Baltimore Archbishop Explains Suspicion of Legionaries

Orlando, Jun. 13, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Archbishop of Baltimore has revealed that he planned to banish the Legionaries of Christ (LC) from his archdiocese before Vatican officials persuaded him to impose restrictions on the Legionaries instead.

In an unusually candid interview with John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, Archbishop Edwin O'Brien disclosed that he had gone so far as to inform the priests' council of the Baltimore archdiocese that he would tell the Legionaries to leave. The archbishop said that the announcement was warmly received.

However, after consulting with Vatican officials, Archbishop O'Brien agreed to discuss his concerns about a "lack of transparency" in LC operations with the superior general of the order, Father Alvaro Corcuera. Those discussions eventually led to the archbishop's decision that the LC could remain active in the Baltimore archdiocese only under explicit conditions, which he outlined in a letter to Father Corcuera, made public by the archdiocese this week.

Archbishop O'Brien made it clear that if LC priests do not adhere to those guidelines, he will expel them from the Baltimore archdiocese.

In the interview the archbishop was frank in expressing his own suspicions about the Legionaries of Christ. "I’ve always suspected the flaws in the organization are endemic to it," he said. "There’s no remedying them, because it’s so deeply ingrained."

[The full text of John Allen's interview with Archbishop O'Brien is available on the web site of the National Catholic Reporter.]

Perhaps your comments are a little over simplistic. I would guess that Archbishop O'Brien, who I understand to be one of the more orthodox bishops (somebody let me know if this is wrong. He was the prelate for the military I believe), is dealing with one of the new "charismatic" groups that are increasingly entering into the "mainstay" of the Church now. Not unexpectedly, they are experiencing "growing pains". He may actually be helping them in the long run.

Opus Dei had similar issues, as do the Neocatechumenal Way, etc. These groups, who have been very orthodox during the uncertain times of the past 40 years, have grown in very tight groups and therefore had to have been focused inward. These groups have tended to be very zealous and structured as well, and that is a lifestyle that not everyone can keep. What about those who can't keep up, so to speak? Hence the rumors and problems.

Additionally, the Legionaries and Regnum Christi tend to be structured along traditional Spaniard (?) authoritarian lines, or better yet, culture. This is much different than typical American culture. Conflicts will occur.

Times are a'changing! Orthodoxy in the Faith is making a comeback while these groups are growing with the numbers to start having a major impact on the Church. These groups are going to have to adapt to this new reality in order to continue their good efforts. Basically, this is what I make of all of this ( during this late night mess of a post ;). As I understand it, Bishop O'Brien is concerned about issues that even the Pope has been concerned about with many of the new groups. I have no doubt that they will adapt to the needs of the Church and Her Bishops.

Even Saint Francis of Assisi had to be asked by Church authority to put his clothes back on, and they even convinced him to at least be ordained as a deacon. But the Franciscan Order grew and had a major impact on the Church. I have no doubt that the Legion will as well.

As I read the interview (for full disclosure I am an RC member and lay leader of a LC boys group - Conquest) I found his criteria to be what is standard for the movement.

We are directed by our section leaders to keep our local priests in the loop with what is going on. I also sensed that somewhere in this Archbishop’s diocese there is or are some pastors who are threatened by the orthodoxy of the movement.

There is nothing secretive about the movement; we do encourage vocations both to LC and to diocesan vocations. I am not aware of a single case where parents are not well aware of the interaction between a boy and his spiritual advisor especially if the boy is trying to discern a calling. Without the parents encouragement a call to religious life will never be answered, it is not like one can scoop up boys in the dead of night and haul them off to seminary and have good priests someday.

It would be interesting to see the number of vocations coming out of this diocese both to movements and to the actual diocese seminary. Part of me suspects that the vicar general was feeling the movement was taking all the good vocation candidates.

The concerns about father son weekends I have never seen. I am strongly encouraged to go with the boys if I like. I do sometimes, and sometimes I take advantage of the time to spend it with a LC priest to talk about faith matters. It is always my choice though. I also stay in the same place the kids do, sometimes that means sleeping on the floor, but I am always welcome anywhere the kids are.

It is interesting that the archbishops calls into suspect that Legionnaires travel in pairs, it is done so that a Brother can travel with an ordained Priest and learn from him as they go. It is part of the study for seminarians, there is an aspect of protection to it, but certainly nothing nefarious.

Of course the acusations of Fr. Maciel are brought up and it is interesting that this Archbishop says the legion must come to grips with the evidence and then says he is not sure what evidence there is. The charges against Fr. Maciel have been investigated several times and each time they were fully investigated, nothing proved to have any substance. The last time the charges were brought, Fr Maciel was in too ill of health to stand against them and the Vatican asked that he enter a private life of prayer. But always, that request is brought up to impugn guilt without mention of the many times he was cleared of said charges.

This is perhaps the most telling quote of the interview “Short of that, however, what you get is an impression of total obedience to the church, but with a ‘but.’ The impression is, ‘We’re the Legion, we do things a little differently, and the bishop really doesn’t understand. Also the priests don’t understand, because we’re Legionary priests, and the Holy See has established us to do certain things.’ There’s that kind of looking down on others, belittling them.” The LC priests are extremely good priest, and as RC members we are called to an ever increasing level of perfection in our obedience to the church and Christ. That obedience is not to our local pastor who may or may not be in harmony with the Church and Christ’s teachings. That does get to a lot of more liberal priests.

I wish all Archbishops went after truly sinful priests the way this one is going after perceived sin.

I encourage your involvement in RC. I am a deacon who studied at the Regina Apostolorum in Rome. I found the LC men there - priests and seminarians - to be very normal and very orthodox. Unfortunately that combination is very suspect in our Church today. We must persist and not falter in our goal of returning the Church to what Christ intended for her. I tried to get Conquest in my parish but could not muster the support among fathers. But I am still convinced that because of radical feminism in the Church, the men withdrew and therein lies so many of the problems in our Church for the past 40 years. In the midst of the sex abuse scandal, the question I asked was “Where were the fathers?” The problem with our priesthood has been a lack of men who knew what it meant to be fathers. I hope the LC continue in their call. As I see it they are what the Jesuits of the 16th & 17th centuries were.

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