Le Monde Exposes Maciel and Legion

The following article appeared day before yesterday in the French newspaper
Le Monde. Here is a translation provided by a person dedicated to the truth about the Legion and Regnum:

Pedophile, morphine addict, a prolific and now incestuous father 

the scandal swells around Marcial Maciel, the Mexican priest and founder of the
Legion of Christ, an influential religious congregation influential in the
Vatican since the time of Pope John Paul.

Two years after the death at the end of January 2008 of Marcial Maciel, whom
the Vatican retired into "penitence," two of his sons alleged sexual and
other abuses suffered at the hands of their father, particularly during
times they travelled together.

Their mother, Blanca Estela Lara, says she knew Marcial Maciel in 1976 when
she was 19 years old and he was 56. She already had a son by another man
before she had two more with the priest. She says she did not know his true
identity because he supplied her with papers under different names in order
to legally recognize his children and to adopt the eldest. To justfiy his
absences, Marcial Maciel claimed he was an executive with Shell. He also
pretended to be a detective, and even a CIA agent.

It was not until 1997, twenty years after they met, that an article with
photos appeared in a Mexican publication and opened the young woman's eyes.
"I never had the slightest inkling," she told MVS. "I adored him. One day I
even told him that he was like a god to me." She broke with him in 1999
after her youngest son revealed the sexual abuse to her.

Marcial Maciel's power of seduction allowed him to accumulate a considerable
fortune, which he kept well hidden, and to control a vast network of
complicity. A very conservative organization, the Legion operates in
twenty-two countries and has founded dozens of educational institutions
catering to the the most elite members of society. In Mexico it has educated
the children of billionaire Carlos Slim, the third richest man in the world,
as well as those of other extremely wealthy entrepreneurs, including the
owner of Televisa.

THE LEGION ASKS FOR FORGIVENESS

For a long time Fr. Maciel seemed untouchable. Strong pressure has been
exerted on the Mexican media which began broaching the taboo subject in 1997
following a twist in a story published in the United States: After suffering
in silence for forty years, eight former legionaries decided to demand a
canonical trial of Fr. Maciel, from which the church spared him.

On Thursday, March 4 the Legion asked for forgiveness from the children of
its founder as well as from his other victims. "In recent years we have
learned little by little, with great surprise and much pain, of hidden
aspects of the life of Fr. Maciel," its communique states.

In February 2009 the order had to admit the existence of "at least one
daughter" in Madrid, but she was soon joined by several other descendants in
Europe and Mexico. The victims feel the order's excuses are marred by
hypocrisy and serve to conceal the responsibility of its leadership.

A financial question remains unanswered. The Legion insists that in January
it refused an offer from the youngest son of Ms. Lara not to reveal the
incidents of incest in exchange for 26 million dollars (19.1 million euros),
6 million of which was promised by Fr. Maciel as an inheritance.

In May 2009 the church opened an investigation into the Legion of Christ.
According to a Vatican spokesperson its conclusions will not be known for
several months. But Benedict XVI, to whom Maciel's family has made a public
appeal, will undoubtedly have to come to a decision before the beatification
of John Paul II, scheduled for October.

Joëlle Stolz

Regnum Incesti - Legion Founder's Reign of Incest --The Children of Maciel

The blogger is aware that this is a very controversial subject
that it can all be a lie
if we are to believe that Maciel was a pedophile and a homosexual....
But these rumors, news item have surfaced and the blogger has little to comment on them because, despite criticisms to the contrary, I do not indulge in mere gossip.
Here is the YouTube version
=========
Notes from the Radio Interview one of Maciel's families by Carmen Aristegui

Four interviewed simulataneously: Maciel's wife Pilar(?) and their children, Christian, Omar and Raul (Jose Raul Gonzalez).

Note: apparently, Fr. Maciel was "Mr. Gonzalez" with this family

After Maciel's death Raul approached the Rector of the Anahuac, DF, Jesus Quirce about the will.
- The children did not know Maciel was a priest.

It took a year and some months before any movement was made by the Legion. Jesus Quirce and Jaime Duran (financial officer for the Anahuac) took him to a bank in Mexico City, Ibanimex, looking for the will. The receptionist can't help them so they try a different branch of the bank. About a week later Quirce instructs Raul to go to Ibanimex with Duran. They are met by the vicepresident of the bank.
Raul mentions a network of lies from Duran. A trust in the bahamas is mentioned. Raul says that his father told him and his mother about a trust in Switzerland.

The Legion (Duran?) suggests that Norma, Maciel's other wife, in seville (?) had the document.

Norma falsified signatures. Maciel retracted the will or that he never made it.

Raul believes there is a nework of complicity surrounding the will, hiding it.

Mexican wife was told by maciel that he would leave a will, he travelled so much that there could have been an airplane crash etc.
He told her there was money in switzerland. Maciel told them that ALVARO CORCUERA an/or MARCELINO DE ANDRES would get in touch with them on the occasion of his death, the family are adamant that he repeated these names to them often, and that he never referred to them as priests.

THe wife says that maciel was such a liar she didn't believe half of what he said. She has had no contact from the Legion or these people since Maciel's death.

The interviewer asks the famil what they want to say:

Omar: The Legion has given them the cold shoulder.

Christian: would like help with his studies

Pilar (?) addressed pope benedict - will he still allow the legion to ignore them?

Jose Raul Gonzalez: investigation to address the crimes of abuse;

vatican reocgnises the legion abused seminarians and other people
Jose recognises the false sorrow of Evaristo Sada at the Youth and Family encounter - in reality there is a destruction of youth and families by the Legion.
He says Sada's letter/press release is shameless.

Alvaro Corcuera arranges to meet Jose Raul on the 6th of January at the Anahuac University, Mexico DF. He writes a letter on the 12th of December saying that he is too busy and has appointed Fr. Carlos Skertchly to meet him instead.
Alvaro sends his best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

Skertchly meets with Raul and asks what the Legion can do for him, he says that he wants to maintain regular dialogue with the Legion about the issues. Skertchly agrees.

After this meeting Skertchly writes a letter in response to Raul's requests, stating that he prefers in this occasion the formality of written word.

Skertchly talks about christian charity in all of this and rejects Raul's requests for money as his inheritance and also in compensation for 8 YEARS OF SEXUAL ABUSE OF RAUL AND HIS BROTHER BY MACIEL

He accuses Raul of extortionism and says that the Legion is in no way willing to entertain his demands.
He asks Raul to reflect on his attitude.

Raul mentions to the interviewer that he has difficulty with his passport due to different names and identity. He requests help from the relevant government ministry and leaves his address for any contact:

mailto:hijosmaciel@hotmail.com

The Son of Maciel Speaks Out on public Radio in Mexico

[From former RC correspondent in Mexico]

"Breaking News

SON OF MACIEL BEING INTERVIEWED BY CARMEN ARISTEGUI, MEXICAN JOURNALIST,

Monterrey 97.3 FM Guadalajara 95.5 FM Transmission was this morning, 3/3/10 online now at 9:10am if you want to hear it... http://radiotime. com/station/ s_24593/MVS_ 1025.aspx One of the sons just gave off this email address: hijosmaciel@ hotmail.com and they would like to hear from people. They say that their motive for speaking out is to ask the Pope for justice and retribution for the victims, and that the Legion be forced to stop "dandoles la espalda" [editor: turning their back on them] and to ask for forgiveness from the victims, as well as the Pope. =========== For those of you who missed the interview, which was quite shocking in my opinion, my guess is it will be available at this link tomorrow: http://www.noticias mvs.com/entrevis tas.html because all of yesterday's are there today. I will see if I can find a more permanent link for the interview tomorrow. Carmen said she will continue to talk about this tomorrow so people can also tune in live at the link I gave and at www.noticiasmvs. com by clicking on live player.   I was left with feelings of great sadness for these boys and also wonder at the bizarreness of this "ride" - I didn't know where this roller coaster was going to go when I got in, in terms of Regnum Christi."

[1] What should Legionaries do now that the Legion is under Vatican Visitation?

UPDATE: see very heated debate in Spanish on El Trastevere with input by former Legionaries and Regnum Christi s


The poster will open the floor to the following comment challenging the blogger. Much has been written already in response to this [rhetorical] question in Catholic blogs, Conservative and otherwise: First Things, Patrick Madrid, Peter Vere...all staunchly Orthodox Catholics have given their opinions and suggestions. Anonymous may not have read these or believes they have not answered his question:

"By the way, I want to know what the blogger's response is to the questions made earlier by some anonymous, you kind of drifted away from the question, about what the Legion should do now, after all aren't they having a visitation now that that founder is dead?"


In answer to the question the Blogger replies:
Legionaries, especially superiors, should have already cooperated fully with the Investigation. This implies being honest and forthcoming with them and not using deceit, subterfuges, and manipulation . This obvious condition is not so obvious because it has been demonstrated that Fr. Maciel and superiors actively deceived the First Vatican Visitators in 1956 by "preparing" the members to be less than honest in order "to protect the Founder and his Work of God." Some suspicion of a desire to control information lies in the various "responses" and "letters" emitted by the superiors which suggest a basic way to interpret the Investigation itself which is not necessarily truthful; v.g. "The Vatican is coming to confirm our charism" or other euphemisms,
"The Pope is sending the Visitation to confirm us in the faith", etc. 
"Now that we have denounced the sins of Fr. Maciel we have done all that is required to preserve the Work of God"....


With the first rumors of the Investigation back in January 2009 Legion leadership began shuffling superiors and moving members from one front to another...or taking men out of the front lines and sending them to more remote destinations...


See Patrick Madrid's post in July 2009

Legionary Troop Movements in High Gear

In recent weeks, there has been a flurry of "troop movements" within the Legionaries of Christ, and it's not entirely clear to me yet what is behind it. To be sure, for a large, multi-national organization such as the Legion to have some level of constant movement of personnel is quite understandable and quite common to any group of this type, secular or religious.

But some of these recent LC perigrinations are unusual both in that they involve priests and lay people abruptlyleaving the organization — a number of them high-profile folks (Fr. Thomas Berg, Tom Hoopes, Paul Bernetsky) — and others who are being transferred far afield at precisely the time of the apostolic visitaion, which is undertaking the Vatican investigation of the alleged problems within the order, in the wake of the recently disclosed Father Maciel scandals.

These new movements are in addition to the rumor that upwards of 25 Legionary priests (a dozen of whom are said to be Americans) are soon to depart en masse from the order to establish a new religious congregation. Keep in mind that that is merely a rumor. But given the recent high-level LC and RC defections, it is a plausible rumor.

Legionary-watcher "Cassandra" offers some intriguing tidbits about all this in a recent post. Some of these I've known about, others are new to me. But all of them, taken together, indicate a new pattern of LC personnel changes that is, at the very least, curious.

Father Antonio Rodriguez, for ages academic dean at the Legionary seminary in Cheshire, Connecticut, hasremoved to Switzerland. How will he now be able to testify to the apostolic visitation about the seminary?

Tom Hoopes, National Catholic Register editor, resigned this week. Together with Brendan McCaffery, Chief Operation Officer for Circle Media, let go last week, these represent decades and decades of experience at the highest level of Legionary operations in Connecticut. Will the visitation seek them out in Kansas or Les Avants-sur-Montreux or wherever or lose forever their testimony?]

[Updated] Life-after-rc the other day reported that there is evidence that the Legionaries have been moving members around possibly to make them less available for the apostolic visitation to interview.

History may be repeating itself: that’s certainly what the Legionaries did in the late summer of 1956 in the face of the first apostolic visitation. Legionary Brother José Domínguez, who had recently helped Father Maciel draft the fourth vow, was moved for the duration to Massa Lubrense on the southern extremity of the Bay of Naples. Brother Saúl Barrales spent nine months of 1957 in the Canary Islands. (See González “Testimonios y documentos inéditos” 278 and Berry and Renner “Vows of Silence” 182.)

In light of that, interesting:

Father Jonathan Morris, formerly vice rector of the Legionary seminary in Rome, is now on sabbatical for six months or more at Old St. Patrick’s in Manhattan. (exlcbloglinks to the Old St. Patrick’s bulletin with this information.)

Yesterday, July 16, the National Catholic Register’s accountant was let go. This may have been another cost-cutting move – in the downturn the Register became a bi-weekly -- though cost-cutting was not the purpose of the acquisition of Southern Catholic College announced yesterday as well.

Such movements would provoke an important procedural question for the apostolic visitation: will the visitators interview only Legionaries and employees currently in place or will they also seek out former Legionaries, those on sabbatical, and those no longer employed? It’s not as if Father Morris can hide in lower Manhattan, but how can Bishop Versaldi, whose responsibility includes Italy, interview him if he is not in Rome? How will Archbishop Chaput, whose responsibility includes the US, interview him if he is on sabbatical from a Legionary assignment? (continue reading)

"Thou Shalt Not Criticize the Legion and the Regnum Christi" (Private Vow)

[Original post's title modified and original photo taken down by request of family and family friends;
many edits made to text to protect families' anonymity]

THE ORIGINAL POSTING PROVOKED A LIVELY DISCUSSION WITH SEVERAL COMMENTS/OBJECTIONS TO PHOTO AND CONTENT. THE BLOGGER HAS LISTENED TO OBJECTIONS AND THE DISCUSSION HAS TAKEN ANOTHER, VERY INTERESTING, TURN:

QUESTIONING OF LEGION AND REGNUM BY BLOGGER IS ATTRIBUTED TO HIS PERSONAL PROBLEMS AND HE IS TREATED CONDESCENDINGLY BY LEGION DEFENDERS. SEE COMMENTS

---------------------

MODIFIED ORIGINAL POSTING  THAT CAUSED THE UPROAR:


"Some of you will recognize the Legionaries in the photo as Fr. Gomez and Fr. Bailleres. They are obviously visiting someone's home. It is the home of the L and L clan, who as far as I know, are one of the biggest sources of LC/RC supporters in Michigan.


My question is why is Fr. Bailleres in Michigan and what is up with Fr. Gomez that he won't even look at the camera? As far as I know, the picture is recent, because it looks like snow behind them, and it just appeared today.


This makes me think they are doing some kind of damage control [...]. Either that, or they are recruiting."

Legion of Christ to be REFORMED

According to this article appearing today in the Mexico newspaper, REFORMA, citing Roman sources, the Legion of Christi religious order is to be REFORMED with the dimission of the present high command.

The source states:  Everything points toward the Pope seeking to reform the order, with the destitution of the present leadership and the appointment of an Apostolic Administrator...

This poster cautions against too much speculation and jumping to conclusions and points out that the source is Jose Martinez de Velasco, a Spanish journalist who has already written two books about the Legion in Spanish. A very reputable source cited is Sandro Magister, a religious reporter in Rome who is also familiar with the Legion story. 

Magister states: "The reform ['refoundation'] of the Legion is a likely hypothesis"

Giancarlo Zizola, another Italian reporter, is of similar opinion
==============

ROMA.- El Papa Benedicto XVI


pedirá la refundación de los Legionarios

de Cristo, señalaron expertos

consultados por REFORMA

a un mes de que se conozca

el informe de un año de investigaciones

realizadas sobre las faltas

del Padre Marcial Maciel.

“Todo apunta a que el Papa

pedirá el cese de quienes están al

frente de la legión y luego nombrará

un comisario pontificio. La

tarea de éste será hacer un capítulo

general, y a partir de ahí podría

hablarse de una refundación

de los Legionarios”, adelantó José

Martínez de Velasco, periodista

experto en el tema que revelara

en 2002 los escándalos de la congregación

y de su fundador.

El Padre Maciel, quien fuera

acusado de pederastia y de quien,

en febrero del año pasado, se revelara

que tuvo una hija, murió en

enero de 2009, a los 87 años.

Sandro Magister, uno de los

expertos más respetados de Roma

en temas de religión y autor

del blog Séptimo Cielo, coincidió

en que la Santa Sede se inclinará

por la refundación de los Legionarios,

empezando por cambiar

su cúpula.

“La refundación es una hipótesis

con fundamento. Es importante

una renovación total porque

quienes ahora dirigen la legión

son los mismos que trabajaron

junto a Maciel durante su largo

periodo al frente de los Legionarios”,

indicó Magister refiriéndose

al director general, Álvaro Corcuera;

al vicario general y encargado

de asuntos económicos, Luis

Garza, y al procurador general,

Cristóforo Fernández.

Giancarlo Zizola, autor de libros

como “Santidad y Poder” y

“La Otra Cara de Wojtyla”, advirtió

que la decisión que tome el

Papa revelará la verdad sobre las

acusaciones contra Maciel.

“Si refunda a la orden y designa

a un comisario pontificio, que

es lo más probable, será el equivalente

a una admisión de que lo

que ha pasado dentro de los Legionarios

de Cristo fue muy grave”,

opinó.

Fr. Douglas Barry, LC., Leaves Legion of Christ for diocese of Concepcion, Chile

[source Spanish Language blog, Trastevere; apparently this member is from Chile, SA]

Called "Douglas Barry's Letter" the original is in Spanish and is addressed to the Legionaries he has left behind in the congregation [order]; notes and summary; very quick and very rough.
The poster.

[...] It may seem strange to you that I am writing to you now that many of you know that I left the Legion [exclaustration]. [...] What is wrong with a brother of yours, after living and sharing with you in the Legion for 18 years, wanting to say good bye to you and thank you for all he has received from each one of you? [...]


I do it in a very simple way.  After a process of Discernment which I began in Mexico after learning of our founder being an Imposter (multiple lives, deceit,  and everything else that you know or should know about his acts of pedophilia, abuses of children, homosexuality, vices, etc, which are not for me to judge as God already has done that) I began to realize that the deformed mind of the founder not only affected his personal life but that also many customs, procedures, life styles, norms, and several aspects of the congregation [order] were affected by the corrupt mentality [mindset ] of the founder. Many Legionaries, some superiors, have acknowledged this reality and are waiting/hoping [Sp. esperando]  the Holy See by means of the Apostolic Visitation it has carried out will be able to clean the congregation of all these contaminations.  I assure you that I would be the happiest person in the world if that happened, that is, if the Legion were the work that God chose it to be. You all know that from the time I was a child I wanted to be a Legionary, that I founded ECYD and the Regnum Christi in Vinia del Mar [Chile], that I was always a loyal promoter of the Legion, and have been a vocational recruiter for the past 15 years, most of time actively engaged in the apostolate, and was also involved at the General headquarters. But I cannot deny that we were pretty blind to the realities that we now see.


In this context, I have decided to seek by means of exclaustration -as you know it is given for three years- to try to exercise my priesthood outside the Legion, because I believe it is not healthy for my priesthood to continue in a system that will take a long time to change, and with which I have encountered not a few incompatibilities....

[...]
As I was saying, I requested in writing the exclaustration indult  from Fr. Alvaro Corcuera, and at the same time sought the paternal care of Monsignor Ezzati -Apostolic Visitation for South America- who has been kind enough as to accept me into his diocese of Concepcion.


=============================
La carta de Douglas Barry


Madrid, 16 de febrero de 2010 (Fuente blog el Trastevere).-

¡Venga tu Reino!

Muy queridos padres y hermanos en Cristo:

Quizá les parezca extraño que les escriba ahora que muchos ya saben que he salido de la Legión (exclaustrado), y seguramente habrá a quién le pueda inquietar, pero son de esas cosas a las que no estábamos habituados, pero que en realidad no tiene nada de malo. Qué va a tener de malo que un hermano vuestro que después de 18 años de haber convivido y compartido con ustedes en la Legión, quiera despedirse y agradecerles por todo lo que ha recibido de cada uno. De verdad, sepa cada uno de ustedes que les aprecio inmensamente. Y además de agradecerles por todo (no hago la lista porque sería interminable) también quiero explicarles brevemente qué pasó, para que no haya equívocos que puedan faltar a la verdad, pues como sabrán, hace mucho daño el no vivir en la verdad.

Lo hago muy sencillamente: Después de un proceso de discernimiento que comencé en México tras conocer la impostura de nuestro fundador (múltiple vidas, engaños, y todo lo que ustedes saben o deberían de saber de sus actos de pedofilia, abuso de niños, homosexualidad, vicios, etc. que no me corresponde juzgar, pues Dios ya lo ha hecho) fui dándome cuenta que la mente deforme del fundador no sólo afectó su vida personal, sino que no pocas costumbres, procedimientos, estilos de vida, normas, y diversos aspectos de la congregación también estaban contaminados por resabios de esa mentalidad. Muchos legionarios, algunos superiores, han reconocido esta realidad, y están esperando que la Santa Sede por medio de la Visita Apostólica que he realizado pueda ayudar a limpiar la obra de todas esas contaminaciones. Les prometo que yo sería la persona más feliz si eso ocurre, es decir, si la Legión fuese la obra que Dios quiere que sea. Ustedes saben que desde niño he soñado con ser legionario, que me tocó fundar al ECYD y el Movimiento en Viña del Mar, que siempre fui un leal promotor de la Legión y he sido promotor (reclutador) vocacional desde hace 15 años, la mayoría del tiempo en el campo de apostolado y también desde la dirección general. Pero no puedo negar de que estábamos bastante cegados a las realidades que ahora vemos.

En este contexto, yo he decidido buscar por medio de la exclaustración -que como saben es un indulto que te dan por tres años- el poder ejercer mi sacerdocio fuera de la Legión, por no considerar sano para mi sacerdocio el que continue bajo un sistema que tardará mucho en cambiar, y con el cual he encontrado no pocas incompatibilidades. Los temas serían muy largos y profundos de analizar: el sentido de la voluntad de Dios, la rectitud de intención en la atención a las almas, el verdadero amor hacia las almas, la vida fraterna en común (nó sólo la uniformidad o la vida común, sino la fraterna), el ejercicio del apostolado y la pastoral, la inserción en la Iglesia local, etc. No me toca a mí decirles lo que debe cambiar la Legión….

Como les decía, he solicitado el indulto de exclaustración. Lo hice por escrito al P. Álvaro Corcuera, y al mismo tiempo me he acogido a la paternal solicitud de Mons. Ezzati -Visitador apostólico para los centros de Sudamérica- que ha tenido con bien aceptarme en su diócesis de Concepción. No he estado buscando obispos en México como alguien dijo, ni ningún otro movimiento o familia religiosa. Desde un inicio cuando discerní que no debía seguir en la Legión, decidí solicitar a Mons. Ezzati su acogida por ser quien más puede comprender, dada su condición de visitador, la situación particular que estamos viviendo. Él desde un inicio no dudó en apoyarme con toda caridad.

Les pido una disculpa por no haberme despedido personalmente, pero ya saben que aún en la legión eso se ve mal y todavía se cuida mucho de no “inquietar” a los demás. Quise respetar esa manera de pensar aunque personalmente no la comparta. Ahora que ya saben que salí, pues ya supongo que no hay problema en que aunque sea por este medio me despida y les agradezca cada momento que viví con ustedes. Sé que cada uno es responsable del don de Dios que lleva en sus manos y sabrá cómo ir respondiendo a Dios. Sea lo que fuera, aquí tienen un hermano y un amigo en Jesucristo. Si en algo les puedo servir, además de mis oraciones, les dejo mi nuevo correo electrónico: sidwil74@gmail.com

Que Dios los bendiga mucho.

Afmo. en Cristo, P. Douglas Barry