Is there something wrong with the Legionaries? If he loves the Legionaires, he shoud stay. He doesn’t have to leave them.
Yes, there is much wrong with the Legionaries, unfortunately. There is also much good, but it is difficult to say that they will be able to save it.
The Legion calls young men to live a life of poverty, chastity, obedience and charity, and to give total devotion to Christ and also to the Legion. This sort of total self-giving is very attractive to the devout idealist, and is a good thing in the right hands. The problem is that Fr. Maciel, the founder and in total control up until just a few years ago, used this ideal of orthodoxy and total self-giving to attract and then control the membership in an abusive and selfilsh way, The organization has so much promise, mostly because of the type of wonderful people it has attracted, but many eventually figure out as they mature that Fr. Maciel’s ultimate ends were the accumulation of wealth and power for himself.
This sounds rather harsh, but is more and more apparently the truth. The young men in the Legion are taught that they must refrain from developing any close friendships with their classmates, are cut off from contact with family and friends for a number of years after joining, and are rarely allowed to venture out on their own where they are not under the constant supervision of their superiors. To some extent, this can be understood as part of the total self-giving and committment to Christ that they desire, and not necessarily lbad in itself, but in reality it was too often used to keep “recruits” under wraps and part of the organization with little regard to whether they really had a vocation or not. It probably greatly contributed to the explosive growth of the organization. One example of their misuse of their recruits for their own purposes not in keeping with the best interests of the recruit himself or the truth in general is the fact that the Legionaries ordained several classes of “seminarians” (or Candidates) after the leadership supposedly discovered and confirmed Maciel’s infidelity and embezzlement of funds, without breathing a word of it to those being ordained. Was this fair? Should they have not had the opportunity to know these facts before taking solemn vows?
I would liken it to an abusive and controlling husband. The behavior is so similar: First, you target a younger, sweet-natured, naive woman, turn on the charm and convince her that you are going to look after her and take care of her for the rest of her life, then you isolate her from her friends and family and convince her that you are all she needs, then you create an environment for her that keeps her away from contact with anyone who might influence her to think or act independently of you, then you can soon do anything you want to her because she is totally dependent on you and you have become all she knows. She becomes ashamed of her situation, and so is relucltant to reach out to anyone for help and admit failure, and she only leaves if the abuse somehow becomes bad enough that she can no longer bear it.
My brother is upset because so many of the remaining Legionaries don’t seem to want to admit to themselves the gravity of Maciel’s actions. They still want to honor him and hang his pictures on their walls. They don’t know anything else, and haven’t the maturity to understand what he was really all about. And many of those who dare to speak out are marginalized and ostracized by the organization. The organization seems to be circling the wagons and trying to maintain the status quo instead of instituting any real reform. But of course if they were all raised and trained in the Legion, how would they know any different?
I know many may think this discussion uncharitable, as I might once have, but I have come to the realization that abusers too often use the charitable impulses of good people to provide cover for their actions, and it’s time for the truth to come out. I hope and pray this organization can be saved and reformed properly to be what it should have been from the beginning. They are losing many good and holy priests. Unfortunately, many of them could and would have become successful and lifelong priests in other orders or congregations, but their experience with the Legionaries may have irretrievably destroyed their vocation. What I see in my brother since he’s been home corresponds with someone who has been through hell and back. There is a level of post-traumitization (PTSD, if you will) evident, and he is reveling in being in touch with family and friends and the outside world in general after a seemingly long drought… Now I would be the first to agree that I admire any Order or Congregation that demands total dedication and integrity from it’s members, But I would then expect that organization to act in a charitable and Christian manner in its dealings with its members and with others. It unfortunately appears that the Legionaries have not.
