Fr, Maciel as Sex Abuser

St Tarcisius from Musee D'Orsay, Paris

From the memoir, a poem by the author


MACIEL’S SEDUCERS IN SEVILLE
I
Approaching the Cristo de Burgos
For you I did penance and cried;
On the corner of Sales-Ferré,
Spied procession of Servite friars;
Amid Trappist’, Jesuit’ suspicions,
First Legionary adolescent needs,
-Bay of Cobreces, story Foundation-
Solace seeking with willowy priest.
In their budding homo-curiosity
-Close I to Granada’s meet,
Home to Federico de Gay-
Their spiritual father in sheets?
Now one was robust and quite virile,
The other with sweet baby face,
A third was a fair-haired blue-eyes,
The next with a delicate grace.
They all had one thing in common
As for the seminary they signed:
To be fondled, aroused and pleasured,
Aye, ravished by their Father benign.


II
So facing the float of Dolores
Descending the narrowing street,
With long brown candles burning
Their hands peak-capped Nazarenes,
I prayed for the Christ of Cotija
Stretched across his mother’s knee,
Grieving for her Jesus Maciel,
Broken, betrayed and bereaved.
They created the Myth of Abuser;
Accused him of tempting to prey;
Their saintly, innocent, Pastor,
True victim of calumnies vain.
Now one was quite strong and most virile;
The other, a round baby-face;
A third was handsome and blue-eyed
The fourth with a delicate grace.
Unbeknownst to their ignorant parents
-What little perverts they had raised! -
Had gone to the order with one plan:
His chaste body defile and debase.

III
The float forced its path through the lane-way,
Fairly crushing all bones to the wall,
My senses bewildered with brocade
Gold and silver, incense and pall.
Through the haze the halting procession,
Wending its way through the throng,
Cavorting, provocative altar boys,
All of eleven years tall.
When I tried to imagine their malice,
Fathom the evil they bore,
I coldly considered the “victim”
And burst into sobs for their souls.
So I wept for the blue-eyed conspirator,
And the boy with the soft baby-face;
For the virile, athletic and strong one,
And the one with a delicate grace.
They had come to the order with one mind:
To deceive the immaculate priest.
Were they wolves in babes’ simple clothing?
Or prey to a Wolf and a Beast?
 ============

In the Glorious City of Seville,
Cradle of Christopher’s Commission
And Torquemada’s Holy Inquisition.
Poetic license provoked
By some Catholics’ view
That sexual abuse by priests can be
Reduced to homosexuality, or gayness;
That the young ones are willing accomplices;
By testimonies of eight seminarians against Father
Marcial Maciel,
Founder and Superior General of the Legion of Christ;
By pro-Maciel defense and adulation of him and his
mother;
By early Legion history in northern Spain where first
rumors arose;
And inspired by walking the streets participating in
Seville’s Holy Week processions, 2003

Transgenerational Sexual Abuse in the Legion [4] Fr. Maciel at the Salamanca Foundation, Eyewitness Account

[Continuation of eyewitness account, translated from the Spanish]

During the last days of April the previous year [1952], Marcial Maciel had taken Armando Sanchez Arias (Zamora, Michoacan, Mexico,; LC 1947-1959) out of his peer group and brought him to Rome with him.  He also took Ramiro Fernandez to Rome long before he had reached the right age [editor, Ramiro had been "recruited" for the Apostolic School in Tlalpan, Mexico City, at the age of 9]. Beginning in December 1950 Maciel also tried to bring Juan Jose Vaca over to Rome with him. (From November, 1949, in Cobreces, Santander, Spain, Maciel began sexually abusing this unfortunate boy).

En los ultimos dias de Abril del anio anterior MM habia separado a Armando Arias Sanchez (Zamora, Michoacan; LC 1947-1959) de su grupo y se lo habia llevado a Roma. A Ramiro Fenandez se lo llevo tambien antes de la edad debida. A Juan Jose Vaca trato de hacerle lo mismo y meterno en lun Liceo de Roma desde Diciembre de 1950. (Desde Noviembre de 1949, en Cobreces, MM ya venia abusando sexualmente del pobre muchachito).

The allusion you made to Ontaneda, and to [LC Fr.] Jose Maria Sanchez, leaves much unsaid [regarding pedophilia]. We became aware of the abuses ("clonation of transgenerational sexual abuse", according to Mons. Scicluna) committed by Jesus Martinez Penilla against the Apostolicos in a 1976 letter from Vaca to Marcial Maciel. Penilla was exiled to the tropical Siberia of Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico (Maciel himself never went into exile); Alfonso Valencia Castellanos (Cotija, Michoacan; LC 1949) and others was also exiled there and nothing has been heard of them since. The hardships described by Torcuato Luca de Tena in his "Ambassador in Hell" and attributed to his Blue Legion Captain Palacios in Communist Russia are nowhere near as harrowing as some of the stories we Maciel victims could tell.

Lo que dices de Ontaneda, de Jose Ma. Sanchez, etc. parece querer hacer entrever varias cosas. De los abusos (clonacion de abuso sexual transgeneracional -Scicluna dixit-) de Jesus Martinez Penilla a los
apostolicos estamos al tanto por la carta de 1976 de Juan Jose Vaca Rodriguez a MM. Penilla fue desterrado a la Siberia tropical de Chetumal, (MM nunca se autodesterro); y, como de Alfonso Valencia Castellanos (Cotija, Miachoacan; LC 1949-...) y de otros de alli no ha vuelto a saberse mas. Lo narrado en el libro de 1955 de Torcuato Luca de Tena "Embajador en el Infierno" (capitan Palacios: campania de la Legion Azul en Rusia) posee mas luces y menos sombras que ciertos recuerdos recogidos de muchos de nosotros.

Regarding Alfredo Torres (Oakland, CA/Jacona, Michoacan; LC 1942 to the present) several of us can testify that he knew all about Maciel, but he has never had the courage to bare his soul or the manliness to speak the truth publicly. He is psychologically incapable. Along with others, he is trapped in the weeds of a dark and muddy lagoon.

De Alfredo Torres (Oakland, USA - Jacona, Michoacan; LC 1942-...) varios podemos decir que de MM sabe todo y mas, pero que no ha tenido el valor de poner su alma sobre la balanza, y, virilmente, decir la verdad ante los hombres. Psicologicamente 'no puede'. Como entre las algas de un obscuro lago fangoso, el y otros han quedado atrapados.

May God give us the strength to carry on. There is still so much to do for Truth and Justice. History -micro or macro- is not over.

Que Dios nos de fuerza y nos sostenga. Por la verdad y por la justicia hay mucho que hacer aun. La historia (la grande y la chica) no ha terminado.

Jose de Jesus Barba Martin, PhD Harvard

[3] Fr. Maciel at the Salamanca Foundation, 1953 [ENGLISH VERSION] Micro-history

[Part I; Exclusive First time publishing]

Together with Juan-Jose Vaca, Juan-Manuel Fernandez Amenabar and Angel Saiz, I was one of the four "historical boys" -as they used to call us- who were chosen to accompany [Founder, Fr.] Marcial Maciel and [Fr.] Gregorio Lopez to lay the foundation stone for the college [in Salamanca] on the road to Fuentesauco. We left the Apostolic School in Ontaneda [Santander] for the town of Reynosa after Mass on Sunday February 8th, 1953. St. Paul's Epistle in the Mass spoke of the "snares of false brethren". There was a heavey snowfall at the Puerto del Escudo pass. What happend was that the foundation stone was not laid at that time; bishop Barbado Viejo, Chancellor of the University [of Salamanca] had a heavy cold. On Monday the 9th he received us  at the episcopal palace; it was a sunny morning with clouds and a gusty wind. This leads to the following anecdote: as we awaited the bishop in the reception area, Marcial Maciel looked down from the first floor on some Sisters of Charity and laughed watching the unfortunate nuns battle against the gusty wind on the street outside with their enormous seagul veils .  For his part the bishop had a razor gash on his cheek which he dismissed good humoredly saying he had a fight with Stalin -with a strong accent on the "i". [Stalin was in fact to die a month later].

The night before, Sunday 8th, we had dinner with Maciel and Lopez at "Casa Paco" and then we went to rest at the "Casa Canuto" [Siberia would have been warmer]. Fr. Maciel went to stay at the Gran Hotel [the best in town] ...leaving instructions with Gregorio: while Gregory was saying Mass for the other three Apostolic brothers in the morning at the Church of St. Martin, I was to go to see him at the Gran Hotel. I did. MM invited me to have breakfast with him and later invited me to his neat bedroom. He made me sit on the bed and began reading the newspaper to me about Pope Pius XII reading children's stories to North American children as a way to raise funds for Holland which recently had been hit with a rupture of their dykes. He then went on to try to seduce me to go to Rome before my time with the pretext that Jose Luis Fernandez (Tangancicuaro, Michoacan, Mex; an LC from 1948-54) would be of great help to me with his "Legionary fervor". I did not accept the proposal and told him I preferred to remain with my group of companions. Maybe he thought it better not to pressure me more at that moment.



Junto con Juan Jose Vaca, Juan-Manuel Fernandez Amenabar, Angel Saiz, yo
forme parte de los cuatro 'chicos historicos' (dixerunt) que acompaniamos
a MARCIAL MACIEL y a [l Padre] Gregorio Lopez para poner la primera piedra del colegio de la
carretera a Fuentesauco. Salimos de Ontaneda a Reinosa, despues de misa,
el domingo ocho de febrero de 1953. La epistola de San Pablo, en la misa
del dia, hablaba de las 'insidias de los falsos hermanos'. Una altura de nieve considerable por el Puerto del Escudo. Lo que pasa es que la primera piedra no pudo ser puesta entonces: el obispo Barbado Viejo y gran
canciller de la Universidad tenia una fuerte gripe. El lunes nueve nos recibio en su palacio: una maniana luminosa pero con nubes que barria un fuerte viento. Por ello, mientras esperabamos al obispo en su sala, MM,  desde el segundo piso se reia a la vista de tres pobres monjas de la Caridad,que, por sus enormes cofias blancas de gaviotas voladoras, no lograban avanzar en la calle. El obispo tenia una cortada de navaja en la mejilla, y nos dijo que estaba asi porque se 'habia peleado con Stalin, con acento en la 'i'. (Stalin murio al mes siguiente)

La noche del domingo ocho, cenamos con M. Maciel y Gregorio en la "Casa Paco" y nos hospedamos en la "Casa Canuto" (Siberia es mas calida). MM fue a hospedarse al Gran Hotel que dices y dio instrucciones a Gregorio para que, al dia siguiente, mientras Gregorio dijera misa en la iglesia de San Martin a los otros tres apostolicos, yo me fuera a buscarlo a el al Gran Hotel. Asi fue. Me invito a desayunar ahi. Despues me llevo a su bien ordenada habitacion. Me hizo sentarme en su cama y de un diario me leyo la noticia de que Pio XII, por Radio Vaticana, estaba leyendo cuentos a los ninos norteamericanos para reunir fondos de ayuda para la gente de Holanda, agobiada por la ruptura de los diques... Despues trato de seducirme para llevarme a Roma antes de mi tiempo, con el pretexto de que Jose Luis Fernandez (Tangancicuaro, Michoacan; LC 1948-1954) podria ayudarme mucho 'con su fervor legionario'. Yo no acepte y le dije que deseaba seguir con el grupo de mis companieros. Tal vez no creyera tactico presionarme mas.

Jose Barba Martin, Ph.D
=================================
[to be translated later]
En los ultimos dias de Abril del anio anterior MM habia separado a Armando Arias Sanchez (Zamora, Michoacan; LC 1947-1959) de su grupo y se lo habia llevado a Roma. A Ramiro Fenandez se lo llevo tambien antes de la edad debida. A Juan Jose Vaca trato de hacerle lo mismo y meterno en lun Liceo de Roma desde Diciembre de 1950. (Desde Noviembre de 1949, en Cobreces, MM ya venia abusando sexualmente del pobre muchachito).

Lo que dices de Ontaneda, de Jose Ma. Sanchez, etc. parece querer hacer entrever varias cosas. De los abusos (clonacion de abuso sexual transgeneracional -Scicluna dixit-) de Jesus Martinez Penilla a los
apostolicos estamos al tanto por la carta de 1976 de Juan Jose Vaca Rodriguez a MM. Penilla fue desterrado a la Siberia tropical de Chetumal, (MM nunca se autodesterro); y, como de Alfonso Valencia Castellanos (Cotija, Miachoacan; LC 1949-...) y de otros de alli no ha vuelto a saberse mas. Lo narrado en el libro de 1955 de Torcuato Luca de Tena "Embajador en el Infierno" (capitan Palacios: campania de la Legion Azul en Rusia) posee mas luces y menos sombras que ciertos recuerdos recogidos de muchos de nosotros.

De Alfredo Torres (Oakland, USA - Jacona, Michoacan; LC 1942-...) varios
podemos decir que de MM sabe todo y mas, pero que no ha tenido el valor de
poner su alma sobre la balanza, y, virilmente, decir la verdad ante los hombres. Psicologicamente 'no puede'. Como entre las algas de un obscuro lago fangoso, el y otros han quedado atrapados.

Que Dios nos de fuerza y nos sostenga. Por la verdad y por la justicia hay mucho que hacer aun. La historia (la grande y la chica) no ha terminado.