LEGIONARIES OF CHRIST CONTROVRESY

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I am a fourth year member of FAMILIA in the Diocese of St. Paul, Minnesota. Today we were told by our priest we can no longer use Church premises for our Familia meetings (there are several, men and women’s meetings in our town). All we were told is that there is a conflict between our Archbishop and Legionaries of Christ. No one knows what’s going on or how to react. Does anyone know the basis for this apparent controversy? Thanks Peace in Christ +
 
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jjanderson:
I am a fourth year member of FAMILIA in the Diocese of St. Paul, Minnesota. Today we were told by our priest we can no longer use Church premises for our Familia meetings (there are several, men and women’s meetings in our town). All we were told is that there is a conflict between our Archbishop and Legionaries of Christ. No one knows what’s going on or how to react. Does anyone know the basis for this apparent controversy? Thanks Peace in Christ +
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Oh, how exciting! :rolleyes: More fun in the St. Paul/Mpls. archdiocese! Someone must know the details, and don’t the rest of us (at least those of us in the area), deserve to be clued in?

As someone who financially supports the Legionaries, I am especially interested!

God bless (and please pray unceasingly for this archdiocese), 👍

Anna
 
Well, their founder is accused of sexually abusing young men.

Nothing out of the ordinary, unfortunately . . .

:rolleyes:
 
In a letter sent by our Archbishop Flynn, there was terminology used such as Legionaries of Christ have set themselves up as a “parallel church” and aren’t forthcoming with certain information that was requested. It’s all a big mystery and our priest was not at liberty to say what was going on. We were thinking of having our FAMILIA members write letters of testimony about the merits of FAMILIA to our Archbishop, but not knowing what the issue is makes it kind of hard. If anyone has an inkling, please let me know. Thanks! Peace in Christ +
 
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DominvsVobiscvm:
Well, their founder is accused of sexually abusing young men.

Nothing out of the ordinary, unfortunately . . .

:rolleyes:
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Just curious…are you suggesting the accusations are true in this case???
 
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DominvsVobiscvm:
Well, their founder is accused of sexually abusing young men.

Nothing out of the ordinary, unfortunately . . .

:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
From someone who ALSO $ supports the Legionaries, I must say that that accusation PURE CALUMNY!! AND ALL KNOW THIS: Look at www.zenit.org How the POPE RECENTLY has spoken wonders of the Legionaries, and last week gave them a MAJOR PONTIFICAL CHARGE in Jerusalem!! He speaks greatness ESPECIALLY of Fr. Marcel Macial, the founder. Demonstares his true sanctity, already the devil is seacking to SLANDER him. By the way: tough cookies for the Bishop of St. Paul/Mineapolis: The order is of PONTIFICAL RIGHT!!! Bishop, please: start obeying the Holy Father: seek to chastise other certain LIBERAL priests in your diocese. That’s why all, it’s so important for an order to be PONTIFICALLY approved.
 
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Dismas2004:
I’m unfamiliar with FAMALIA, what is it?
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FAMILIA is Family Life in America, it’s a program/study for men and women studying the encyclicals of Pope John Paul II dealing with family, roles of husbands and wifes, theology of the body stuff, responsibility of parents in education, etc., etc. Regnum Christi I believe has developed the program. It’s really great stuff, that’s why this whole thing has us puzzled. Peace in Christ +.
 
jjanderson,

I am also in the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Mpls (my parish is Holy Family in St. Louis Park). This is certainly interesting—could you give me more details? What is your parish? (You can send me a private message if you prefer.) I also support the Legionaries of Christ. A few questions: is this supposed to be diocese-wide? And when did this come down? (I’m not a member of Familia, but I know there was a meeting at our parish recently—last week for sure, if not since).

I will definitely be calling the chancery to ask questions, but I would appreciate any additional information you might have.

Good heavens, this bishop needs our prayers…surely, with St. Joan of Arc, Pax Christi, and the Rainbow Sash movement in our midst he might find better ways of wielding his authority. Maybe it’s time to start yelling to Rome, but I think we need more info first.
 
I don’t know about this issue in particular, but I do have a friend who also lives here in the Cities who has been involved in Regnum Christi (the lay-side of the Legionaires I believe)…

Her group of young and enthusiastic people wanted to begin doing door-to-door evangelization of the community–not in your face kind of stuff, but merely going to people’s doors and asking them if they have any questions about the Church, and letting them know the location of the nearest parish.

Not sure what happened, but they apparently got their own letter from the Archbishop telling them to (basically) not even think about doing such a thing. It came out of nowhere (right before a group of them was leaving to go for a private audience with the Holy Father!) and I guess no further explanation was given.

At the time, I suggested that perhaps the Archbishop was discouraging any other evangelization approach other than the “official” one that he is (basically forcing) all parishes to participate in over Lent this year (don’t even get me started on how that’s going to be… :nope: ). I had heard earlier in the year that he had been doing this (our young adult group had been considering doing a Catholic ALPHA program and our spiritual director advised against it, citing the reason that the Archbishop “desired” everyone to “be on the same page.”) but did not know of any other groups getting any official letters.

I have to say, I pray for our Archbishop, and I love him dearly, but I have to admit when I saw the news report of his current ad limina visit to Rome, and it said that it was likely that (since he is 71) it would be his last pontifical visit as head of our Archdiocese, I breathed a prayer for his successor… In the meantime, God bless our Archbishop, and grant him the courage and wisdom to lead us according to God’s will.

+veritas+
 
In the immortal words of Rosanne Rosanna Danna, “It’s always something.”

I’ve read the Zenit stuff about the Legionaries and I have the impression that they are very orthodox.

Just as the heirarchy seems to be embarrassed about “The Passion of the Christ”, they are also very prone to believe everything negative they hear about the modern apostolates which have drawn millions to a more vigorous demonstration of the Faith.

Some of it, I expect is a control issue. These people have pipelines to Rome that are probably smoother and faster than anything even an archbishop possesses. And they don’t like that.

I get a daily meditation from the Legionaries in my computer inbox; They’re wonderful.

I just checked out their website and see that they have just (Nov 26) received received an affirmation of their organization from Rome:

New Vatican Degree Affirms Regnum Christi Statutes, Charism

The work that the Legionaries of Christ and the members of the Movement of apostolate Regnum Christi carry out in the construction of the civilization of Christian justice and love is well known.

Regnum Christi at the service of the Church and the World.

Congregation for the Institutes of Religious Life
and the Societies of Apostolic Life

Prot. n. R. 111 1 /2004

D E C R E E

The Regnum Christi Movement is the specific apostolic instrument of the Legion of Christ, to which it is united in an indivisible manner. Its finality is the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ among all people by the growth in holiness of its members in the state and condition of life to which God has called them, and by a personalized and organized service to the Church and her pastors. With the direction and spiritual support of the Legionaries of Christ, the members of the Movement, in the full exercise of their freedom unite together in order to help each other fulfill their baptismal commitments.

Its specific charism is the same as the Legion of Christ and consists in knowing, living, and preaching the commandment of love that Jesus Christ Redeemer came to bring us by his Incarnation. In fact, the work that the Legionaries of Christ and the members of the Movement of apostolate Regnum Christi carry out in the construction of the civilization of Christian justice and love is well known.

The founder of the Legion of Christ and of Regnum Christi presented to the Apostolic See the Statutes of the Movement of apostolate Regnum Christi seeking their definitive approval. The Holy Father has received paternally this petition and with his supreme authority has approved them.

The Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life, informed of this approval by the Secretariat of State (Prot. N. 568.021), by the present Decree makes it public to all.

An original copy of the text of the Statutes redacted in Spanish is conserved in the Archive of this Dicastery.

The Apostolic See strongly recommends that the Statutes, followed faithfully by the members of the Regnum Christi Movement, become a further effective means for the extension of the Kingdom of Christ in the world.

With nothing being to the contrary.

Given in Rome, November 26, 2004
  • Franc Rodé, C.M.
    Prefecto
  • Piergiorgio Silvano Nesti, C.P.
    Secretano
regnumchristi.org/english/articulos/articulo.phtml?se=16&ca=41&te=10&id=11334
 
Veritas,

Interesting information—thank you!

When I heard of the evangelization plan that the archbishop is instituting, my first thought (unfortunately cynical, I will admit) was, evangelize about WHAT? “Catholicism” through the lens of St. Joan of Arc parish? Catholicism through the lens of the large numbers of poorly catechised adults, significant numbers of whom don’t believe in the Real Presence? How are people supposed to evangelize, when they don’t even know what their faith is??? (Cart before horse, I’m afraid…) Anyway, when this was announced in our parish, our priest (Fr. Dufner—YEAH! THREE CHEERS FOR FR. DUFNER!!!) went on to say that he would be instituting an apologetics program that would be starting at about the same time: obviously he had similar concerns.
 
This is a message provided by Zenit, the Catholic News Service:

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 19:06:54 -0600
From: “Fr. Richard W. Gant, S.T.D., J.U.L.” rgant@stx.rr.com
Subject: [CATHOLIC NEWS] Pope’s Address to Legionaries of Christ and
Regnum Christi
To: “cinjub” catholicnews@solt3.org
Message-ID: 041101c4d742$0d590e10$dc7ff318@SocietyOurLady

Pope’s Address to Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi
"Cultivate a Constant Intimacy With Christ"
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 30, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the
address John Paul II gave today when he received the Legionaries of Christ
and members of the Regnum Christi Movement in audience, on the occasion of
the 60th anniversary of the priestly ordination of their founder, Father
Marcial Maciel.
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
  1. I am happy to meet with all of you, in the climate of joy and gratitude
    to the Lord for the 60th anniversary of the priestly ordination of Father
    Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder and superior general of your young and
    meritorious religious family.
First of all, I express my affectionate greeting to dear Father Maciel,
together with my most cordial wishes for a priestly ministry filled with
gifts of the Holy Spirit. I greet the superiors of the institute, in
particular the vicar general, whom I thank for the words he addressed to me
on behalf of all. I also greet you, dear priests and seminarians of the
Legionaries of Christ, the dear members of the Regnum Christi Movement, and
all those who have participated in the jubilee celebrations of these days.
  1. The happy anniversary that gathers all of you around the founder, in
    addition to inviting you to recall the gifts that he has received from the
    Lord in these 60 years of priestly ministry, constitutes at the same time
    the occasion to confirm the commitments that, as Legionaries of Christ, you
    assumed at the service of the Gospel. In particular, when meeting today with
    the Successor of Peter, you wish to renew the commitment of your total
    fidelity to the Church and to him whom Providence willed to be its Pastor.
In this significant meeting, I am pleased to repeat to you all that I said
at the end of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000: “There is a need today
more than ever for a confident proclamation of the Gospel which, casting
aside all crippling fears, announces with intellectual depth and with
courage the truth about God, about man, and about the world” (Address to the
Legionaries of Christ and to the members of the Regnum Christi Movement, No.
4, in L’Osservatore Romano, Jan. 5, 2001, p. 5).
  1. To fulfill this exacting mission, it is indispensable to cultivate a
    constant intimacy with Christ, seeking to follow and imitate him with
    docility. In this way, you will always be ready to respond to the most
    authentic and profound expectations of the men and women of our time.
May the Year of the Eucharist, which began in October, be for you a
propitious occasion to grow in Eucharistic love, source and summit of the
whole Christian life. This supreme mystery is Christ’s gift par excellence
to the Church, for it is “the gift of himself, of his person in his sacred
humanity, as well as the gift of his saving work” (“Ecclesia de
Eucharistia,” No. 11).
  1. Remain united around the Eucharist! Faithful to the charism that
    distinguishes you, continue your evangelizing mission nourishing yourselves
    of Christ and making yourselves his intrepid witnesses.
May your holy protectors accompany you; above all, may Mary Most Holy, Our
Lady Help of Christians, be your guide and support.

With these sentiments and wishes, I impart from my heart to dear Father
Maciel and to all of you here present a special apostolic blessing, which I
am pleased to extend to members of your religious family and to all those
you meet in your daily apostolate.
 
Amazing that our cold state is such a hotbed of affairs and controversy! It’s like a Catholic soap opera!

I’m fine with all the parishes politically being on the “same page” but if a group wants to go out and introduce themsevles, make the local parish known (excluding teh dissenting parishes) then God Bless them! What they are trying to do is NOT contrary to the Pope’s decree.

Veritas…what else have you got? Where did this info all originally come from?
 
Here is a sample of what I receive daily from the Legionaries:

Let us pray for all those who are unemployed.

Faith on the Rocks

December 2, 2004

Matthew 7:21, 24-27
Jesus said to his disciples: "Not everyone who says to me, ´Lord, Lord,´ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. "Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house, but it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house, and it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

Introductory Prayer:Lord Jesus I place myself before you. Assist me with your Holy Spirit to hear and put into practice God’s will so that I will build my future and this day with you. I am sure that I will be buffeted and blown about by trial, but I am also certain that you will be my sure support through it all.

Petition :Lord God, grant me great sincerity in my life so that I will really be what I profess to be: an authentic Christian.
  1. Authentic Faith. A leader of the Protestant Reformation who believed in the sole necessity of faith for salvation once declared––for the sake of making a point––, “sin hard, but believe harder and you will be saved.” This is certainly not the same kind of faith that Our Lord is referring to in this parable. How can we claim to believe in Jesus and not obey his commandments? How can we call upon the name of the Lord and ask him to come into our heart and rule there while making a non-aggression pact with sin in our life? So if salvation comes through faith, then faith implies obedience. If your faith doesn’t affect the way you live, then it really isn’t faith at all but some inexpensive substitute.
  2. Building on Rock. If we lived in a truly Christian society then maybe it would be easy to lay the foundations for our spiritual life. As it is however, we can expect that no matter how calm things may seem, hurricanes are always just around the corner. To weather the storm we need to be anchored fast. What are the foundations on which Christ invites us to build the edifice of our life? Obedience to Christ’s teaching is the key aspect here. As we listen and put Christ’s teaching into practice, we will engender virtue, until Christian living becomes like a second nature to us. Is there some aspect of Christ’s teaching that I don’t put into practice? How can I grow in virtue?
  3. Building on Sand. Sadly enough inauthentic examples of Christian living abound throughout society. A number of good people claim to have found a way to make Christianity compatible with a comfortable “beach” life. They lay one beam after another on the shifting sands of their feelings, inclinations and the opinions of those around them. Such people are personally opposed to many evils but are unwilling to stand up against anyone of them. Little by little they allow sin to take root even while never completely abandoning external practices of piety. In the end however all the illusions of stability will be shaken and the true state of things will be revealed. Have I become too comfortable in living my Christian commitments? Am I afraid to stand up for the truth?
Dialogue with Christ: Lord Jesus I don’t want to be a Christian in name only. I want my faith to be a reality that affects my whole life and every aspect of it. Help me to lay the foundations that will make me a better follower of yours.

Resolution: I propose today to practice a virtue that I find difficult.

If you want to subscribe, send an email to meditation-request@regnumchristi.org with only the word subscribe in the subject line.
 
Ray Marshall:
This is a message provided by Zenit, the Catholic News Service:

Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 19:06:54 -0600
From: “Fr. Richard W. Gant, S.T.D., J.U.L.” rgant@stx.rr.com
Subject: [CATHOLIC NEWS] Pope’s Address to Legionaries of Christ and
Regnum Christi
To: “cinjub” catholicnews@solt3.org
Message-ID: 041101c4d742$0d590e10$dc7ff318@SocietyOurLady

Pope’s Address to Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi
"Cultivate a Constant Intimacy With Christ"
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 30, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the
address John Paul II gave today when he received the Legionaries of Christ
and members of the Regnum Christi Movement in audience, on the occasion of
the 60th anniversary of the priestly ordination of their founder, Father
Marcial Maciel.
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
  1. I am happy to meet with all of you, in the climate of joy and gratitude
    to the Lord for the 60th anniversary of the priestly ordination of Father
    Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder and superior general of your young and
    meritorious religious family.
First of all, I express my affectionate greeting to dear Father Maciel,
together with my most cordial wishes for a priestly ministry filled with
gifts of the Holy Spirit. I greet the superiors of the institute, in
particular the vicar general, whom I thank for the words he addressed to me
on behalf of all. I also greet you, dear priests and seminarians of the
Legionaries of Christ, the dear members of the Regnum Christi Movement, and
all those who have participated in the jubilee celebrations of these days.
  1. The happy anniversary that gathers all of you around the founder, in
    addition to inviting you to recall the gifts that he has received from the
    Lord in these 60 years of priestly ministry, constitutes at the same time
    the occasion to confirm the commitments that, as Legionaries of Christ, you
    assumed at the service of the Gospel. In particular, when meeting today with
    the Successor of Peter, you wish to renew the commitment of your total
    fidelity to the Church and to him whom Providence willed to be its Pastor.
In this significant meeting, I am pleased to repeat to you all that I said
at the end of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000: “There is a need today
more than ever for a confident proclamation of the Gospel which, casting
aside all crippling fears, announces with intellectual depth and with
courage the truth about God, about man, and about the world” (Address to the
Legionaries of Christ and to the members of the Regnum Christi Movement, No.
4, in L’Osservatore Romano, Jan. 5, 2001, p. 5).
  1. To fulfill this exacting mission, it is indispensable to cultivate a
    constant intimacy with Christ, seeking to follow and imitate him with
    docility. In this way, you will always be ready to respond to the most
    authentic and profound expectations of the men and women of our time.
May the Year of the Eucharist, which began in October, be for you a
propitious occasion to grow in Eucharistic love, source and summit of the
whole Christian life. This supreme mystery is Christ’s gift par excellence
to the Church, for it is “the gift of himself, of his person in his sacred
humanity, as well as the gift of his saving work” (“Ecclesia de
Eucharistia,” No. 11).
  1. Remain united around the Eucharist! Faithful to the charism that
    distinguishes you, continue your evangelizing mission nourishing yourselves
    of Christ and making yourselves his intrepid witnesses.
May your holy protectors accompany you; above all, may Mary Most Holy, Our
Lady Help of Christians, be your guide and support.

With these sentiments and wishes, I impart from my heart to dear Father
Maciel and to all of you here present a special apostolic blessing, which I
am pleased to extend to members of your religious family and to all those
you meet in your daily apostolate.
Click to expand...
Amen dear Holy Father.
 
Sherlock, our parish is in Faribault, MN. Interesting what I’m hearing here about evangelization efforts in MN parishes. A group of very dedicated Catholics in our parish started an evangelization/apologetics group, intitally with the support of the Parish, with the idea of educating others in the faith so they could go out and evangelize, however suddenly the Parish support vanished, and the group fizzled out. We do have very orthodox priests here (Companions of Christ), but I guess I’m beginning to understand what’s going on. Peace in Christ +
 
Everybody, I have no qualms about the orthodoxy of the Legionaries of Christ. The Familia program is absolutely great and has done wonderful things for my family. I’m just trying to find out exactly what is the accusation against the Legionaries to warrant this type of “cease and desist” order. Apparently it’s hush-hush. How do we find out? Peace in Christ +
 
Jjanderson,

This isn’t related to the thread, but, hey, you wouldn’t happen to know two good Catholic friends of mine, would you? Dan and Mary Milbert, who also live in Faribault.
 
Legionaries of Christ are good but for being orthodox are very bad seen my mass media, you don´t see critics to catholics for the choice or other heretical organisations, greetings
 
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