"The Crisis of the Legion"

"[T]here has never been an order that survived after repudiating its founder"


Wow!

So, how's Bishop Oscar Cantu going to explain his own seeming lack of warning of this impending public relations disaster?

After all, it was Bishop Cantu who -- along with some 100 other recently consecrated bishops -- who participated in a Legionaries of Christ - sponsored & financed seminar at the Vatican last Fall.

And then wrote it all up himself in Today's Catholic.

Moreover, surprise!

Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado really didn't slaver and drool over young men.

I guess just because he really liked doing all the above with young women, instead.

Just ask his 22 year - old daughter.

What follows in our own adaptation from the original cited source is attributed to its author / authors thusly:

By Inside The Vatican Staff. February 2009.

The article's lead starts out when this question:

"What will happen now to the Legionaries of Christ?

"That is the question in Rome following the news in early February that the Legion's founder, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado (1920 - 2008) had lived a double life for many years, keeping a mistress, perhaps using Legionary funds to support her, and fathering a daughter now reportedly 22 years old.

"With this news, which was received with shock by many in the order, there are many who think the Legion cannot, and should not, survive.

"The Legion's leadership is now seeking to distance the Legion from its founder, but with great caution, knowing there has never been an order in the history of the Church that survived after repudiating its founder.

"At the same time, from outside the Legion, calls are multiplying for Pope Benedict XVI to take decisive action, perhaps seven to suppress the order, to preserve whatever of good there is in it from destruction.

"As this issue went to press, it was not yet clear what Benedict would do.

"In 2006, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on May 19, after an investigation into the charges of sexual abuse made against Fr. Maciel by about 20 former seminarians, invited Fr. Maciel to retire to a life of prayer and penitence and not carry out his ministry in public.

"Fr. Maciel denied the allegations, saying: In all cases they are defamations and falsities with no foundation whatsoever.

"But in 2006 Fr. Maciel stepped down and went into seclusion until his death in 2008.

"Now, the Legion has admitted that Fr. Maciel had a mistress, fathered a child and led a double life..."

A good read!

You can pick up a copy copy online simply by putting it like this in you favorite search engine:

"Spero News: The Crisis of the Legion"