When Scoundrels Seem Faithful

The Legion of Christ has been known as a supposedly magisterial order, faithful to the pope and to the the teachings of the Church. This makes the current scandal of their founder's evil deeds more shocking--after all, wasn't he doing so much good?

Con men and scoundrels will often do good, in order to do evil. It is a good strategy to put on the mask of piety, if one wants to defraud or debauch.

Years ago, when I was in seminary, there was another seminarian in my class who was somewhat famous as a visionary, a seer of visions of the Virgin Mary. I remember elderly ladies gushing about what a saintly young man he was. He would sit entranced during the daily holy hour, and those sitting near him would sometimes smell roses as he prayed.

He was thrown out for homosexual behavior, and was later arrested for child pornography, and is now serving time in jail. A thoroughly dishonest man, playing us all for fools, but in conversation as earnest and saintly and orthodox a man as you could want.

The dishonest will use orthodoxy as an angle, a way to take advantage of pious people. It happens all the time.

How can you guard against it? You can be as wise as a serpent. Suspect those who offer you spiritual goods, especially if they do it in a way that magnifies themselves. The genuine spiritual father or mother will not ever point to self, but only and always to Christ.

Legion of Christ Delenda est!

You may have heard, or you may not have heard, but the LC's founder, Fr. Maciel, turns out to have been a scoundrel, having fathered children, misused funds, and abused young boys.

LC priests and Regnum Christi members talk as if the order can go on. It cannot. It just can't.

You cannot have a religious order whose founder was a pedophilic liar and fornicator.

LC priests should be given the choice of incardinating into the diocesan priesthood, petitioning for entrance into other orders (after a suitable novitiate), or putting aside their vocation.

The schools should be put under diocesan control immediately, and all of Maciel's spiritual writings should be banned.

Look, if it happened to the Knights Templar (permanently) and the Jesuits (temporarily), it can happen, and should.

I'll let you know if Pope Benedict takes my advice on this.