To Be More Effective Witnesses of Conciliarism

by Thomas A. Droleskey

As was noted in an article last year and reiterated in Unimaginable Deceit and Duplicity two days ago, the conciliar Vatican's investigation into the thorough disgraced cult that is the Legionaries of Christ was not going to result in its suppression by Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI:

Some might point to the "apostolic visitation" of the Legion that is ongoing at this time "sign" that Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, who as "Cardinal" Ratzinger told a reporter from the American Broadcasting Company that it would be wrong to "dispirit" the faithful by making public the results of the conciliar Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's investigation into the many allegations made against Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, is a sign that the currently reigning false "pontiff" is going to correct the "abuses" in the Legionaries of Christ. Some even think that the organization might be suppressed.

No such thing will happen. While it is true--and very commendable--that Ratzinger/Benedict moved very quickly in 2005 and 2006 to prosecute Father Marcial Maciel Degollado and to remove him from public view, it is my noninfallible belief that the ultimate report issued about the "visitation" will call for some recommendations for "reform" and continued "monitoring" by the conciliar Vatican, perhaps something along the line of a period of "probation" until the finances and administration of the Legion are reorganized according to the specifications outlined by the conciliar visitators. Perhaps a new "mission statement" will be required, one that makes a formal denunciation of Degollado The Legionaries of Christ simply provide too much money to the conciliar Vatican for much else to be done. And money has been, after all, the bottom line for every disciple of Judas Iscariot since the first Spy Wednesday. Those who can praise false religions and esteem their symbols and their places of devil worship are simply modern-day Judases who will let the money dictate their response to crises that they themselves had worsened by years of refusing to discipline those who were threats to the bodies and the souls of ordinary Catholics.

 

Well, the actual results of the "apostolic visitation," which were announced yesterday, Saturday, May 1, 2010 (the Feast of Saints Philip and James in some traditional venues or the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker in other traditional venues), were pretty close to the noninfallible belief that was expressed in the passage above.

The Legionaries of Christ are not going to be suppressed. Translation: the money is too important to ignore.

Ratzinger/Benedict will appoint a new superior to restructure the community. Translation: no priest or presbyter in the Legionaries of Christ can be trusted to act honesty to effect such a restructuring as each is steeped in the ways of secrecy and deceit fostered by the now disgraced"founder" who built his order on a fabric of lies and the intimidation of anyone who criticized him. (Hmm. Where have we seen that pattern at work recently in the underground church? Lies? Intimidation? Character assassination? Hmm. It will come to me, I am sure.)

Measures will be taken to curb the authority of the officials of the community so that truth can be respected. Translation: leaders of the Legionaries of Christ will have to be taught not to lie as readily as most of them have been doing (see some of the examples cited in Unimaginable Deceit and Duplicity). Does this mean that the priests/presbyters of the Legionaries of Christ who lied to wealthy donors who gave millions of dollars to start various schools in the belief that programs involving explicit instruction in matters pertaining to the Sixth and Ninth Commandments while they intended all along to use the same materials as in diocesan schools will not have to publicly repent of their wicked, deceptive ways?

Father Marcial Maciel Degollado has been denounced by the conciliar Vatican, and it is supposed that the Legionaries themselves will have do so formally. Additionally, a new "mission statement" will be required of the Legion. Translation: it's back to the drawing boards for the Legionaries of Christ insofar as devising a "purpose" as its own "charism" thus far has been defined by the "vision" of its corrupt and reprehensible"founder," Father Marcial Maciel Degollado.

Left untouched, at least thus far, is the Legion's complex financial structure and whether it will be required to reform its sophisticated fundraising activities, which frequently rely upon members of Regnum Christi, its lay arm, to befriend wealthy people for purposes of manipulating them into becoming major benefactors. Money is the fuel that has made the Legionaries of Christ a powerful force in the conciliar Vatican and in many dioceses. Leaving control of the money in the hands of the Legionaries of Christ is akin to leaving the Faith in the hands of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI.

Here is a report on the results of the "apostolic visitation:"

 

ROME — Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday took control of the Legionaries of Christ, a powerful and wealthy Roman Catholic religious order whose founder, a friend of Pope John Paul II, was found to have molested seminarians and fathered several children.

The moves constituted the most direct action on sexual abuse since the most recent scandals have engulfed the church and prompted criticisms of the pope’s own handling of such cases as an archbishop in Munich and as a cardinal who led the office reviewing many sexual abuse charges.

In a statement on Saturday, the Vatican said that Benedict would appoint a special delegate to govern the Legionaries, an influential worldwide order that has been an important source of new vocations in a church that has struggled with a shrinking priesthood in much of the developed world. It was founded in 1941 by a Mexican priest, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado.

Pope Benedict also said he would appoint a special commission to examine the Legionaries’ constitution and open an investigation into its lay affiliate, Regnum Christi.

The measures mean that the order would be ruled directly from the Vatican. But the pope decided against dissolving the order or forcing out much of its leadership — at least for now — steps urged by many critics and victims’ advocates, who believe that the leaders must have known, or should have known, of the abuses.

The fate of the Legionaries is the most closely watched case in the Catholic Church as it grapples with a sexual abuse crisis that has increased pressure on Benedict to demonstrate his commitment to confronting the issue.

But some observers said that the new measures did not go far enough, and that appointing a delegate did not address the fundamental problems in the current leadership. The statement was ambiguous both about the role of the current leaders in Father Maciel’s deception, and also about their fate.

“The question is whether everything is still on the table in terms of the future, or is the underlying assumption that the present Legion of Christ can be repaired?” said George Weigel, a biographer of John Paul who had defended the Legionaries before learning of Father Maciel’s crimes. “I don’t see how the good work that the Legion and Regnum Christi do can continue without a definitive and unambiguous break with the past.”

Jose Barba Martin, the leader of a group of former Legionaries who complained to the Vatican in 1998 that they had been sexually abused as boys, said the appointment of an outsider to administer the order would do little good unless the church also replaced many officials in the upper echelon and rewrote the teachings of the group that stress obedience to superiors and silence about internal problems. “What’s needed is a psychological restructuring,” said Mr. Barba, an historian at the Insituto Tecnico Autonimo de Mexico. “If the same directors remain, it’s going to be very difficult.”

Mr. Barba said Father Maciel’s teachings and practices were intended, essentially, to brainwash young people into thinking obedience to their superiors should trump their own conscience in the face of wrongdoing.

Father Alberto Athié, a Mexican priest who in 1998 tried to bring allegations of sexual abuse by Father Maciel to the attention of Benedict, back when he was a cardinal, said the Holy See had been aware of the order’s strict code of silence and obedience and had done nothing about it. “This was tolerated by the Holy See for years,” Father Athié said, referring to the code of silence. “In this sense I think the Holy See cannot get to the bottom of this matter. It would have to criticize itself as an authority.”

Others praised Benedict’s decision and said the Vatican statement left open the possibility of new leadership for the order.

“Many of us are deeply satisfied with the depth and scope of what is laid out in the Vatican response,” said the Rev. Thomas V. Berg, a prominent former Legion priest. “I think it bodes well for the well being of the Legionaries who remain.”

He added that “the wording of the statement certainly leaves open the possibility of removing the current leadership, and many of us await that and expect that to happen.” Vatican experts said it would be difficult to find a delegate who could command the respect of the Legionaries, whose current top leadership was put in place by Father Maciel.

The Maciel case has become a touchstone for how Benedict has confronted sexual abuse. Benedict’s defenders cite it as an example that he took sexual abuse more seriously than his peers in the Vatican leadership did. But victim’s advocates say that he waited far too long to address it and that penalties were insufficient.

In 1998, eight Legionaries seminarians filed a complaint with the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The pope, who was then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and the head of the body, quashed an investigation in 1999, according to accounts from a Mexican bishop who tried to press the case with him. In 2004, a few months before John Paul died, the future pope reopened the investigation. It eventually found that Father Maciel had abused seminarians, fathered several children and misappropriated funds.

In 2006, Benedict removed him from priestly duties and restricted him to a life of prayer and penance — a punishment that his victims say was not commensurate to his crimes. He died two years later, still a priest. The measures the pope announced Saturday came after an exhaustive investigation of the order and Father Maciel’s crimes by five bishops who formed what is called an Apostolic Visitation, who submitted their report on March 15. The Vatican has said it wants to be transparent in sexual abuse cases, but the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the report’s findings would not be made public.

Jim Fair, a spokesman for the Legion in North America, said: “We thank the Holy Father and embrace the provisions with faith and obedience. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of the apostolic visitators, and we’re grateful for the prayers of so many people who have supported us at this time.”

The Vatican statement said that Father Maciel had kept his double life hidden from most Legionaries by creating a system of power that allowed him to silence his critics. The Vatican also assailed “the most serious and objectively immoral behavior of Father Maciel, confirmed by incontrovertible witnesses, which amount to true crimes and show a life deprived of scruples and authentic religious feeling.”

The announcement came a day after Benedict made a brief appearance at a meeting at the Vatican with five experts whom he had charged with determining the fate of the Legionaries, as well as with the secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and members of other Vatican departments.

Critics have said the order’s current leaders must have known about Father Maciel’s misdeeds. But the Rev. Luis Garza Medina, the order’s No. 2, or vicar general, said in an interview last week with La Repubblica that he was not aware of the abuse until after Father Maciel was punished in 2006. “It was difficult to understand that there might be such immoral and aberrant actions on his part,” he said.

In the statement, the Vatican said that the experts of the Apostolic Visitation had determined the need to preserve the Legionaries’ “apostolic and missionary action,” as well as to “re-examine the exercise of authority.”

“The Holy Father intends to reassure all the Legionaries and the members of the Regnum Christi movement that they will not be left alone: that the church has the firm commitment to accompany them and help them in the path toward purification that awaits them,” the statement said. (Benedict Reins In Catholic Order Tied to Abuse.)

 

The money, my friends, the money. Money, money, money, money. Those under Father Marcial Maciel Degollado were handing over oodles and oodles of cold, hard cash to their "founder." They had to know that he was not distributing that money to the poor and the underprivileged, that he was living, at the very least, a life of luxury and opulence unbefitting the founder of a religious community.

Then again, as my own personal dealings representatives of the Legionaries of Christ have borne witness as I noted their deceit and duplicit and attempted in act in behalf of others who were being aggrieved by the actions of Legion priests, money was the one and only bottom line that could get the attention of the community's power structure. Didn't have money? Didn't get much in the way of justice. Even if one had the money, as noted before, one didn't much in the way of either truth or justice. All the Legion wanted was the money. That's was the "founder" what. That's what his minions raised for him.

The Legionaries of Christ should have been suppressed. Some have objected to me in the past that the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen should have been suppressed because of its own corrupt founder, the late Bishop Francis Schuckhardt. There are several differences.

First, the whole "charism" of the Legionaries of Christ revolved around the "vision" that Father Marcial Maciel Degollado was said to have concerning how to be a disciple of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The mission of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen evolved from Francis Schuckhardt's promotion of Saint Louis de Montfort's True Devotion to Mary and of Our Lady's Fatima Message. I'd say that's quite a difference.

Second, the leaders of the Legionaries of Christ browbeat anyone and everyone who dared to criticize or to impugn the character of the "living saint," Marcial Maciel Degollado, saying after his pitiful death in 2008 that he had "gone to Heaven," where, I suppose, he met the murdered leader of the Taize Ecumenical Community, Roger Schutz, who was said by Ratzinger/Benedict himself to have "attained eternal joy" after his murder nearly five years ago. Francis Schuckhart was ousted from the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen by Father Denis Chicoine and Brother Tarcisius Mary (now Bishop Mark Anthony Pivarunas) and others once they were convinced of his moral corruption, taking prompt, swift, and effective action against him. I'd say that's quite a difference as well.

The Legionaries of Christ are being "rehabilitated" by Ratzinger/Benedict because it has a vast network of financial and human resources to continue propagandizing in behalf of the apostasies of conciliarism, including the "new ecclesiology, false ecumenism, religious liberty, separation of Church and State. Properly restructured and supervised by a "papal" representative, the Legionaries of Christ could be a powerful force in behalf of giving a more "traditional" look to the Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo service and promoting the doctrinally condemned and philosophically absurd "hermeneutic of continuity and discontinuity" to "reconcile" conciliarism with the authentic patrimony of the Catholic Church. Having looked at the possibility of suppression square in the face, those in the Legionaries of Christ who emerge ultimately in leadership positions after the "papal" appointee gets through with the community's restructuring and and supervises the revision of its "mission statement" will be even more willing than before to serve as the ready servants of those who esteem the symbols of false religions and blaspheme God openly by entering into places of false worship and calling them "sacred."

Those attached to the structures of the counterfeit church of conciliarism will hail today's development as signifying that "Pope" Benedict XVI is getting "tough" in the face of the scandals that have been exploited by many in the secular media in the past decade as a result of the same pattern of deceit and corruption on the part of one conciliar "bishop" after another as they had recruited, promoted and protected men inclined to commit perverse acts in violation of the Sixth and Ninth Commandments and browbeat and intimidated victims and witnesses alike in pretty much the same manner as exhibited by the leaders of the Legionaries of Christ when seeking to protect Father Marcial Maciel Degollado and their own untruthful practices at the cost of the loss of the Faith Itself in many souls. After all, how is Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI going to get the Legionaries of Christ to be truthful about its own practices when he refuses to be truthful about the cases of the perverted Father Peter Hullermann and sits back as he lets his old friend Monsignor Gerhard Gruber shoulder all of the blame? (See "Fall Guys" Aren't Usually "Stand-Up Guys")

Moreover, if Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI is concerned about truth and integrity, how can the false "pontiff" continue the conciliar "canonization" process of Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II, who indemnified and supporter Marcial Maciel Degollado at every almost every turn imaginable, using the force of his incontestably strong Polish will to reaffirm his unconditional support for Maciel and his band of cash-crazy deceit? Or is this one of those instances where Ratzinger/Benedict's concept of "truth" permits a contradiction in order to term someone as a "saint" who did not fulfill the basic duties of his state-in-life as the putative "pontiff" of the Catholic Church?

The hour is late. The deck chairs on the S.S. Conciliar Titanic are being rearranged to the hurrahs of the multitudes and as the conciliar bands play "Glory and Praise to Our God" (Glory and Praise to Our God--how's that for a blast from our conciliar past for those of you who are, along with me, refugees from the Novus Ordo and its sacrileges). And for what? To be more effective, credible witnesses in behalf of conciliarism? I'll pass, thank you very much.

Each of us must make reparation for our sins. No lie, no act of deception, no use of sanctimonious righteousness to seek to intimidate others from defending themselves and the truth will go unrevealed on the Last Day at the General Judgment of the Living and Dead. Although the mighty and the wealthy of the world and of the counterfeit church of conciliarism may very well get away their lies and deception in this life, they will have to join the rest of us mere mortals in facing the public revelation of our sins and their social effects at the General Judgment:

Let us add to these texts from Scripture the testimony of St. Thomas Aquinas, who gives us three theological reasons for the opportuneness and propriety of a universal judgment.

The first of these reasons consists in the fact that the works of man, whether they are good or bad, are not always isolated, transitory acts; more often, especially in the case of leaders of nations and those who are invested with public authority, they continue to subsist after they are concluded, either in the memory of other men or in public acclaim, as a result of the consequences they have had and the scandal they have caused. Thus, at first sight, a particular, secret crime seems to be only a private, personal deed; but it becomes social on account of its effects.

Certainly it is of faith that there is a particular judgment, and that every man, at the instant of his soul's departure from the body, appears before the tribunal of God to hear his eternal sentence pronounced. Yet this judgment cannot suffice, and it is essential that it should be followed by another public judgment, in which God will not examine the actions in isolation and taken in themselves, but will examine their effects upon other men, in the good or evil deriving from them for families and peoples--in a word, in the consequences they produced and which those who perpetrated them ought to have foreseen.

The second reason given by the Angelica Doctor this public manifestation relates to the false judgments and mistaken appraisals of human opinion. Most men, even the wisest and most enlightened, are easily outwitted and deceived by others. They do not discern the innermost depths of souls, and cannot reach what is secret and interior in them; hence, it happens that they generally form their judgments on appearances, on what is visible and exterior. Again, it follows that good men are often treated with undeserved severity, that they are unappreciated and injured in their reputation. On the other hand, the wickedness of a large number of men remains unknown, they everywhere enjoy public esteem and trust, and the world accords them their consideration and praise which is due to the just alone. So a judgment is necessary that exposes every pretense, unmasks all hypocrisy, and lays bar hidden ruses and all false and base virtues.

This judgment, St. John tells us, will not take place "according to the flesh, nor according to that which eyes see and the ears hear"; it will be accomplished in the dazzling splendor of the light of God, in the discernment of all intentions and all desires, the full intuition of the most secret and mysterious recesses of the heart: corda omnium intuendo.

Lastly, a third reason given by St. Thomas is that God governs men by means adapted to the circumstances of their nature, and will judge them according to the promises He made them and the hopes He aroused in them; whether rewarding or punishing them. He owes it to His wisdom to keep to the laws and limits of distribution justice such as He has fixed them in this life. Now, St. Paul himself calls the present life a race, an arena; he portrays man as a traveler on this earth, under the figure of a soldier or an athlete rushing after his crown; he holds forth before us the prospect of eternal life, which he calls by the names of "palm, trophy, crown of justice, crown of life and glory." In order, then, that the reward may really match the promise, it has to be bestowed at a public assembly, with a pomp and ceremony worthy of Him who confers it, in the presence of all those who have taken part in the battle, of all the enemies over whom the saints have triumphed, following the manner in which ancient Rome and Greece used to act toward their victorious warriors and heroes. (Father Charles Arminjon,The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life, translated by Susan Conroy and Peter McEnerny. Manchester, New Hampshire: Sophia Institute Press, 2008, pp. 95-96.)

 

We must, therefore, ask Our Lady in this her month, the month of May, to help us to live penitentially so that we can participate in the "palm, trophy, crown of justice, crown of life and glory" rather than have all to see us cast into Hell body and soul for all eternity. To this end, of course, we need to continue our practices, wherever possible of assisting at true offerings of Holy Mass in the catacombs and of spending time in prayer with Christ the King before His Real Presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament as we pray as many Rosaries each day as our state-in-life permits. Of ourselves with can do nothing. With Our Lady's help, of course, we can scale the heights of sanctity in this life so that the little good that we do in this life by the means of the graces won for us by her Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that flow through her loving hands will outdo the evil that we have done.

Although reference to Saint Athanasius will be made in the article to be published tomorrow, Monday, May 3, 2010, we need to invoke his holy intercession to help us remain as faithful to the true Faith. in our time of apostasy and betrayal as he was during his. He will help us to remain steadfast and faithful despite all of the scorn and mockery of those who are applauding the rearranging of the deck chairs on the Conciliar Titanic.

Viva Cristo Rey! Vivat Christus Rex!

Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumph soon.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

Saint Athanasius, pray for us.

See also: A Litany of Saints

Isn't it time to pray a Rosary now.