Legionaires in calculated denial, not reform

Legionaires face no intervention from the Vatican, CathNews reports. An official from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life told Catholic News Agency that it is "too early" to tell if the Legion of Christ leadership can work through the issue.

Besides, the Vatican is too busy with controversy over holocaust-denying Bishop Williamson - one of the four schismatic bishops whose excommunication was lifted by the pope.

John Desmond, a well-regarded and widely-published Catholic journalist, reports that the Legionaries carefully timed their admission of the sexually predatory behavior of founder Fr Marcial Maciel:

My contacts assert that the convergence of these two big news events--the outrage prompted by the Bishop Willliamson affair, followed shortly afterwards by the new revelations regarding Father Maciel's "double life" -- was no accident: the order's superiors and their ecclesial allies took advantage of the crisis surrounding Bishop Williamson to minimize the impact of the new disclosures regarding Maciel. The Mexican superiors, I'm told, believe the present tempest will blow over and the Legion will pull itself together and go on as before.

If that strategy works Maciel accomplices will not be detected.

The transparency called for by Fr. Thomas Berg in his letter to the associated lay group, Regnum Christi, will not come to pass.

Instead there will be, and there already is, denial.

Denial reported by the American Papist who attended a Mass celebrated last Sunday in this country, a Mass led by the head of the Legionaries of Christ, Fr Alvaro Corcuera. Attended by members of Regnum Christi, the lay group associated with the Legion of Christ, that Mass Fr Corcuera said:

On the topic of abuse, Fr Alvaro said that he does not have any specific access to information, and one cannot know what is true and isn't (here, and at other points I will note, the exact content of his meaning wasn't always clear - I was listening very carefully for what would be admitted, etc., but coming away it's still hazy to me exactly what was said. Things were said, but often not in a definitive way.)

We agree with Damian Thompson, who wrote in his blog Holy Smoke in The Telegraph, "I don't believe that."

The same Mass concluded with a prayer which included the words:

Since the Legion and the Movement will be vigorous and will flourish as long as the spirit of our founder is present and active in our lives and behavior, we ask you to open our eyes to the urgency of learning, assimilating and passing on the doctrine, spirit, apostolic methods, genuine traditions, discipline and lifestyle of the Legion and Regnum Christi, just as our founder has made them known to us, since this is our responsibility.

Maciel's history of predation and cult leadership inevitably shaped the order's culture. An outside investigation is required. Fr. Thomas Berg was right when he wrote to Regnum Christi members:

Finally, I encourage you to speak to Legionary leadership, and even in the form of petition letters, demand nothing less than full transparency regarding the case of Fr. Maciel.

Demand that [Legionaries General Director] Fr. Alvaro seek an independent third party investigation (perhaps in the form of a temporary review board or Visitation team from the Holy See) into uncovering any Legionaries who may have been accomplices to Maciel.

Demand that a similar body guide Legionary leadership in introducing any needed reforms into the internal culture, methods and religious discipline of the Legion.