thomas Williams possesses a knowledge of Christian apologetic and of the work on the great CS Lewis.
 ==========

The article provoking this and the previous blog was taken down shortly after it appeared. It seems that the reactions to the article by Mr Ruse were "controversial", passionate and/or divisive and the editors intervened. This blogger did not see the comments and so cannot express an opinion in their regard. We was able to salvage the article before it was taken down. Later, he may want to formulate his personal critique of the article -rather than of the life and times of Thomas Williams as such.

The article seems to have disappeared from the Internet.

The blogger could only find the opening paragraph, below:

Thomas Williams Agonistes

Each of us is called to discern the spirits that approach our heart. We must discern if they are good and to let them in or evil and to run away. While true for all of us, this is even more urgent for those under vows or promises because they have made these vows and promises to others and to God Himself.
A married person must dispel the evil spirit that tempts him from his wife. So too must a priest resist. Failure is an act of grave evil.
It is with this understanding that one approaches the breaking of the vow of chastity by a priest. It is with understanding that I must approach the subject even of a priest friend who broke this vow.
I have known Thomas Williams for many years. I first came to know him when he was helping to convert a dear female friend I was also helping to convert. Even then I thought they were too cozy and I worried, as did others. It is not uncommon that single orthodox women have what you might call “priest boyfriends,” that is, close friends who are priests. It is something that we chuckle about, at least nervously. Nothing (untoward happens in most cases....the author went on to say)


Read more... 

and then Crisis Magazine says:

"A Voice for the Faithful Catholic Laity

Have you lost your way?

The content you were looking for doesn't exist on Crisis. Try one of these options to find it:"

A Propos "Thomas Williams Agonistes"

 


This blog is in response to concern expressed by a former Legionary of Christ, now active diocesan priest, to the article that appeared today in Crisis Magazine. Both his and my comments can best be understood in the context of the article by Austin Ruse, a former "follower" of the famous Fr. Thomas Williams, LC. who went through a "crisis of faith in Fr. Thomas" -the blogger's phrase- after Fr. Thomas revealed he had a son and had kept it secret for years, and is now "coping" with the reappearance of Thomas Williams, "avec femme" in the public eye.

I will not pretend to summarize the indignation of my good active priest friend. Here is what he commented to the article

I just read the Thomas Williams article.  I am very disappointed that you would even waste the time and the space to print such an article.  I was with the Legionaries of Christ for 21 years.  I know Thomas Williams.  What about all of the good priests that left the Legion or even the ones that are still in that mess, that are faithful and hard working?  Why not do an article about the faithful priests that are hard working and productive for the Church, but they have been screwed over by the Legion and even screwed over and over again by the institutional Church?  Your article is ridiculous and narcissistic.  How the hell does an article like this help young teens and college guys discern a vocation to the Catholic priesthood? 

And the blogger's personal response.
Well, I too was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in the Legion of Christ left the order; and four years later left the active Catholic priesthood. By the grace of God I did not leave to take care of a son or -to put things more honestly- to be responsible and live the married life with the woman I would have been in love with.  From what I gathered from the narrative the Legion of Christ superiors -and Fr. Williams himself until he was told to do otherwise by then Archbishop De Paolis- held the following priorities:

1. Protect the good name of the priest; cover up his double life, etc. 
2. Only later, when it was pointed out, think of the child that will grow up fatherless unless.... In the Williams case there is mention that the child has Down's Syndrome which would make him more worthy of our compassion -which compassion could encompass the parents as well to some degree.
3. In third place, "the woman" (Often we blame her for the priest's "fall). Traditionally, she got very little consideration from the Catholic hierarchy or from the faithful.  In this case the woman got more consideration because she happened to be well known in Rome and was the daughter of a very famous Catholic intellectual and defender of Orthodoxy, Legion of Christ supporter, US representative before the Holy See, rich and famous, Mary Ann Glendon.

I was never a famous Legionary of Christ priest. I was not as photogenic as Fr. Williams and did not have a TV ministry or cuddle up to the rich and famous (The Legion's specific apostolate)
I began my pastoral ministry on the Missions -the only ones the Legion really has- in Quintana Roo, Mexico for four year as pastor of the proletariat Divine Providence parish in Chetumal. The trip to the Missions had been prescribed for me, abruptly interrupting my MA in school psychology and administration, by the ever-wise and benevolent Fr. Marcial Maciel. However, God being God transformed that "punishment" into the beginning of my recovery from Major Depressive Disorder and my further distancing from the "Spirit and Mystique of the Legion" created by Fr. Marcial Maciel...

For more, read the memoir, available on Amazon....book and Kindle

[Blogger may return to this at a more reasonable hour]

The Legion: TV Program on the Irish in the Legion of Christ -YOU TUBE

One can pick out Frs. John Joe Monaghan (top clapping), Fergus O'Carroll (blond center), Mexican Anthony Bailleres (left), and Rev. Anthony Bannon (bottom center)  -presently in Ireland or Mexico
 
updated link for this very professional report by Irish TV (RTE) investigative reporter Mick Peelo in the Would you believe? series

                                                     Frs. Owen Kearns, Legion PR and spokesperson; Antony Bannon ........................................            Superior, "Formator" and Fundraiser for decades in the USA

                                                                                                                                                                                       
  Fr. Marcial receives the number for the draw of "Patron Saints" from novice Paul Lennon during a Christmas ceremony in Salamanca 1961/2, reproduced from Our Father Maciel who art in Bed, a Naive and Sentimental Dubliner in the Legion of Christ  (Amazon)

Lawsuit for Extorsion goes forward against Legion of Christ in Rhode Island

 

Lawsuit Against Legion Of Christ Catholic Order By Paul Chu Will Move Forward In Rhode Island

 | by  MICHELLE R. SMITH

Posted: 03/06/2014 5:07 pm EST Updated: 03/06/2014 5:59 pm EST

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A federal judge in Rhode Island has agreed to let a lawsuit move forward against the Roman Catholic religious order the Legion of Christ, turning down an attempt by the disgraced order to end the lawsuit brought over a late Yale University professor's $1 million bequest.
U.S. District Judge Ronald Lagueux signed an order last week to adopt a magistrate judge's recommendation that the lawsuit be allowed to proceed. The decision does not address the merits of Paul Chu's claims, only whether he has standing to sue.
It's the second lawsuit making its way through the courts in Rhode Island that raises questions about how the Legion secured large donation from elderly supporters. The other is in state court and involves around $60 million left by a wealthy widow. It was dismissed because the judge found the woman's niece did not have standing to sue, but a state Supreme Court appeal is pending.
In the federal lawsuit, Chu, the son of retired mechanical engineering professor James Boa-Teh Chu, says his father was wrongly coerced, defrauded and deceived into signing over $1 million to $2 million to the Legion before he died in 2009. He says his father, who lived in East Providence, R.I., was led to believe the Legion's founder, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, was a saint, even as the Vatican was investigating serious sexual abuse allegations about him.
The Legion has said everything was handled appropriately and denies the allegations. A spokesman for the group did not immediately return a call seeking comment in Thursday.
Chu's father was a member of the Legion's lay movement, Regnum Christi.

continue Here is the link to this update

TV Program: Role of the Irish in the Legion of Christ -Investigative Report

                                       
                                          At the Diplomat Hotel, Mexico City a few years ago with my wife, accompanied by Chief whistle blower, Jose Barba (standing) and Saul Barrales, another early Legionary (seated right), both Mexicans formally accused Maciel time and time again of sexual and other abuses.

"Myself" and other former and active members of the Legion of Christ were interviewed by Irish TV Host Mick Peelo for his very well researched investigative report on the history of the Legion in Ireland, its expansion in the world, the role of the Irish in Ireland, US, Mexico, Rome...

Here is the link

"The Legion" a "Would you believe it?" special on Irish TV, RTE, Sunday 9th at 9:30 pm

An Irish investigative reporter has spent years researching and another year taping a series of interviews to put this program together

It is about how the Irish contributed to the birth, growth and demise of the Legion of Christ. Here is a brief preview of the program on YouTube