While he was still Cardinal Ratzinger, Benedict XVI claimed that in certain cases - and he was referring to the New Movements - only the pope is able to discern the the authenticity of a charism. The chaos which is currently convulsing the Legionaries of Christ religious order and its lay off-shoots, the male and female branches of Regnum Christi, which are numbered amongst the New Movements, would seem to invalidate this claim.
The Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi were highly favoured by John Paul II, so highly favoured in fact that numerous accusations of child abuse against the founder of these organisations, the late Mexican priest Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, were hushed up by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - then headed by Cardinal Ratzinger - until after John Paul's death. This story - and the compelling evidence provided to the Congregation and Ratzinger - is recounted in detail in the book Vows of Silence by Jason Berry and Garald Renner (Free Press 2010). It makes sobering reading. Maciel not only systematically abused seminarians of his order over many decades, but he absolved them from the acts (such as fellatio) he forced them to commit with him; absolution under these circumstances is an offence which, under canon law incurs automatic excommunication for the priest. He also used these young followers of his to procure the prescription medication he needed to feed his substance addictions. The order capitalised on the Vatican's silence to issue strenuous denials of the charges against their beloved Father.
Ratzinger pursued the matter as soon as he became Pope. But this is not greatly to his credit as it only goes to show that he believed the accusations were true but failed to act on them earlier under some misguided belief that disciplining a favourite of the late Pontiff would somehow be disrespectful to the papal office or the person of John Paul. Surely this reveals what a cockeyed system of values prevails in the Vatican: a far cry from the teachings of Jesus who reserved his strongest condemnation for those who corrupt the young and innocent, and had no time for puffed-up religious authorities.
Once the facts about Maciel's history of abuse began to come out, it seemed that what had previously emerged was only the tip of the iceberg. Maciel's voracious sexual appetite not only included young boys but also several women with whom he fathered three children (at least to date - I have also heard the estimate set at six!). Cases of Maciel's abuse of seminarians have been estimated at between twenty and a hundred. Although the CDF did investigate Maciel after John Paul's death, its final decision, with the blessing of Pope Benedict, was to close the case without any canonical action due to Maciel's advanced age and frail health. He was required to renounce every public activity, including his position as the Superior of the Order, and pursue a life of prayer and penance. Father Marcial Maciel died in 2008.
In 2009 Pope Benedict authorised an Apostolic Visitation to investigate all branches of Maciel's organisation - both the Legionaries of Christ and the male and female branches of Regnum Christi. Since then, members have left in droves. Between 200 and 400 of almost a thousand consecrated women of Regnum Christi have left the movement since the facts about Father Maciel emerged. Then, on 17th February 2012, the leader of the women of Regnum Christi, Malen Oriel, announced that she was leaving the organisation with thirty other women. The Oriols are a wealthy and influential Spanish family who played an important role in the development of Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi. Four of Malen's brothers who were priest members of the Legionaries of Christ have already left the order. On 27th Febraury, it was announced that Oriol has started a new organisation called Totus Tuus (the motto of John Paul II) based in Chile with the thirty women who left with her. It has been approved by the Vatican and has the blessing of Pope Benedict. Some observers believe that this could be the start olf the unravelling of the entire organisation.
Orders have survived the disgrace of their founders before. One of the founders of Capuchin branch of the Franciscans became a Calvinist and married, but the order continues until today. It remains to be seen whether Maciel's can do the same. One beneficial effect of the Maciel affair is the Vatican's questioning of the excessive power of charismatic founders of new movements and congregations. A meeting was held on 13th June last year between the heads of the Vatican congregations and Benedict XVI at which the Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone read a paper on this question, pointing out that these leaders often demanded greater loyalty to themselves than to the Church.. How seriously this will be taken remains to be seen; Bertone was a great admirer of Chiara Lubich and presided at her funeral mass. One thing is for sure though, papal approval can no longer be regarded as a guarantee of anything!
Showing posts with label Benedict XVI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Benedict XVI. Show all posts
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Rome must respect its own laws
October 2011 The Apostolic Visitation of the Regnum Christi movement - the lay off-shoot of the Legionaries of Christ order - has just been concluded. Such a major investigation is usually carried out only in grave circumstances, when the Vatican suspects or has proof of, serious deviation within a religious congregation or association in the Church. In this case it was the overwhelming evidence of, according to a Vatican communique issued in 2010, 'the very serious and objectively immoral behaviour of Father Maciel [the Mexican founder of Regnum Christi and the Legionaries of Christ, which] sometimes resulted in actual crimes, and manifests a life devoid of scruples and of genuine religious sentiment.'
For years, the Vatican swept aside well-documented accusations from former priests and seminarians of the Legionaries who claimed to have been sexually abused by Maciel. Not only did these prove to be well-founded, but it was also established that he had fathered children by at least two women, while masquerading as the saintly Founder of the order. (See Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II by Jason Berry and Gerald Renner) Maciel's chief protector was John Paul II who was a great admirer of the priest and his traditionalist order and lay association. Benedict XVI, who as Cardinal Ratzinger headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to whom the complaints had been addressed, was fully aware of the serious accusations and the compelling evidence to back them up but took no action during John Paul's lifetime. Apparently, for Ratzinger, offending Pope John Paul II (sometimes referred to as the 'the Great'!) or his favourites outweighed the horrific wrongs that had been done to generations of boys and young men who had joined the Legionaries of Christ in good faith. Clearly it was felt that the good done by these organisations outweighed any wrong-doing and there was a danger of harming their reputation. To give Benedict his due, one of his first actions in office was to take action against Maciel personally and later to authorise the Apostolic Visitations of the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi.
Given the gravity of the accusations and the publicity they had received - particularly through the book Vows of Silence - and the high profile of the Legionaries and its close association with the late Pontiff, Rome could hardly justify delaying such an investigation any longer. Furthermore since this particular scandal involved the abuse of children, an issue which has convulsed the Church worldwide and severely damaged the Church's credibility, it had to be addressed sooner or later. Other New Catholic Movements have also been the subject of complaints to Rome, often from authoritative figures such as local bishops, but, as they concerned less controversial and high-profile issues such as divisions in parishes and families , alleged brain-washing, secrecy, unreasonable demands for money etc., it was easier for Rome to sweep them under the carpet and indeed pressurise the local churches into accepting the Movements. It would be fascinating to see what aberrations a Vatican enquiry would unearth in these other organisations. One complaint that was levelled at Regnum Christi by the Apostolic Visitation, for example, was that superiors pressurised members into manifesting their consciences, that is into revealing secrets that properly belong in the context of confession. This is in direct contravention of article 630 of Canon Law which states that 'Superiors...are forbidden in any way to induce the members to make a manifestation of conscience to themselves'. In my experience this was the norm in the Focolare Movement and indeed, in the process of leaving the movement I was expected to do so with a number of authority figures to my considerable distress. In a more recent case, a member of Focolare who confessed to a superior that he had homosexual experiences in the past was summoned before a kind of kangaroo court at the Centre of the Movement in Rome and bombarded by several leaders of the movement with questions on the nature of his sexual feelings and temptations. I have heard from members of the Neocatechumenate that this kind of public examination on intimate matters of conscience is commonplace.
It would be interesting to put together a dossier of just how common this practice is within the New Movements and I would welcome any experiences that former members would be willing to share. Identities would, of course, be safeguarded where necessary.
For years, the Vatican swept aside well-documented accusations from former priests and seminarians of the Legionaries who claimed to have been sexually abused by Maciel. Not only did these prove to be well-founded, but it was also established that he had fathered children by at least two women, while masquerading as the saintly Founder of the order. (See Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II by Jason Berry and Gerald Renner) Maciel's chief protector was John Paul II who was a great admirer of the priest and his traditionalist order and lay association. Benedict XVI, who as Cardinal Ratzinger headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to whom the complaints had been addressed, was fully aware of the serious accusations and the compelling evidence to back them up but took no action during John Paul's lifetime. Apparently, for Ratzinger, offending Pope John Paul II (sometimes referred to as the 'the Great'!) or his favourites outweighed the horrific wrongs that had been done to generations of boys and young men who had joined the Legionaries of Christ in good faith. Clearly it was felt that the good done by these organisations outweighed any wrong-doing and there was a danger of harming their reputation. To give Benedict his due, one of his first actions in office was to take action against Maciel personally and later to authorise the Apostolic Visitations of the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi.
Given the gravity of the accusations and the publicity they had received - particularly through the book Vows of Silence - and the high profile of the Legionaries and its close association with the late Pontiff, Rome could hardly justify delaying such an investigation any longer. Furthermore since this particular scandal involved the abuse of children, an issue which has convulsed the Church worldwide and severely damaged the Church's credibility, it had to be addressed sooner or later. Other New Catholic Movements have also been the subject of complaints to Rome, often from authoritative figures such as local bishops, but, as they concerned less controversial and high-profile issues such as divisions in parishes and families , alleged brain-washing, secrecy, unreasonable demands for money etc., it was easier for Rome to sweep them under the carpet and indeed pressurise the local churches into accepting the Movements. It would be fascinating to see what aberrations a Vatican enquiry would unearth in these other organisations. One complaint that was levelled at Regnum Christi by the Apostolic Visitation, for example, was that superiors pressurised members into manifesting their consciences, that is into revealing secrets that properly belong in the context of confession. This is in direct contravention of article 630 of Canon Law which states that 'Superiors...are forbidden in any way to induce the members to make a manifestation of conscience to themselves'. In my experience this was the norm in the Focolare Movement and indeed, in the process of leaving the movement I was expected to do so with a number of authority figures to my considerable distress. In a more recent case, a member of Focolare who confessed to a superior that he had homosexual experiences in the past was summoned before a kind of kangaroo court at the Centre of the Movement in Rome and bombarded by several leaders of the movement with questions on the nature of his sexual feelings and temptations. I have heard from members of the Neocatechumenate that this kind of public examination on intimate matters of conscience is commonplace.
It would be interesting to put together a dossier of just how common this practice is within the New Movements and I would welcome any experiences that former members would be willing to share. Identities would, of course, be safeguarded where necessary.
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