Posted on 05/19/2006 2:47:33 AM PDT by catholicfreeper
Vatican sanctions founder of Legionaries
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican said Friday it had asked the Mexican founder of the conservative order Legionaries of Christ to renounce celebrating public Masses and live a life of "prayer and repentance" following its investigation into allegations he sexually abused seminarians.
In an official statement, the Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI had approved the sanctions against the Rev. Marcial Maciel - making it the first major sexual abuse disciplinary case handled by the pope since he took office last year.
In the statement, the Vatican didn't say whether it found the allegations against Maciel to be true. And it said that because of Maciel's age - he is 86 - it decided against mounting a full-fledged church law trial against him.
Instead, it said the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had "invited the priest to a reserved life of prayer and repentance, renouncing every public ministry."
COMMUNIQUE CONCERNING FOUNDER OF LEGIONARIES OF CHRIST
VATICAN CITY, MAY 19, 2006 (VIS) - With reference to recent news concerning the person of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, the Holy See Press Office released the following communique:
"Beginning in 1998, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith received accusations, already partly made public, against Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, for crimes that fall under the exclusive competence of the congregation. In 2002, Fr. Maciel published a declaration denying the accusations and expressing his displeasure at the offence done him by certain former Legionaries of Christ. In 2005, by reason of his advanced age, Fr. Maciel retired from the office of superior general of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ.
"All these elements have been subject to a mature examination by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and - in accordance with the Motu Proprio 'Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela,' promulgated on April 30 2001 by Servant of God John Paul II - the then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, authorized an investigation into the accusations. In the meantime, Pope John II died and Cardinal Ratzinger was elected as the new Pontiff.
"After having attentively studied the results of the investigation, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the guidance of the new prefect, Cardinal William Joseph Levada, decided - bearing in mind Fr. Maciel's advanced age and his delicate health - to forgo a canonical hearing and to invite the father to a reserved life of penitence and prayer, relinquishing any form of public ministry. The Holy Father approved these decisions.
"Independently of the person of the Founder, the worthy apostolate of the Legionaries of Christ and of the Association 'Regnum Christi' is gratefully recognized."
OP/LEGIONARIES CHRIST/MACIEL VIS 060519 (320)
"He who hears you hears me"
The Church has spoken. Let the Freeptrial begin.
This turn of events makes me very sad. I will not read this thread but pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary instead to prevent my sadness from turning into anger.
Ecuse me, but it did involve kids. They were as young as 10 year old. He had them perform sex acts on him "with the approval of the pope to help ease his stomach ailment."
He is sick.
But there is good that comes out of the Legion of Christ.
YEah I did see later today that was one of alleged victims in the case. I did that recall someone being that young.
??????
Your ignorance is showing
I used to date girls from an all-girls Catholic HS. Does that count?
I don't know Joe Ratzinger, so I can't be sure whether he'd do a better job. I figure he's got lots of management experience. That can't hurt. But odds are he'd be at a serious watts-in-the-bulb disadvantage. On the other hand, he'd probably be come out way ahead in the number of languages spoken, and beat me by a mile on Church History. But translators are cheap, the Vatican probably has lots of good ones, and I'm a quick study and would probably dominate on analytical ability so if I had a good research staff I'd be comfortable finding out what I need to know about Church history when I need to know it, and most importantly, knowing what questions to ask to calibrate the quality and relevance of the information I'm being fed.
So I guess it depends on which skill set would be more important -- management experience running an organization the size of the Vatican, foreign languages, being up to snuff on Church history, sheer number of watts in the bulb, ability to do uptake -- knowing what questions to ask and how to organize massive amounts of information and distill it down to its essence, analytical ability, legal experience, etc etc.
Then there are differences in temperment. I'm probably much more reflective, intellectually honest, etc. He's probably more of a stickler for details. And I'd have no sympathy for priests making ten year old boys perform sex acts whereas he might worry, at least a bit, about the "scandal to the leity" if the guy's exposed in black and white.
I'm not planning on submitting a resume. I don't want the job. But since you asked for an objective assessment, there you go.
Yes, it could have been worse. It is relevant. It's a small blessing, at least, that it didn't involve children. Absolutely - no Priest should molest, proposition, steal, etc. In my own rural area where no molestation allegations are known (per released data), over the last 30+ years, sadly, a few priests were moved quietly, amidst allegations with proof over such things as affairs with married women, alcoholism or other substance abuse, or of somehow cheating or stealing from their parishioners.
All heinous, to be sure, but these actions become all the more heinous whenever they involve children. In the former, many times the others involved, if any, were willing, if misguided, individuals. But the children can never be that. And in my area, these kinds of non-molestation actions were routinely hushed up and glossed over and the priests involved moved to an often unsuspecting parish.
I am, too. The actions of a few have tainted their whole community, at least for now. They surely need our prayers.
Is the order desolved? I am not sure how a order is going to function long term when the founder has been accused of this. Shall it be renamed?
I know how you feel. It's hard to hear. I recently learned of a Priest very dear to me, who had apparently, many years before I met him, been involved in some discretion that has recently come to light and even though he had 'repented' and truly changed (no subsequent allegations, a renewed faith and fervor), he is now, rightly I'm sure, being called to task for those actions. I was absolutely stunned. And saddened. I'm glad at least that Pope Benedict is making sure that some reprimand is given, after the decades of things being swept under the rug. He seems up to the grim task.
If a Dentist raped a 21 year old woman while she was under anethesia (eg under his control) and the judge stripped him of his license to practice Dentistry, wouldn't you be appalled?
Would your sense of moral indignation be placated if his attorney said "Well, it could have been worse. At least she wasn't 12"
Whether the putative dentist's victim was a 12 year-old or a 21-year old, would you thereafter refuse to have your cavities filled by ANY dentist????
I used to be a state officer of the Libertarian Party but then I grew up. Perhaps, you will have an analogous experience.
From what I can see, the Holy Father leaves you prostrate in the dust in terms of “watts-in-the-bulb,” “analytical ability,” “knowing what questions to ask,” “reflective temperament,” and, perhaps most importantly, the genuine humility that that keeps the wise from being driven down false trails by arrogance.
Your note 31 demonstrates quite well that your claims to brilliance and analytical ability are grounded only in delusions of adequacy.
You wrote, “If a Dentist raped a 21 year old woman while she was under anethesia (eg under his control) and the judge stripped him of his license to practice Dentistry, wouldn't you be appalled? Would your sense of moral indignation be placated if his attorney said ‘Well, it could have been worse. At least she wasn't 12’ ”
That’s so bad, it’s not even wrong. It reminds me of leftist droolers staggering about awestruck by the Clintons’ 105-110 IQs.
A person who enjoyed true adequacy in terms of “watts-in-the-bulb,” “analytical ability,” “knowing what questions to ask,” and “reflective temperament” would have seen immediately that the comment to which you responded (#4, “If I recall these charges occurred decades ago and thank God didn’t involve kids.”) in no way indicates that a person isn’t appalled by a crime because it is a lesser crime than another, or that a person’s sense of moral indignation is placated by a statement that one crime is less heinous than another.
Those two concepts – to repeat, that a person isn’t appalled by a crime because it is a lesser crime than other, or that a person’s sense of moral indignation is placated by a statement that one crime is less heinous than another – are in no way implied by the statement to which you replied. One can’t even call it a stretch, because no amount of stretching gets you from what was said to what you inferred. Your reply is a complete non sequitur, and betrays a severe deficiency not merely in analytical ability, but even in the ability to understand simple English.
Given that starting point, it is hardly surprising that you had no idea what questions to ask, and your willingness to charge into the mouths of the guns with the wrong questions cannot be said to speak well of any “reflective temperament” you may wish to claim.
Further, if the Holy Father might be concerned with scandalizing the laity (Hint: if you’re going to swan about claiming to be more brilliant than the world’s great leaders, learning to spell would enhance your credibility.) where you would not, that merely shows that he surpasses you in wisdom and holiness as far as he does in “watts-in-the-bulb,” “analytical ability,” “knowing what questions to ask,” and “reflective temperament.”
“I don't want the job.”
How fortunate. That’s one disappointment life won’t deal you.
I think your ridiculously high opinion of yourself was explained by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle when he wrote, "Mediocrity knows nothing better than itself."
They involved kids and lots of them.
How about a few prayers for his many victims?
Seminarians are kids?
At the Legion of Christ seminary in Rome, Fr. Maciel is reported to have molested about 30 of the boys in his charge during the 1950s, often telling them that he had a special dispensation from Pope Pius XII to do so. Eight of his former students — a retired priest, three professors, a lawyer, a rancher, an engineer, and a teacher, now all in their 60s — have submitted to the Vatican sworn affidavits documenting their abuse at the hands of Fr. Maciel. But when the victims filed suit under Canon Law to have Fr. Maciel excommunicated, Cardinal Ratzinger intervened to halt the proceedings, without any investigation of the allegations whatsoever. According to Brian Ross of ABC News, when he tried to question Ratzinger about this episode a few years ago, he refused to discuss the matter, “became visibly upset and actually slapped this reporter’s hand”!
http://apokalypso.com/PurgeBegins.html
The charges against Fr. Maciel involve nine men (one now dead), all former Legionaries. For some, the alleged abuse began when they were barely 12 years of age, and continued until the men were in their mid-20s. Much of the abuse took place in Mexico, Spain, and Italy. Two of the men, Mexican Fr. Juan Vaca and Spanish Fr. Félix Alarcón, served the Legion in America. Fr. Alarcón opened the Legion of Christ center in Connecticut in 1965 and Fr. Vaca served for five years as the U.S. Legion Director before leaving the order. Three of the nine filed a canonical suit against Maciel and have been waiting years for it to be heard.
So you were on the right track, though that excerpt you posted inflated things, not surprisingly.
Those are the ones that brought the charges though the courts to Ratzinger. He of course ignored them
So you were on the right track, though that excerpt you posted inflated things, not surprisingly.
It was not purposely inflated.It is the truth, and there are probably more out there. He specialized in getting young boys into his "seminary" even though he flunked out of two and was only made a priest by his uncle.
But why would you not be outraged that even ONE child was molested by this man?
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