Legionaries' "private vows" abolished?

[bones_IV]

The** “private vows,”** which required members to avoid taking part in any conversation involving criticism of the order or its superiors, were regarded by critics as an impediment to reform of the Legionaries.

Link

 

[KathleenElsie]

 

[Andruschak]

The** “private vows,”** which required members to avoid taking part in any conversation involving criticism of the order or its superiors, were regarded by critics as an impediment to reform of the Legionaries.

Link

As a Legion of Mary Auxilliary, you had me wondering for a moment. But it seems to be another Legion. Phew.

(My only vow or committment as an auxilliary is to pray the Tessera daily.)

 

[reggieM]

The Legion of Mary is a great group with a long history of devotion and good works.

Sadly, the Legionaries of Christ have some serious problems at present …

the founder of the Legionaries, Father Marcial Maciel, had been removed from priestly ministry and asked to spend his remaining days in “penitence and prayer”

I think the Holy Father is very concerned about anything that is not open and upfront with that group. The private vows are obviously troubling to him.

 

[carakara]

As a former consecrated within the Regnum Christi Movement, closely affiliated with the Legionaries of Christ…I looked into this when I heard about it. These were some of my main reflections:

1. I could find no primary sources for this…I’ve googled and searched for it several times, and the most authentic sources I’ve found consist of blogs and opinion pages or, at best, the ‘regain’ website, sworn to destroy the Legion’s credibility…The link provided on this thread only cites the ‘rorate caeli’ blog, which doesn’t give a source for its information. Other things I’ve read tend to have lots of errors in termonology, or bring up issues that have nothing to do with the private vows, anyway.
2. There isn’t really anything ‘private’ or secretive about the vows, anyway. The founder has publicly summarized them, their whole content is available…it is just the precise wording that remains private to members of the congregation. Which, frankly, none of us have any true business reading, since we are not called to fulfill them.
3. Repealling the vows wouldn’t make any real difference to the Legion or Regnum Christi…they are just an external manifestation of what the members are already living. Charity (not criticizing others when it cannot be constructive, only leading to division within the congregation…which is just basic Christian charity, anyway), and humility (not having the ambition of seeking to obtain positions of power within the Legion or Movement, accepting where God places you through the will of your superiors, calling all the members to live out Mary’s ‘fiat’).
4. Even if this were true, which like I said wouldn’t really affect the congregation, since their constitutions and statutes have been fully approved by JPII already, I wanted a credible source. I’ve still got my connections…so I emailed one of the territorial directors. There’s the general director, governing the entire Legion, and then the world is divided up into ‘territories’, like Italy, Mexico, US/ Canada, with a territorial director governing each area. He told me there was no foundation for the rumor.
   So…I’m basically waiting until something more concrete shows up…if it does at all. Religious congregations go through so much persecution, especially during their first years. We should really all be praying for the fidelity of the members of religious orders, so that they can serve the Church in the area that God has called them to.
   God bless you all,
   Kara