Are conservatives at high-stakes Vatican summit overplaying their hand? - Religion News Service

 

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Ever since a Vatican summit last year raised the possibility of making the church more open to those whose family lives may not mirror the Catholic ideal, conservative foes have been in uproar, waging an intense campaign to block any reforms from being adopted.

Yet as a follow-up meeting this month has progressed, the enthusiasm of the traditionalists could be overwhelming their tactical judgment — annoying and even angering  enough of their fellow bishops they may have weakened what was once considered a strong position.

Still, the conservatives may also have created enough disarray and disagreement to ice any significant moves toward change, or taint any proposals they may offer to Pope Francis when the meeting, called a synod, concludes on Oct. 25 after three intense weeks.

The most public, and, for the conservatives, embarrassing episode came earlier this week with the leak of a private letter to the pope from 13 cardinals opposed to reforms.

In the letter, the senior churchmen complained that Francis had set up this meeting of 270 bishops from around the world in a way that would favor reformers who want, for example, to adopt a new approach to gays and lesbians or find a way that divorced and remarried Catholics could receive Communion.

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READ: Thousands visit human remains of youngest Catholic saint near Chicago

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Several cardinals quickly denied signing the letter, and others said the letter they signed was a bit different from the leaked version, though they did not say how.

That sent synod delegates and Vatican-watching media into a frenzy of speculation, until it was reported that there were in fact 13 signers, only some of them were different from those originally claimed.

Moreover, one of those newly revealed to have signed was Houston Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, a top official of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

DiNardo’s participation in the secret campaign was seen as a knock at Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl. That’s because Wuerl is a member of the committee named by Francis to draft the synod’s final report — a group whose composition had irked the conservatives.

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan was also a signer, and after initially declining to comment, Dolan gave a radio interview, set for broadcast Saturday (Oct. 17), that offers a circuitous rationale for the letter. At the same time, Dolan pegs conservative Australian Cardinal George Pell — a top Vatican official and outspoken opponent of reforms — as the ringleader of the effort:

“Cardinal Pell in his good shrewd way said, ‘Am I correct in summing up some of the concerns?’” Dolan says in the interview. “And some of us, myself included, said, ‘Boy, that sounds good to me. If you have a letter to the pope, count me in.’ And, sure enough, I signed it.”

• LISTEN: Cardinal Dolan interviewed about the letter he signed:

But, Dolan added, the letter was in Italian, and he said he “had forgotten about it” and was stunned when it emerged.

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READ: Who rules in Rome: Pope Francis or the Roman Curia? A papal blueprint faces red tape

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With all these twists and turns the saga was quickly becoming as absurd as it was convoluted, and it might have been seen as just another chapter in the legacy of Vatican intrigue that stretches from the era of the Borgia popes to the novels of Dan Brown — except that the plot seemed so backhanded it made the synod look faithless as well as foolish.

“The general opinion I detected among the bishops was a sense of disgust,” Bishop Marcello Semeraro, an Italian who is on the final drafting committee along with Wuerl, told Vatican Insider.

Another synod delegate, Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Australia, called the leaked letter affair a “typically Roman melodrama” that was “not untinged with psychodrama.”

The problem, Coleridge wrote on his blog, is that episodes like this tend to “aggravate the sense that the Synod is not much more than a political caucus, with ideological riptides swirling around us and the odd stinger drifting by.”

Already, he said, the deliberations are struggling to battle against “a fear that can become a kind of paranoia.”

“My reading of all this is that the ploy has backfired,” wrote veteran Vaticanista John Thavis. “I suspect most synod participants are not amused at this rather obvious attempt to pre-emptively discredit the synod’s outcome.”

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READ: Pope Francis asks forgiveness for scandals at the Vatican, Rome

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The synod participant who counts most, of course, is Pope Francis, and he, too, was apparently not happy.

Pell had delivered the protest letter to Francis on Oct. 5, the first day of the synod meetings, and apparently made reference to it in comments on the synod floor.

The next morning, Francis made a brief, unscheduled speech in which he warned the bishops against buying into “the hermeneutic of conspiracy” — basically, conspiracy theories. Such fears, the pope said, are “sociologically weak and spiritually unhelpful.”

The pope’s rebuke, as well as details of the letter, only emerged days later.

But those aren’t the only examples of potential overreach by the right.

Shortly after the synod began, for example, the Polish bishops at the meeting — a solidly conservative bloc that has vocally opposed any suggestion of changes to church practices — began publishing on their website summaries of the speeches of individual participants along with each bishop’s name.

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READ: NJ archbishop sets rules for barring Catholics from Communion

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That was a clear violation of synod rules on privacy that Francis expressly wanted to allow the bishops to speak freely. The Polish bishops took down the postings after Vatican officials complained.

At the same time, nearly every day conservative churchmen or their allies are holding press conferences to denounce their opponents or their arguments in the strongest terms, or are delivering hard-line speeches in the synod hall that seem to provide little space for compromise.

And those moves follow a year of public lobbying against changes and regular charges that the reformers are manipulating or “rigging” the synod to achieve a desired outcome.

In lectures and interviews, in columns and blog posts, traditionalist churchmen and conservative Catholic pundits have also warned darkly of schisms and heresies if any changes are made, and leading cardinals, some from within Francis’ own Roman Curia, have written books blasting the reformers or rejecting proposals to lighten the off-putting language the church often uses to refer to gay people or cohabiting couples.

Ultimately, it’s unclear whether the irritation over the pressure tactics will lead enough delegates to try to move ahead without the hard-liners on board.

They probably don’t have enough support, or the desire, to go it alone. And as the synod enters its final and decisive week, there appears to be little consensus on reforms and no clear path to a resolution.

In the end, if the bishops cannot agree on opening pathways to change, as may well happen, then the status quo camp can claim victory. And if the reformers do manage to win some victories, then the prebuttal complaints by the right may serve to discredit any compromise — or leave a mess for Francis to sort out.

YS/MG END GIBSON

Are conservatives at high-stakes Vatican summit overplaying their hand? - Religion News Service

Boiler backstory on Chicago nuns left without heat | abc7chicago.com

Note the Marengo connection.

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

CHICAGO (WLS) --

In an exclusive report, the ABC7 I-Team looked into a small religious order in Chicago that has been all over the news lately after some nuns received public donations for a new heating system at their West Side church.
Nuns from a French religious order called Fraternite of Notre Dame last month were on Chicago TV - including ABC7 - describing how their heat broke down. The public has now contributed about a quarter of a million dollars to fix their boilers.
But since then, the I-Team has received questions about the order's standing in the Catholic Church and why it needs donations when it owns millions of dollars of property in McHenry County.
When word got out that these nuns who feed the poor were shivering through Chicago's record-cold February, they were invited onto TV and two internet funds were set up for contributions, now totaling more than $232,000. As the donations soared, the I-Team received viewer questions about 90-acres owned by the order behind an iron gate in Marengo.
"When they have millions of dollars in property here and now they are expanding and wanting to add a brewery and a winery and gift shop and school and all of those things and I couldn't understand why they couldn't afford to fix their church and why other people had to be responsible for that," said Judy Link, a Marengo resident.
A week before the boilers quit at the nuns' "motherhouse" on Chicago's West Side, the order filed this zoning permit request in McHenry County.
According to the request filed February 11, the order wants to build and operate a school with an attached dormitory; a nursing home with hospice, a commercial kitchen with facilities to brew beer and process grapes for wine; a gift shop and tasting area.
"When regular people want to build something they wait until they have a million dollars in the checking account, us we are different, by people see what we do," Sister Marie Valerie said with a heavy French accent during an interview with the I-Team. "We have some blue print people, an architect, doing their times, that gentleman wants to stay anonymous, he does a lot of work for us. This is how we start," said Sister Marie Valerie, who is the treasurer for Fraternite of Notre Dame.
It is the start of an ambitious construction project in rural Marengo on these 65 acres bought for about $2.5 million in 2003, and another 30 acres bought since then.
According to public records, the order has purchased land and homes worth more than $3 million in nearby Huntley, Harvard, southern Wisconsin and New York. An unknown amount was already spent on these grounds adorned by statues and a chapel that features an ornate altar.
"It took us two years and a half to build it. Most of the equipment and material was donated," Sister Marie Valerie said. "We built with our own hands."
Much of the work is documented in numerous videos on the order's website.
"A benefactor help us with down payment but every month we have to pay for our own mortgage so it's not easy," Sister Marie Valerie said.
The nuns - who say they receive no salary - insist that any new McHenry County project would be funded by donations, but not the money donated for the boilers in Chicago.
"All the money we got for the boiler, all the money we got from GoFundMe, all that money stay here to our feeding program in Chicago," Sister Marie Valerie said.
Residents who opposed the order's first expansion 10 years ago say they are mobilizing again to stop the new project.
"They're very secretive. We kept asking them where they got their money from because that was an expensive piece of property, it was $2 million I think, and they just said 'investments'," Link said.
The nuns call themselves a "traditional Catholic religious order" and some donors may believe that the organization is approved by the Vatican, but it isn't.
According to a spokesperson for the Chicago Archdiocese, the order's founder Bishop Jean Marie Roger Kozik "is not a legitimately ordained bishop in the Roman Catholic Church," and, Kozik says, is not a priest in good standing with the church. Because of that, the archdiocese says "Catholics should not attend mass" at the order's West Side church. And they say the nuns are not a religious order associated with the Roman Catholic Church.
"We are a new order. We want to be with the Vatican. We want to be with the Archdiocese. We are working on it and took some steps to be with the Vatican," Sister Marie Valerie said.
The Archdiocese does say that the nuns are "good people of faith who do important work for the poor."
Bishop Kozik began the order in 1977 in France after reporting the Virgin Mary spoke to him. Now he lives - at least part-time - in Marengo. Kozik did not reply to the I-Team's requests for an interview.
There are numerous organizations like his around the world that describe themselves as a "traditional Catholic order" that follow older Catholic practices, but are not recognized by the Vatican.
As for the zoning board hearing, the order of nuns asked that it be moved to April 9.

Boiler backstory on Chicago nuns left without heat | abc7chicago.com

Gay music director fired after becoming ‘engaged’ to partner sues Catholic parish, pastor | News | LifeSite

 

The former choir director of a Chicago-area Catholic church is suing the parish and its pastor for firing him after learning he planned to participate in a homosexual “marriage.”

Colin Collette filed suit December 4 against Holy Family Parish in Inverness and Father Terry Keehan. The complaint was filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Cook County Commission on Human Rights.

"It saddens me to have this integral part of my life taken away because I have chosen to enter into a marriage, as is my right under Illinois law," Collette said.

In July of this year Holy Family Pastor Father Keehan asked Collette to resign after learning Colette had become “engaged” to his male partner. Collette refused and was subsequently fired.

Collette alleged at the time it was Cardinal Francis George, then archbishop of Chicago, who pressured Father Keehan to fire him, saying Father Keehan had been aware of his relationship and had been to dinner with him and his partner.

He subsequently requested to meet with Cardinal George. The two met September 9, and Collette described the meeting as “spiritual.”

“It was wonderful, he was very pastoral in this moment,” Collette told NBC Chicago. “The cardinal and I had a wonderful conversation, and a conversation that I hope will continue.”

Prior to the meeting Cardinal George had said of the matter, “It was his (Collette’s) decision that caused this crisis.”

The Archdiocese of Chicago told LifeSiteNews it has not seen the complaints that Collette has filed with civil authorities and so is unable to comment on them.

“We will respond to the complaints in the forums in which they are filed at the appropriate time,” Archdiocesan Media Relations Director Susan Burritt said.

At the time of Collette’s firing the archdiocese said that individuals involved in Church ministries are obliged to adhere to Church teaching in public.

“Those that serve as Ministers of the Church, including worship ministers, are expected to conform their lives publicly with the teachings of the Church,” the diocese said in a statement. “Pastors hire and dismiss all parish personnel and govern according to the teachings of the Church and Archdiocesan policies. This is a matter of personal integrity on their part."

Collette’s lawyer Kerry Lavelle said the courts will make the determination of whether Illinois’ 2013 homosexual marriage law would impact the Catholic Church.

Ranjit Hakim, executive director of the Cook County Human Rights Commission, told The Christian Post he could not comment on the case because of the commission’s role as a forum in which the case has been filed, but that that they "will conduct an independent investigation of the charges," as well as, "if necessary, hold an administrative hearing."

Collette’s firing is one of a few recent instances where local Church leadership has upheld Church teaching by removing employees living in contradiction of Catholic morals.

The Church teaches that “those with homosexual tendencies should be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity,” but also that, “under no circumstances” can homosexual acts be approved.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states as well that “homosexual persons are called to chastity.”

Gay music director fired after becoming ‘engaged’ to partner sues Catholic parish, pastor | News | LifeSite

U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke: Pope Francis opposes abortion and gay marriage : Lifestyles

 

Burke has a long-standing reputation as one of the church’s most vocal hard-liners, with his broadsides on abortion and gay marriage even targeting his fellow American bishops. When Francis dropped Burke last year from an influential Vatican body that helps pick new bishops, it was seen as a significant shift in the church’s political dynamic.

Burke’s piece in the pages of the Vatican’s own semiofficial newspaper is an indicator of conservatives’ unease that their priorities are viewed as out of favor. Burke wrote that Francis’ new approach “cannot change the duty of the Church and her shepherds to teach clearly and insistently about the most fundamental moral questions of our time.”

At another point, Burke said that what Francis has called a “new balance” in the church’s approach did not require anyone to be “silent” about sexual morality; Burke argued that those issues must remain central to the church’s message.

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke: Pope Francis opposes abortion and gay marriage : Lifestyles

Elderly Jesuit explains why he resigned from priesthood. Association of Catholic Priests

 

Fr Bert Thelen’s Letter of Resignation, June 2013

TO : Family, Relatives, and Friends, Colleagues and Partners in Ministry, CLC Members, Ignatian Associates, Project Mankind, Parishioners of St. John’s, St Benedict the Moor, Sacred Heart, Jesuit Classmates and Companions
FROM: Bert Thelen, S.J., June, 2013

Dearly Beloved,

May the Grace of Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Peace of the Holy Spirit be with you! I am writing to tell you about what may be the most important decision of my life since entering the Jesuits. With God’s help, at the behest of my religious superiors and the patient support and wise encouragement of my CLC group and closest friends, I have decided to leave ordained Jesuit ministry and return to the lay state, the priesthood of the faithful bestowed on me by my Baptism nearly 80 years ago. I do this with confidence and humility, clarity and wonder, gratitude and hope, joy and sorrow. No bitterness, no recrimination, no guilt, no regrets.

It has been a wonderful journey, a surprising adventure, an exploration into the God Who dwells mysteriously in all of our hearts. I will always be deeply grateful to the Society of Jesus for the formation, education, companionship, and ministry it has provided, and to my family for their constant support. I can never thank God enough for the loving and loyal presence in my life of each and every one of you.

Why am I doing this? How did I reach this decision? I will try to tell you now. That is the purpose of this letter. For about 15 years now, as many of you have noticed, I have had a “Lover’s Quarrel” with the Catholic Church. I am a cradle Catholic and grew up as Catholic as anyone can, with Priests and even Bishops in our household, and 17 years of Catholic education at St. Monica’s Grade School, Milwaukee Messmer High School, and Marquette University. I took First Vows at Oshkosh in the Society of Jesus at age 25 and was ordained at Gesu Church to the priesthood ten years later in 1968. I have served the Church as a Jesuit priest in Milwaukee, Omaha, and Pine Ridge for 45 years, including 18 years on the Province Staff culminating in my being the Wisconsin Provincial for six years and attending the 34th General Congregation in Rome.

My last 14 years at Creighton and St. John’s have been the best years of my life. I have truly enjoyed and flourished serving as pastor of St. John’s. I cannot even put into words how graced and loved and supported I have been by the parishioners, parish staff, campus ministry, Ignatian Associates, and CLC members! It is you who have freed, inspired, and encouraged me to the New Life to which I am now saying a strong and joyful “Yes.” You have done this by challenging me to be my best self as a disciple of Jesus, to proclaim boldly His Gospel of Love, and to widen the horizons of my heart to embrace the One New World we are called to serve in partnership with each other and our Triune God. It is the Risen Christ Who beckons me now toward a more universal connection with the Cosmos, the infinitely large eco-system we are all part of, the abundance and vastness of what Jesus called “the Reign of God.”

Why does this “YES” to embrace the call of our cosmic inter-connectedness mean saying “NO” to ordained ministry? My answer is simple but true. All mystical traditions, as well as modern science, teach us that we humans cannot be fully ourselves without being in communion with all that exists. Lasting justice for Earth and all her inhabitants is only possible within this sacred communion of being. We need conversion – conversion from the prevailing consciousness that views reality in terms of separateness, dualism, and even hierarchy, to a new awareness of ourselves as inter-dependent partners , sharing in one Earth-Human community. In plainer words, we need to end the world view that structures reality into higher and lower, superior and inferior, dominant and subordinate, which puts God over Humanity, humans over the rest of the world, men over women, the ordained over the laity. As Jesus commanded so succinctly, “Don’t Lord it over anyone … serve one another in love.” As an institution, the Church is not even close to that idea; its leadership works through domination, control, and punishment. So, following my call to serve this One World requires me to stop benefiting from the privilege, security, and prestige ordination has given me. I am doing this primarily out of the necessity and consequence of my new call, but, secondarily, as a protest against the social injustices and sinful exclusions perpetrated by a patriarchal church that refuses to consider ordination for women and marriage for same- sex couples.

I have become convinced that the Catholic Church will never give up its clerical privilege until and unless we priests (and bishops) willingly step down from our pedestals. Doing this would also put me in solidarity with my friend, Roy Bourgeois, my fellow Jesuit, Fr. Bill Brennan, the late Bernard Cooke, and many other men who have been “de-frocked” by the reigning hierarchy. It will also support the religious and lay women, former Catholics, and gay and lesbian couples marginalized by our church. I want to stand with and for them. I am, if you will, choosing to de-frock myself in order to serve God more faithfully, truly, and universally.

But why leave the Jesuits? Make no mistake about it: the Society of Jesus shares in and benefits from this patriarchal and clerical way of proceeding. We still regard ourselves as the shepherds and those to whom and with whom we minister as sheep. I discovered this painfully when the Society of Jesus decided against having Associate members. We are not prepared for co-membership or even, it seems at times, for collaboration, though we pay lip service to it. “Father knows best” remains the hallmark of our way of proceeding. I can no longer, in conscience, do that. But I still honor and love my fellow Jesuits who work from that model of power over. It is still where we all are as a company, a Society, a community of vowed religious in the Roman Catholic church. Leaving behind that companionship is not easy for me, but it is the right thing for me to do at this time in my life. When I went through a formal discernment process with my CLC group, one member whose brilliance and integrity I have always admired and whose love and loyalty to the Jesuits is beyond question, said of my decision, “You cannot NOT do this!” He had recognized God’s call in me.

A few other considerations may help clarify my path. The Church is in transition – actually in exile. In the Biblical tradition, the Egyptian, Assyrian and Babylonian captivities led to great religious reforms and the creation of renewed covenants. Think of Moses, Jeremiah, and Isaiah. I think a similar reform is happening in our Catholic faith (as well as other traditions). We have come through far-reaching, earth-shaking evolutionary changes, and a new (Universal) Church as well as a new (One) World is emerging. My decision is a baby step in that Great Emergence, a step God is asking me to take.

Consider this. Being a Lay Catholic has sometimes been caricatured as “Pray, pay, and obey.” Of course, that is a caricature, an exaggeration, a jibe. But it does point to a real problem. Recently, the hierarchical church mandated the so-called revision of the Roman Missal without consulting the People of God. It was both a foolish and a self-serving effort to increase the authority of Ordained men, damaging and even in some ways taking away the “Pray” part of “Pray, pay, and obey.” No wonder more and more Catholics are worshipping elsewhere, and some enlightened priests feel compromised in their roles. I, for one, feel that this so-called renewal , though licit, is not valid. It is not pleasing to God, and I feel compromised in trying to do it.

Now, consider this. All of this liturgical, ecclesial, and religious change is located in and strongly influenced by what both science and spirituality have revealed as happening to our world, our planet, our universe. The very earth we are rooted and grounded in, as well as the air we breathe and the water we drink, are being damaged and destroyed even beyond (some say) our capacity to survive. And, as Fr. John Surette, S.J., has so wisely observed, “Injustice for the human and destruction of Earth’s ecosystem are not two separate injustices. They are one.” Biocide is even more devastating than genocide, because it also kills future inhabitants of our precious Earth.

It is time. It is time to abandon our refusal to see that our very environment is central to the survival and well being of ALL earthlings. It is time for the Church to turn her attention from saving face to saving the earth, from saving souls to saving the planet. It is time to focus on the sacred bond that exists between us and the earth. It is time to join the Cosmic Christ in the Great Work of mending, repairing, nurturing, and protecting our evolving creation. It is time for a new vision of a universal Church whose all-inclusive justice and unconditional love, an expression of Christ consciousness and the work of the Holy Spirit, empowers ALL and can lead to a future that preserves the true right to life of all of God’s creatures. This includes future generations who will bless us for allowing them to live, evolve, and flourish. Can’t you hear them crying out, “I want to live, I want to grow, I want to be, I want to know?”

In light of all this, how can I not respond to the call both Isaiah and Jesus heard, the call of our Baptism? “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me and sent me to bring Good News to the oppressed.” All creation will be freed, and all people will know the freedom and glory of the Children of God. Yes, Lord, I will go. Please send me.

And that is why I am leaving Jesuit priesthood. Since first vows I have always thought and hoped and prayed that I would live and die in this least Society of Jesus. But now, something unexpected! A real surprise! I HAVE lived and died in the Society of Jesus, but, now, nearly 80, I have been raised to new life. I am born again – into a much larger world, a much newer creation. I have greatly benefited from the spiritual freedom given in and by the Society of Jesus. I feel no longer chained, limited, bound, by the shackles of a judicial, institutional, clerical, hierarchical system. As St. Paul once reminded the early Christians, “It is for freedom that you have been set free.” And as St. Peter, the first Pope, learned when he said to Jesus, “You know that I love you,” love is all about surrender and servanthood.

Thank you for your attention to this self presentation. I am grateful that you have followed me in the journey described here, and I am sorry for whatever sadness, disappointment, or hurt this may have caused you. But what I have written here is my truth, and I can’t not do it! If you want to discuss this with me, ask questions, or give me feedback, I welcome your response, either by letter, e-mail or phone.
( 402-305-2665 ). Please pray for me, as I do for all of you, the beloved of my heart and soul.

Yours in the Risen Christ, Bert Thelen

The above is taken from:  Elderly Jesuit explains why he resigned from priesthood. Association of Catholic Priests

White House Proposes Compromise on Contraception Coverage - NYTimes.com

 

Under the proposal, the administration said, “eligible organizations would not have to contract, arrange, pay or refer for any contraceptive coverage to which they object on religious grounds.” Female employees of such organizations would receive contraceptive coverage through separate individual health insurance policies, without having to pay premiums or co-payments.

The proposed rule is somewhat ambiguous about exactly who would pay the costs

Click on the following for more details:  White House Proposes Compromise on Contraception Coverage - NYTimes.com

CNS STORY: Pope: Americas need renewed missionary spirit, well-catechized laity

 

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix told CNS that the church has also found unlikely partners in the evangelical communities in its fight against secularism and threats to life.
Post-Vatican II ecumenical partners, such as the Anglicans, "have slipped away from the basic teaching about Jesus Christ, the human person and marriage, which has made dialogue and cooperation with them much more difficult," he said.
Newer dialogue partners, such as the Orthodox Church and Mormons, and even communities that were one anti-Catholic, such as the Baptists, not only share many of the same values concerning the sanctity of life and marriage, but are eagerly seeking active partnerships with the Catholic Church to protect such values and religious freedom.

Read the entire story by clicking on the following:  CNS STORY: Pope: Americas need renewed missionary spirit, well-catechized laity

Roy Bourgeois - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Roy Bourgeois

 

Born
(1938-01-27) January 27, 1938 (age 74)
Lutcher, Louisiana

Nationality
U.S.

Education
University of Southwestern Louisiana

Occupation
Roman Catholic Priest (former)

Known for
SOA Watch (founder)

Religion
Roman Catholic

Website

My Journey from Silence to Solidarity

Roy Bourgeois (born 27 January 1938 in Louisiana) is a former Roman Catholic priest; and an American activist and founder of the human rights group School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch) in 1990.^[1]

Ordained to the priesthood in 1972 in the Roman Catholic Church's Maryknoll society of apostolic life's Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers (The Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America), Bourgeois was canonically dismissed forty years later, on October 4, 2012, from both the Maryknolls and the priesthood, because of his August 9, 2008 participation in what the Church said was the invalid ordination of a woman and "a simulated Mass" in Lexington, Kentucky.^[2]

 

Early life

Bourgeois was born in Lutcher, Louisiana. He grew up in a conservative working-class family, and attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in geology.

After graduation, Bourgeois entered the United States Navy and served as an officer for four years. He spent two years at sea, one year at a station in Europe, and two tours of duty during one year in Vietnam, during the first of which he was injured and received the Purple Heart.

After military service, he entered the Maryknoll Society in 1966; then entered the seminary of the Catholic missionary society of Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers (Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America), and was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1972.

Activism

1972-1975 Fr. Bourgeois began the work of his priesthood in La Paz, Bolivia aiding the poor. In 1975 he was accused of, and was arrested for, attempting to overthrow Bolivian dictator General Hugo Banzer Suarez, a 1958 graduate of the School of the Americas (SOA) (now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC)) at Fort Benning, in Columbus, Georgia. Bourgeois was eventually deported from Bolivia and returned to the United States.

1980 Fr. Bourgeois moved to a Catholic Worker house in Chicago where he continued his work with the poor. He became an outspoken critic of US foreign policy in Latin America after four American churchwomen (three of them nuns, and two of them personal friends of Bourgeois) were killed by a death squad consisting of soldiers from the Salvadoran National Guard, some of whom had been trained at the SOA/WHINSEC. Killed were Sister Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, Sister Ita Ford, and Sister Dorothy Kazel.

1989 Fr. Bourgeois's criticism of US foreign policy in Latin America intensified on November 16, 1989 when six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and the housekeeper's daughter were massacred on the campus of Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas" (UCA) in San Salvador, El Salvador.^[3] Armed men in uniform burst into their shared residence and indiscriminately gunned-down everyone within. The massacre was performed by the Atlacatl Battalion, an elite unit of the Salvadoran Army, and a rapid-response, counter-insurgency battalion created in 1980 at SOA/WHINSEC.

1990 Fr. Bourgeois founded the School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch), a not-for-profit organization that seeks to close the SOA/WHINSEC -- labelled the "School of the Assassins" by anti-SOA activists -- and to change U.S. foreign policy in Latin America by educating the public, lobbying Congress and participating in creative, nonviolent resistance such as demonstrations and nonviolent protest.^[4] The SOA/WHINSEC has long maintained that it does not teach tactics that can be used on civilians but, rather, simply sharpens the military skills of soldiers from participating countries. Its website says it "provides professional education and training for civilian, military and law enforcement students."^[5] SOA Watch claims its work caused the Pentagon to respond to the growing anti-SOA movement with a PR campaign to give the SOA a new image. "In an attempt to disassociate the school with its horrific past," the SOA Watch website claims, "the SOA was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) in January of 2001."^[4]

1998 Fr. Bourgeois testified before a Spanish judge seeking the extradition of Chile's ex-dictator General Augusto Pinochet.^[6]

2008 In August 2008, in keeping with his belief that women should be ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood, Fr. Bourgeois was a celebrant in, and delivered the homily at the ordination ceremony of Janice Sevre-Duszynska, a member of Womenpriests, at a Unitarian Universalist church in Lexington, Kentucky.^[7]

2011 Fr. Bourgeois was briefly detained by police at the Vatican on 17 October when he tried to deliver a petition to the Holy See with a number of women priests, who were dressed in their liturgical garments.^[8]

2012 Fr. Bourgeois was part of a panel discussion at the New York premiere of the documentary Pink Smoke Over the Vatican. The film features activists for women’s ordination in the Catholic Church, and included clips of an interview with him.^[9]

Controversy

Federal prison

Fr. Bourgeois has spent over four years in Federal prisons for non-violent protests, including entering Fort Benning. He and over 240 peace activists have been tried and jailed for peacefully demonstrating at the gates of the SOA/WHINSEC.^[10]

Excommunication

The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a decree in May 2008 formally declaring that a woman who attempts to be ordained a Catholic priest, and the persons attempting to ordain her, are automatically excommunicated.^[7] Three months later Fr. Bourgeois was a celebrant in, and delivered the homily during the ordination of Janice Sevre-Duszynska under the auspices of the group Roman Catholic Womenpriests, which rejects the Church's teaching on the all-male priesthood. The ceremony was not recognized by the Vatican; and its May 2008 declaration meant that Bourgeois was excommunicated latae sententiae. ^[11]

Instead, Bourgeois received a letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which explained what the letter called his "errors" along with "a genuine concern for his salvation." It gave him 30 days from October 21, 2008 to recant his "belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church, or (he) will be excommunicated." Bourgeois refused; and so was, at least technically, excommunicated latae sententiae on November 24, 2008. ^[12]

For the next nearly four years Bourgeois continued to both act and be recognized as a priest, and to do the work of his calling, while he and Dominican Fr. Tom Doyle, a canon lawyer acting on Bourgeois' behalf, asked for discussions and negotiatations on the matter with the Maryknoll Society and, through it, the Holy See. At no time, during any of it, did Bourgeois recant his position on women's ordination to the priesthood.

Many devout Roman Catholics, though, insist that there's nothing to discuss; that on May 22, 1994, the Venerable John Paul II released an apostolic letter, addressed to the Bishops of the Catholic Church, entitled "On Reserving Priestly Ordination to Men Alone (Ordinatio Sacerdotalis)," which closes as follows:^[13]

Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents, at the present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate, or the Church's judgment that women are not to be admitted to ordination is considered to have a merely disciplinary force.
Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.^[14]

"Arguments against this clear and authoritative teaching," wrote Keith Fournier on Catholic Online, "sometimes come from people who do not understand that the priesthood is not a job and have succumbed to the 'rights' mentality of the current age. Other times they come from people who have no understanding of the sacramental nature of the Church. Both groups may include among them Catholics who, as in too many other areas of doctrine, have not been properly catechized."^[13]

Holding that the Roman Catholic church has no authority to ordain women, Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed the church's ban on women priests at the Vatican's 2012 Holy Thursday chrism Mass.^[2][15]

 

Maryknoll expulsion

On March 18, 2011, Fr. Bourgeois was given a letter from Fr. Edward M. Dougherty, Maryknoll's Superior General, and Edward J. McGovern, its Secretary General, warning Bourgeois that he had 15 days to recant his support for women's ordination or he would face expulsion from the society.^[16] Bourgeois responded in a letter dated April 8, 2011, stating that he could not recant without betraying his conscience.^[17]

On July 22, 2011, 157 Catholic priests signed a letter, addressed to Dougherty, in support of Bourgeois's priesthood and work, and his right to conscience. While the letter did not specifically address the issue of women's ordination, it did indicate the signees' support of the right of priests to speak from conscience without being in danger of sanction.^[17]

Following his refusal to recant, the society issued Bourgeois a second canonical warning; the final notice of pending removal from the Maryknoll Society, on July 27, 2011. In his August 8, 2011 letter of response,^[18] Bourgeois wrote, in part:

I believe that our Church's teaching that excludes women from the priesthood defies both faith and reason and cannot stand up to scrutiny. This teaching has nothing to do with God, but with men, and is rooted in sexism. Sexism, like racism, is a sin. And no matter how hard we may try to justify discrimination against women, in the end, it is not the way of God, but of men who want to hold on to their power. As people of faith we believe in the primacy of conscience. Our conscience connects us to the Divine. Our conscience gives us a sense of right and wrong and urges us to do what is right, what is just.
What you are asking me to do in your letter is not possible without betraying my conscience. In essence, you are telling me to lie and say I do not believe that God calls both men and women to the priesthood. This I cannot do, therefore I will not recant. I firmly believe that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is a grave injustice against women, against our Church, and against our God.

On August 16, 2011, Bourgeois's canon lawyer Fr. Thomas Doyle wrote a letter to the Maryknoll Society asking that "reputable theologians" be brought in to examine the case "in order to look much more deeply" into two central issues: the church's claim that the teaching on women's ordination is infallible, and the right of a Catholic "to act and think according to the dictates of his conscience" even if the conclusions put one in conflict with the church's highest authorities.^[19]

In February of 2012, Maryknoll's U.S. regional superior, Fr. Mike Duggan, told both Bourgeois and Doyle, over the phone, that the order's general council, which consists of its superior general and three assistant generals, would be voting, in March of 2012, on whether to dismiss Bourgeois from the Maryknoll Society.^[19]

In March of 2012, the four-person general council met to vote, but because canon law mandates that at least five people must vote on issues of dismissal from religious orders, Duggan had told Doyle that an unnammed fifth person from the order had been brought in to join the general council in the vote. The Maryknoll Society's official statement about the vote was that it was a split decision, with no clear outcome. However, both Bourgeois and Doyle said, after the vote, that Duggan told them that only two of the five general council members voted for Bourgeois's dismissal, while three abstained. The general council then sent a letter to the Vatican containing the results of the vote.^[19]

On June 6, 2012 Bourgeois and Doyle met with Dougherty and a mediator at the society's headquarters in New York. Bourgeois and Doyle said no mention was made of the dismissal vote; and Bourgeois added that the two-hour meeting focused on the issue of conscience and "the importance of people of faith and members of Maryknoll to be able to speak openly and freely without fear ... of being dismissed or excommunicated." Doyle said the outcome of the meeting was "far different than we expected and far more positive."^[20]

Laicization

On Monday, November 19, 2012, the Maryknoll Society's Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers issued an official statement indicating that the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had ruled, on October 4, 2012, that Bourgeois had been canonically dismissed from both the Maryknolls, and the Roman Catholic priesthood, thereby laicizing him. The full statement from the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Congregation For The Doctrine Of The Faith
Canonically Dismisses Roy Bourgeois
Maryknoll, New York – November 19, 2012 – The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on October 4, 2012, canonically dismissed Roy Bourgeois from the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, also known as the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers. The decision dispenses the Maryknoll priest from his sacred bonds.
As a priest during 2008, Mr. Bourgeois participated in the invalid ordination of a woman and a simulated Mass in Lexington, Kentucky. With patience, the Holy See and the Maryknoll Society have encouraged his reconciliation with the Catholic Church.
Instead, Mr. Bourgeois chose to campaign against the teachings of the Catholic Church in secular and non-Catholic venues. This was done without the permission of the local U.S. Catholic Bishops and while ignoring the sensitivities of the faithful across the country. Disobedience and preaching against the teaching of the Catholic Church about women’s ordination led to his excommunication, dismissal and laicization.
Mr. Bourgeois freely chose his views and actions, and all the members of the Maryknoll Society are saddened at the failure of reconciliation. With this parting, the Maryknoll Society warmly thanks Roy Bourgeois for his service to mission and all members wish him well in his personal life. In the spirit of equity and charity, Maryknoll will assist Mr. Bourgeois with this transition.^[21]

Dominican Fr. Thomas Doyle, Bourgeois's canon lawyer, said he was surprised, especially after he and Bourgeois met with Maryknoll's superior general, Fr. Edward Dougherty, in June, and the issue of dismissal had not been discussed. "The idea then was that things would continue and they would not dismiss Roy and they would continue to dialogue," Doyle said. "And then this just happened, unilaterally. We had no idea."^[21]

In response, Bourgeois issued the following official statement:^[22]

November 20, 2012
STATEMENT ABOUT MY DISMISSAL FROM MARYKNOLL
I have been a Catholic priest in the Maryknoll community for 40 years. As a young man I joined Maryknoll because of its work for justice and equality in the world. To be expelled from Maryknoll and the priesthood for believing that women are also called to be priests is very difficult and painful.
The Vatican and Maryknoll can dismiss me, but they cannot dismiss the issue of gender equality in the Catholic Church. The demand for gender equality is rooted in justice and dignity and will not go away.
As Catholics, we profess that God created men and women of equal worth and dignity. As priests, we profess that the call to the priesthood comes from God, only God. Who are we, as men, to say that our call from God is authentic, but God's call to women is not? The exclusion of women from the priesthood is a grave injustice against women, our Church and our loving God who calls both men and women to be priests.
When there is an injustice, silence is the voice of complicity. My conscience compelled me to break my silence and address the sin of sexism in my Church. My only regret is that it took me so long to confront the issue of male power and domination in the Catholic Church.
I have explained my position on the ordination of women, and how I came to it, in my booklet: "My Journey from Silence to Solidarity."
In Solidarity,
Roy Bourgeois

In its November 20, 2012 statement, Erin Saiz Hanna, Executive Director of the Women's Ordination Conference wrote of Bourgeois: "While he is devastated to lose his community, and saddened by the harshness of this final step, he remains steadfast in his faith and conscience. He has asked for solitude and prayers during this time of transition."^[22]

Awards

• Gandhi Peace Award (1994)
• Pax Christi USA Pope Paul VI Teacher of Peace Award (1997)
• Thomas Merton Award (2005)
• Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work with School of the Americas Watch (2009)

Notes and references

1. ^ "SOA Watch: Biography of Roy Bourgeois", SOA Watch Website.
2. ^ ^{a b} Sadowski, Dennis (19 November 2012). "Maryknoller dismissed from priesthood for supporting women's ordination". Catholic News Service. http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1204900.htm. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
3. ^ (Spanish)"Galerías de Fotos. Celebración. Mártires de la UCA 2010", Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas", November 16, 2010, http://www.uca.edu.sv/XXIaniversario/galeria.php, retrieved 25 April 2011
4. ^ ^{a b} "The SOA Watch website About Us page". The SOA Watch website. http://www.soaw.org/about-us. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
5. ^ "Welcome to WHINSEC". The SOA/WHINSEC homepage. The SOA/WHINSEC website. http://www.benning.army.mil/tenant/whinsec/. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
6. ^ "Priest testifies to School of Americas ties to Pinochet". National Catholic Reporter. 15 January 1999. http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/1999a/011599/011599i.htm. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
7. ^ ^{a b} Coday, Dennis. "Sixth Catholic woman priest ordained this year", "National Catholic Reporter", 2008-08-09. Retrieved on 2008-08-11.
8. ^ Pullella, Philip (17 October 2011). "Catholics campaigning for women priests detained at Vatican". Reuters. http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2011/10/17/catholics-campaigning-for-women-priests-detained-at-vatican/. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
9. ^ Mason, Jamie (30 March 2011). "Roy Bourgeois' priesthood can never truly end". National Catholic Reporter. http://ncronline.org/blogs/grace-margins/roy-bourgeois-priesthood-can-never-truly-end. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
10. ^ /ref>http://ncronline.org/blogs/grace-margins/roy-bourgeois-priesthood-can-never-truly-end?page=1
11. ^ Cooper, Linda and James Hodge, "Bourgeois Has Long Drawn Inspiration from Women," National Catholic Reporter, December 3, 2008.
12. ^ Priest confirms excommunication; will keep urging women’s ordination
13. ^ ^{a b} Fournier, Keith. "Defiant Fr Roy Bourgeois Dismissed from Maryknolls. Soon from the Priesthood?". Posting on 13 August 2011. Catholic Online. http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=42350&page=1. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
14. ^ Pope John Paul II. "On Reserving Priestly Ordination to Men Alone (Ordinatio Sacerdotalis)". An apostolic letter, addressed to the Bishops of the Catholic Church, dated 22 May 1994. The Vatican website. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_22051994_ordinatio-sacerdotalis_en.html. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
15. ^ Pope Benedict XVI. "Chrism Mass". Homily of His Holiness at Saint Peter's Basilica on Holy Thursday, 5 April 2012. The Vatican website. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20120405_messa-crismale_en.html. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
16. ^ McElwee, Joshua. "Maryknoll gives Bourgeois notice of removal from order", "National Catholic Reporter", 2011-03-29. Retrieved on 2011-03-30.
17. ^ ^{a b} Ryan, Zoe (August 11, 2011). "Priests' letter supports Bourgeois". National Catholic Reporter. http://ncronline.org/news/people/priests-letter-supports-bourgeois. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
18. ^ "Fr. Roy Bourgeois Responds to Second Canonical Warning". Letter from Fr. Bourgeois to Maryknoll Superior General Dougherty, date August 8, 2011. Women's Ordination Conference website. http://www.womensordination.org/content/view/366/42/. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
19. ^ ^{a b c} McElwee, Joshua (7 March 2012). "Maryknoll votes on Bourgeois' dismissal from order". National Catholic Reporter. http://ncronline.org/node/29249. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
20. ^ McElwee, Joshua (15 June 2012). "Following dismissal vote, Bourgeois says Maryknoll's tone different". http://ncronline.org/node/30865. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
21. ^ ^{a b} McElwee, Joshua (19 November 2012). "Roy Bourgeois Dismissed From Religious Order By Vatican". From the National Catholic Reporter, in the Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/20/roy-bourgeois-dismissed-from-religious-order-by-vatican_n_2165332.html?ir=Religion. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
22. ^ ^{a b} "Fr. Roy Bourgeois' statement on dismissal from Maryknoll". The Women's Ordination Conference website. http://www.womensordination.org/content/view/420/42/. Retrieved 22 November 2012.

 

Click on the following for a possibly updated version:  Roy Bourgeois - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's not about religious freedom - Catholic Sentinel - Portland, OR

The Catholic Sentinel is published twice monthly by Oregon Catholic Press, and is the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland.

To the Catholic Sentinel:
I am saddened that the U.S. bishops have chosen to deal with their disagreement with the Obama Administration over the insurance/contraception issue in the public and emotional way they have.

rious disagreement over public policy, but not a question of religious freedom. I would be interested in how the bishops would respond if the Jehovah’s Witness religion had the same political power as the Catholic Church and chose to deny coverage for blood transfusions to all who worked in their institutions?
I am curious as to why the American bishops have not released full information on who funded the expensive Fortnight for Freedom program.
Gerald Stanley, Yachats

The above is taken from :  It's not about religious freedom - Catholic Sentinel - Portland, OR

Vatican opens public butler leaks trial - Yahoo! News

 

That said, access to Gabriele's trial is limited, in part due to space constraints: While the court is technically open to the public, those requesting access must petition the judges to be allowed in. Eight journalists will attend each session and report back to the Vatican press corps. No television, still cameras or recording devices are allowed, and the court transcripts won't be available to the public

Click on the following for more details:  Vatican opens public butler leaks trial - Yahoo! News

As John Carr, Catholic policy adviser, retires, Catholics worry who will replace him - The Washington Post

By Michelle Boorstein,

Catholics are becoming more divided over whether they focus on church teachings against war and poverty or the ones against abortion and gay marriage. Catholic progressives are particularly worried about Carr leaving as Church officialdom in recent years has put greater and greater emphasis on defending the unborn.

Click on the following for more details:  As John Carr, Catholic policy adviser, retires, Catholics worry who will replace him - The Washington Post

Northwest Herald | Forget the Mormon moment; it's about Catholics

 

By RACHEL ZOLL - The Associated Press

With little over two months until the election, both Romney and Obama are working to court these traditional swing voters given that polls show the race is tight and anything can tip the balance, particularly in competitive states like Ohio and Pennsylvania that have sizable Catholic communities.

It's unclear how this week's focus on abortion rights — sparked by Missouri Rep. Todd Akin's comment about women's bodies preventing pregnancies in the case of "legitimate rape" — will play with these voters.

Click on the following for more of the story:  Northwest Herald | Forget the Mormon moment; it's about Catholics

Ex-Catholic comments on Fortnight for Freedom - baltimoresun.com

I want to thank Archbishop William E. Lori for reminding me once again why I'm an ex-Catholic ("Fight for freedom," June 27). With the so-called "Fortnight for Freedom," the church leadership is deliberately and cynically using a mixture of patriotism and religion in a blatant and manipulative attempt to influence the outcome of the upcoming elections.

I can't seem to recall any recent news about Catholic churches being bombed in the United States or attempts to bar American Catholics from attending mass. I do know that the Catholic Church has been using its "religious freedom" for decades to aid and abet child abusers, to recently attack nuns in the United States who are at the forefront of what used to be one of the church's primary missions to aid and comfort the poor and needy, and that the American church has over the past few decades formed an alliance with some of the most strident and politically active right-wing religious groups in the U.S. Archbishop Lori even received an award in May from a coalition of some of those groups.

I am proud to be an American, and I am a strong supporter of the Bill of Rights. I support freedom of religion, and I support freedom from religion. And, at this moment in time, I am also very proud and happy to be an ex-Catholic.

Sandy Covahey, Baltimore

Click on the following to find this Letter to the Editor:  Ex-Catholic comments on Fortnight for Freedom - baltimoresun.com

Rev admits he knew of priest’s kid - World News | IOL News | IOL.co.za

 

The head of the embattled Legion of Christ religious order admitted on Tuesday to covering up news that his most prominent priest had fathered a child and announced a review of all past allegations of sexual abuse against Legion priests amid a growing scandal at the order.

The Rev Alvaro Corcuera wrote a letter to all Legion members in which he admitted he knew before he became superior in 2005 that the Rev Thomas Williams, a well-known American television personality, author and moral theologian, had fathered a child.

Click on the following for more details of this recentt story:  Rev admits he knew of priest’s kid - World News | IOL News | IOL.co.za

Legion of Christ

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Legion of Christ

Abbreviation
LC

Motto
Adveniat Regnum Tuum!

Formation
January 3, 1941 (1941-01-03) (71 years ago)

Type
Catholic religious institute

Headquarters
General Directorate, Via Aurelia 677

Location
Rome, Italy

General Director
Alvaro Corcuera

Key people

Marcial Maciel - Founder

Velasio de Paolis - Papal Delegate

Sylvester Heereman - Vicar General

Deomar De Guedes - General Councilor

Main organ
General Council

Website
www.legionofchrist.org

The Legion of Christ (LC) is a Roman Catholic congregation of pontifical right, made up of priests and seminarians studying for the priesthood. It was founded in Mexico in 1941, by Marcial Maciel, who directed the congregation as its General Director until January 2005. The Holy See later suspended him from ministry in 2006 over sexual allegations^[1]. The Legion of Christ has priests working in over 22 countries,^[2] and had 889 priests and 2,373 seminarians as of December 31, 2010.^[3] In the U.S. it operates 9 schools (and assists at several others) and two of a small number of seminaries for teenage boys currently operating in the US.^[4]

Its lay movement Regnum Christi has approximately 70,000 members,^[5] and the youth branch ECYD has tens of thousands.^[6] In Mexico, the Legionaries administer the Anahuac University Network.It operates centers of education (minor seminaries, seminaries, schools and/or universities) in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Israel, Korea, Poland, Ireland, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Canada, the United States, and the Philippines.

The most important fields of their apostolic work are education, youth and family ministry, evangelization (especially in the mission territory of the Mexican State of Quintana Roo in the Yucatán Peninsula), and social work. The Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi seek to collaborate with the local churches by lending help and support to the bishops and parish priests as they carry out their diocesan pastoral programs.

Popes have expressed support for the Legion. When Maciel visited Rome in 1946, Pope Pius XII expressed a keen interest in the undertaking and gave it his personal blessing. In light of what were believed to be the congregation's achievements, particularly in education, Pope Paul VI was pleased to award it the "Decree of Praise" in 1965. The most enthusiastic support has, however, been that of Pope John Paul II, who in an address, picked out the qualities which have made the Legion so successful:^[7] Pope Benedict XVI continues to ask God to support the Legionaries in their ministry.^[8]

Contents

[show]

• 1 Ethos
  • 1.1 Loves
  • 1.2 Spirit of Apostolic Action
• 2 Formation
• 3 Apostolates
• 4 The founder
• 5 Controversies
  • 5.1 Accusations against the founder
• 6 Apostolic Visitation
• 7 Papal Delegate
  • 7.1 Formal Denunciation of Fr Maciel
  • 7.2 Naming of the Papal Delegate
  • 7.3 Activity of the Papal Delegate
• 8 See also
• 9 References
• 10 Further reading
• 11 External links

Ethos

Members of the Legion take vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty. They originally took a private vow of charity, promising never to criticize their superiors. This private vow was originally opposed by the Vatican when it chartered the Legion decades ago, but that opposition disappeared after a final decision by the Vatican in 1983. This vow was repealed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007.^[9] Their private vow of humility remains intact.

Loves

The Legion's spirituality can be described as four loves: love for Christ, love for Mary, love for souls, and love for the Church and Pope.

Love for Christ is, for Legionaries, a personal experience. Through the Gospel, the cross, and the Eucharist, Legionaries come to know Christ intimately, and love him in a passionate way by embracing him as their model of holiness.^[10]

Love for Mary flows from imitating Christ; the Blessed Virgin is loved as both Mother of the Church and of the individual Legionary's vocation. Legionaries consecrate their spiritual and apostolic lives to her care, and seek to take on her virtues of faith, hope, charity, obedience, humility, and cooperation with Christ's plan of redemption.^[10]

Love for Souls is expressed in an ardent desire to spread Christ's kingdom in this world. Legionaries try to use every moment of their time to help the greatest number of souls know and love Christ. They want to be able to say when they get to Heaven that they never wasted one minute or one soul.^[10]

Finally, there is Legionaries' love for Church and Pope. The Church is loved because it is the Body of Christ, and the beginning of his Kingdom on earth. Legionaries see the Church both as she currently stands and as Christ wants her to be. Thus Legionaries honor her by faith, submit to her in obedience, win souls for her through evangelization, and put her above all other earthly things in their lives. This love of the Church leads many in the Legion to speak of being always in step with the Church, neither ahead nor behind: a commitment to Catholic Orthodoxy. It also explains the Legionaries' special affection for the Pope, who is supported in his charism of primacy and magisterium. All bishops in communion with the Roman Pontiff, as the Apostles' successors and teachers of the Catholic Faith, are likewise honored.^[10][11]

Spirit of Apostolic Action

The Legion has stated that their actions are designed for the establishing of the Kingdom of Christ. According to the North American Action Plan, the Legion's apostolic action is summarized as "we form those apostles who can exercise greater Christian leadership and influence others."^[12]

The North American Action action also states that the Legion does this with the local Church and for the sake of both the local and universal Church. Their methodology is given as: "We form these apostles by bringing God’s love to them, inspiring them to fall in love with Jesus Christ especially through prayer and the sacramental life, helping them come to know better the truths of the Catholic Faith and inviting them to participate actively in the evangelization of culture and society."^[12]

Formation

As a whole, the Legion is dedicated to advancing the Church's mission in the world, and to this end submits candidates to a rigorous formation of four dimensions: human, spiritual, intellectual and apostolic. This formation has caused critics to accuse the Legion of producing priests and religious who all speak and behave in the same way. In fact, the Legion has been called a cult.^[13] But, the Legion's defenders argue as members of a family receive similar upbringing, so the members of the Legion are formed in like ways, but still respecting the freedom of the individual.^{[citation needed]}

Contact with the family is moderated, so as to not restrict their mission, although they are allowed considerably more contact with their families than religious in past centuries. If they live in the same country as their parents, the religious and priests are permitted to visit their families usually once a year provided it does not inhibit their individual assignments. In addition, they are permitted to visit for landmark anniversaries of parents and grandparents and, their families are encouraged to visit them normally two or three times a year. However, the novices do not go home during their two-year novitiate, but their families may visit. The high school seminarians are permitted to go home in the following cases:

276. During periods of summer vacation for fifteen days. During this period the Rector and, if the number requires it, the Vice-Rector - each accompanied by another religious - should visit apostolics in their homes to attend to them spiritually and to attend to the family.
277. During the Christmas holidays for three days. However, all apostolics should celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the vocational center and should do the same during the last day of the year.
278. For the name day or corresponding birthday of their parents for one day. This visit will, however, be subject to the approval of the Rector based on the individual environment of each family.
279. For their parents anniversary for one day.
280. For the wedding, religious, profession or priestly ordination of one of their siblings for one day.
281. On the occasion of the death or serious illness of a parent, sibling or grandparent for three days.

All members of the congregation are required to write their families every two weeks, for the high school seminarians, every week. Periodic phone calls are also permitted: once a week for the high school seminarians, three times a year for novices, and roughly once a month for religious and priests. The above are the usual, but each individual case is seen with the superior.

Apostolates

The primary apostolate of Legionary priests and brothers is to attend to the spiritual needs of the members of their lay branch, Regnum Christi. Since Legionary priests and brothers are themselves members of Regnum Christi, often they are put in charge of directing the apostolic projects.^[14]

Regnum Christi has many apostolates for charitable and spiritual welfare. It essentially does not limit itself to any one apostolate, but each member is encouraged to work on his/her area of interest or expertise.^[15]

As a spirituality, it encourages its members to work innovatively and systematically. Members are given the option to work on an apostolate not associated with the Legion, a Legion-endorsed apostolate, or to create their own apostolate which may eventually receive Legion endorsement.^[16]

In 2006, the Legion launched a test phase of Mission Network, in the United States. Catholic Mission Network, Inc., is the umbrella organization which oversees and approves Legionary-endorsed apostolates that are not stand alone like a school or retreat center. Its purpose is to provide both 1) structure and supervision of the apostolates, and 2) An overview as to what the Legion/Regnum Christi does as a whole, with brand-name-type recognition.^[17]

The youth wing of Regnum Christi offering the same spirituality for youth 11 to 16 is called ECYD. The commitments in ECYD vary over time, adapting to the ages of the members.^[6] Most ECYD members are involved in clubs run or overseen by Legionaries or consecrated members of Regnum Christi.

The founder

Main article: Marcial Maciel

Marcial Maciel was born on March 10, 1920, into a devout Catholic family during a time in which the Mexican government was fiercely anticlerical.

On June 19, 1936, Maciel—a young seminarian at the time— apparently felt called to establish a new religious institute, and in 1941, with the support of the bishop of Cuernavaca, Bishop Francisco González Arias, he founded the Legion of Christ, which was originally known as the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Sorrows. The name was eventually changed because Maciel saw a likeness of his missionaries in the legions of Rome. Coupled to this was also the militancy of the Christian life found in St. Paul's letters. He claims he received his final inspiration concerning the name through Pope Pius XII when the Pope quoted the Song of Solomon when addressing a group of Legionaries: "Sicut acies castrorum ordinata" (Like an army in battle array). Maciel was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop González Arias in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City on November 26, 1944, after which he continued to build up the Legion and its lay counterpart, Regnum Christi.

Maciel was asked by Pope John Paul II to accompany him on his visits to Mexico in 1979, 1990, and 1993, and was appointed, also by Pope John Paul II, to the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the formation of Candidates for the Priesthood in Actual Circumstances (1991). He was a member of the Interdicasterial Commission for a Just Distribution of Clergy (1991), the IV General Conference of Latin American Bishops (CELAM) (1992), the Synod of Bishops on Consecrated Life and Their Mission in the Church and the World (1993), the Synod of Bishops´ Special Assembly for America (1997) and, since 1994, a permanent consultant to the Congregation for the Clergy. The golden anniversary of his priestly ordination was celebrated on 26 November 1994, with 57 Legionary priests ordained on the anniversary's eve. Fr. Marcial Maciel also served as Chancellor of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, which is based in Rome.

According to the Wall Street Journal, "The Legion of Christ...became a global phenomenon in Catholicism over the past few decades by joining a devotion to orthodoxy and secrecy with an equal fidelity to the Legion's charismatic founder, Father Marcial Maciel, who helped his community's cause by liberally dispensing funds to hierarchs in Rome. Other bishops complained of the Legion's cult-like aspects, but it was only in 2006, when the truth of Maciel's extensive record of sexual abuse and financial shenanigans was finally acknowledged, that the Vatican forced the elderly priest from ministry and launched an investigation."^[18]

He died in Jacksonville, Florida, on January 30, 2008, aged 87, and was buried in his hometown of Cotija de la Paz, Michoacán, Mexico.

Controversies

Main article: Controversies surrounding the Legion of Christ

In January 2005, Maciel, at age 84, was succeeded by Álvaro Corcuera, LC, as General Director of the Legion shortly after the reopening of a sex abuse allegation by the Vatican. Maciel died on 30 January 2008.

Cardinal Edwin O’Brien, then archbishop of Baltimore, banned the Legion of Christ from counseling people under the age of 18 in his jurisdiction. O’Brien banned the Legion and Regnum based on concerns that they practice “heavily persuasive methods on young people, especially high schoolers, regarding vocations.”^[19]

Archbishop O’Brien further wrote among other matters, “I want to ensure that encouragement of vocations is carried out in a way that respects the rights of parents in the upbringing of their children and the rights of young persons themselves to be able to make free and fully informed decisions about their futures.”^[19]

Archbishop Harry J. Flynn, archbishop emeritus of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, also banned the Legion of Christ from his area.^[19]

Accusations against the founder

Main article: Sexual scandal of Father Marcial Maciel

In July 2009, media in Spain published an interview with a woman who had a child with Maciel over 20 years ago and now lives in a luxury apartment in Madrid which Maciel purchased for her. The woman, Norma Hilda Baños, says that she was abused by Maciel as a minor and later was impregnated by him and she bore him a daughter, Norma Hilda Rivas.^[20] At least one source claims that Rivas is an alias that Maciel used during his life.^[21]

A day later, Mexican media reported that an attorney, José Bonilla, will represent three of a possible total of six of Maciel's children in a civil suit to recover Maciel's estate. The lawyer claims that there are several properties in Mexico and around the world which Maciel owned in his own name.^[22][23] In March 2010, Bonilla announced that he would no longer represent the three reputed children of Maciel, since one of them admitted to asking the Legion of Christ for $26 million USD in exchange for silence.^[24]

In March 2010, the Legion of Christ in a communiqué^[25] acknowledged as factual "reprehensible actions" by Maciel, including sexual abuse. The communique stated that "given the gravity of his faults, we cannot take his person as a model of Christian or priestly life." This occurred after the Legion spent more than a decade denying allegations from the victims of abuse.^[13]

It has been suggested that the close relationship between Maciel and Pope John Paul may have been one of the reasons that Vatican investigation regarding sex abuse allegations made against Fr. Maciel proceeded slowly although the first allegations were provided to the Pope in the late 1970s.^[13] There are also suggestions that bribery and corruption may have been a factor,^[26] see History of Maciel with the Vatican.

[edit] Apostolic Visitation

On March 31, 2009, the Legionaries of Christ and the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI has ordered an Apostolic visitation (a type of Vatican directed investigation) of the Legion of Christ. The Legion of Christ has acknowledged that its founder fathered a child and is also responding to claims that the founder molested seminarians. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, said church leaders will visit, investigate, and evaluate all seminaries, schools and other institutions run by the Legion worldwide.^[27] The announcement of the unusual investigation was posted on the Web site of the Legionaries of Christ March 31, 2009 along with the text of a letter informing the Legionaries of the pope's decision.^[28]

Vatican authorities named five bishops from five different countries, each one in charge of investigating the Legionaries in a particular part of the world. Their report was given to the Holy Father in late April 2010.

Ricardo Watti Urquidi,^[29] Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tepic, Mexico, is in charge of the Vatican's oversight of the Legionaries in Mexico and Central America, where the congregation has 44 houses, 250 priests, and 115-120 seminarians; Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver, is in charge of the Vatican's oversight of the Legionaries in the United States and Canada, where the congregation has 24 houses, 130 priests, and 260 seminarians; Giuseppe Versaldi, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alessandria della Paglia, is in charge of the Vatican's oversight of the Legionaries in Italy, Israel, the Philippines, and South Korea, where the Legion has 16 houses, 200 priests and 420 religious seminarians (in Italy itself there are 13 houses, 168 priests, and 418 seminarians); Ricardo Ezzati Andrello,^[30] Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Concepción, Chile, is in charge of the Vatican's oversight of the Legionaries in Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela, where the Legion has 20 houses, 122 priests and 122 religious seminarians; Ricardo Blázquez Pérez es:Ricardo Blázquez, formerly the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bilbao and now the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Valladolid, both in Spain, is in charge of the Vatican's oversight of the Legionaries in Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Holland, Poland, Austria, and Hungary - the rest of Europe outside Italy- where the Legion has 20 houses, 105 priests, and 160 seminarians.^[31][32]

 

Formal Denunciation of Fr Maciel

On May 1, 2010 the Vatican said that the Pope will name a delegate and appoint a commission to review the Legionaries of Christ following revelations that the congregation's founder sexually abused numerous underage seminarians and fathered at least three children with two women. In a statement, the Vatican denounced the Rev. Marciel Maciel for creating a "system of power" that enabled him to lead an "immoral" double life "devoid of scruples and authentic religious sentiment" and allowed him to abuse young boys for decades unchecked. The Vatican issued the statement after Pope Benedict XVI met with five bishops who investigated the Legion to determine its future.^[33] The Vatican statement was remarkable in its tough denunciation of Maciel's crimes and deception.^{[34][dead link]}

The "very serious and objectively immoral acts" of Fr. Marcial Maciel, which were "confirmed by incontrovertible testimonies" represent "true crimes and manifest a life without scruples or authentic religious sentiment," the Vatican said.^[35] The Vatican said the Legion created a "mechanism of defense" around Maciel to shield him from accusations and suppress damaging witnesses from reporting abuse. "It made him untouchable," the Vatican said. The statement decried "the lamentable disgracing and expulsion of those who doubted" Maciel's virtue. The Vatican statement did not address whether the Legion's current leadership will face any sanctions.^[36] Actions taken by the current Legion leadership will be scrutinized; but no specific sanctions were mentioned, amid suspicion that at least some of the current leaders must have been aware of Maciel's sins. The Vatican acknowledged the "hardships" faced by Maciel's accusers through the years when they were ostracized or ridiculed, and commended their "courage and perseverance to demand the truth."^[37]

[edit] Naming of the Papal Delegate

As a result of the visitation, Benedict XVI named Archbishop (now Cardinal) Velasio De Paolis as the Papal Delegate to oversee the Legion and its governance on July 9, 2010.^[38]

[edit] Activity of the Papal Delegate

Archbishop Ricardo Blazquez es:Ricardo Blázquez, Archbishop of Valladolid, Spain, headed the probe into the consecrated women of the Legion's lay movement, Regnum Christi. According to an online Catholic News Service article issued September 30, 2010, Archbishop Blazquez, 68, who had been Bishop of Bilbao and was once a professor of theology, was the former President of the Spanish Episcopal Conference from 2005 to 2008 and before his presidency had been the head of the Spanish conference's commission for the doctrine of the faith from 1993 to 2003. As mentioned above and in the article, he had assisted in the earlier investigation of the congregation's centers and institutes in Europe outside of Italy. On June 7, 2011 he concluded the visitation but has as of June 16 he was still working on the final report.^[39]

Also, several clergy were named by the Vatican as assistants to Archbishop de Paolis in his work leading the commission. Bishop Brian Farrell, 66, a member of the Legionaries who was ordained a priest for the congregation in 1969, is a Dublin native and presently is the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (from 1970 to 1976 he served as director of the Legionaries' U.S. novitiate in Orange, Connecticut). In addition, there are three canon lawyers: Jesuit Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda, S.J., a former rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome; Sacred Heart Father Agostino Montan (a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus), who is the episcopal vicar of the Rome Diocese's office for consecrated life and a professor of canon law at Rome's Pontifical Lateran University; and Monsignor Mario Marchesi, who is the vicar general of the Diocese of Cremona and who has taught canon law at the Legionaries' Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome. Archbishop de Paolis, Father Ghirlanda, and Father Montan are consultors to the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Monsignor Marchesi and Fathers Ghirlanda and Montan serve as consultors to the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Archbishop de Paolis and Father Ghirlanda also are members of the Vatican's highest legislative body outside of the Pope, the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, and the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts.