MERGED Maciel, the Legion, the Vatican and the Money

[Ridgerunner]

I am not blaming the pope, not Benedict, anyway. I think that he was on to Maciel early on, but could do nothing because of Maciel’s influential friends in the Vatican: Lodano, who received many gifts, favors and money; Sollano, apparently the same, who died in 1994; and Msgr., now Cardinal, Dziwicz, personal secretary to JPII, whom Maciel assiduously courted. Dziwicz was a close friend of JPII, from Poland, who lived in the Apostolic Palace, the official papal residence. He had the pope’s ear, and Maciel had his. JPII was very impressed with the large ordinations of LC staged in Rome, with lots of LC priests and seminarians. As JPII aged, he did not appear to be very receptive to Ratzinger’s comments or concern about Maciel. JPII appointed the LC head of Jerusalem’s Notre Dame Center and blessed Maciel. Ratzinger began the investigation of Maciel before JPII died and censured him as pope.

But Maciel flourished under the aging JPII. That was the problem. And Maciel and the Legion did grave destruction to the church, to vocations, to seminarians, and to the *reputation *of the church. Anti-Catholics couldn’t have dreamt up a better scenario.

Oh, I think Anti-Catholics can and do dream up better scenarios all the time. And certainly, they are playing this one for all its worth; to the point that one wonders a bit about at least some of the allegations, particularly those that have a “Da Vinci Code” sort of aura about them. Anti-Catholics dream up stuff like that when there’s not a scintilla of evidence to support it.

I think it remains to be seen just how much damage (outside the screeching of Anti-Catholics and Anti-Vatican Catholics) Maciel really did to the Church as a whole.

But when you look at it, and even assuming a bit of overstatement about it, what can be said of Maciel? He was a sinner. Yet, it does seem (despite, no doubt, some defectors and, certainly his corruption of some) his efforts did result in a lot of ordinations and the support of a number of worthwhile enterprises.

That’s not to endorse sin. But sometimes those who condemn this Vatican person or that one, or Pope JPII, or Pope Benedict, seem to have expectations that exceed what human beings are often capable of achieving, and think the sins of one man corrupted or destroyed everything he ever touched. As yet, I have not seen persuasive evidence of that.

 

[Neil_Anthony]

No one is including Ratzinger in Maciel’s gravy train. This is clearly stated in Part I of the two-part article.

BUT another one reportedly on the receiving end of Maciel’s largess is—Archbishop Rode, who became head of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in 1997. This is the congregation that oversees the Legion of Christ. But Archbishop Rode is said to have received a* lot* from Maciel, including a trip to Cancun, after he attended a Legion-sponsored congress in Atlanta, which included Jeb Bush. It should be possible to confirm the Cancun bit. This means that Rode was on the receiving end of favors from someone whose order he was supposed to oversee!

I don’t think its correct to refer to the money given by the Legionaries to vatican officials categorically as a “gravy train” and as “bribes”. Aside from this mention of a trip to Cancun, I haven’t heard of any misuse of the funds. There’s nothing inherently wrong with a group within the church receiving donations, using them for their pet causes, and thinking well of the person who gave them the money (remmeber, this was before the scandal was public knowledge). Whether some vatican officials misused these charitable funds, is another question - a question that hasn’t really had any light shone on it other than speculation.

 

[momor]

I don’t think its correct to refer to the money given by the Legionaries to vatican officials categorically as a “gravy train” and as “bribes”. Aside from this mention of a trip to Cancun, I haven’t heard of any misuse of the funds. There’s nothing inherently wrong with a group within the church receiving donations, using them for their pet causes, and thinking well of the person who gave them the money (remmeber, this was before the scandal was public knowledge). Whether some vatican officials misused these charitable funds, is another question - a question that hasn’t really had any light shone on it other than speculation.

Hmmm. The articles mentioned the gift of a luxury car and a fancy dinner for 200 relatives. I think we know who the “pets” were in those cases.

 

[anode]

I don’t think its correct to refer to the money given by the Legionaries to vatican officials categorically as a “gravy train” and as “bribes”. Aside from this mention of a trip to Cancun, I haven’t heard of any misuse of the funds. There’s nothing inherently wrong with a group within the church receiving donations, using them for their pet causes, and thinking well of the person who gave them the money (remmeber, this was before the scandal was public knowledge). Whether some vatican officials misused these charitable funds, is another question - a question that hasn’t really had any light shone on it other than speculation.

The point is Maciel gave an awful lot to certain highly-place folks in the curia. So much that Ratzinger refused it. There must have been something wrong with it.

 

[markeverett49]

That’s not to endorse sin. But sometimes those who condemn this Vatican person or that one, or Pope JPII, or Pope Benedict, seem to have expectations that exceed what human beings are often capable of achieving…

Most human beings are capable of avoiding the sins of Fr. Maciel. We’re not talking garden-variety human failing, but mortal sins perpetrated on victim after victim, all the while parading as devout. Further, Maciel never publicly repented for his sins and defamed those who brought them to the attention of his superiors.

That said, we do expect a lot from our clergy—we don’t choose them at random and then expect them to be ‘regular Joes.’ They are human and will have failings but that does not mean we should just shrug it off when we discover this one committed a series of grave sins and that one covered up for him.

 

[catharina]

There are other sources for these facts. They aren’t a secret. JP II knew about them but ignored them. Benedict finally did something, when the guy was in his 80s. How many decades would you wait before stopping a man from molesting boys? The witnesses against him were mainly priests and they went to Church authorities decades ago, but nothing was done.

Like the two Holy Fathers, I would wait
until investigations were complete and conclusive.