Maciel a Sociopath and a Criminal, not just a Sinner

Not saying he wasn't a sinner but the big problem is he was not only a Pedophile and a Reprobate, but a Sociopath, a person who loved to deceive others and used people with gusto for his own ends, breaking the law without scruple or remorse. That is the problem for the Legion of Christ and for the Vatican: the Founder of this religious order was a sociopath, an Emotionally and Mentally Ill person [technically, Anti-social personality disorder, according to the DSM-IV]; and from a legal point of view a Criminal

Now if God can use such a person to found a religious order then my hat is off to Him -I do believe that for God nothing is impossible. It just stretches my faith...

Legion declares Maciel a Good Founder but a Bad Priest

The Superior General, Alvaro Corcuera, has reached this decision after long reflection and meditation:

Picture of Fr. Maciel distributing Holy Communion to Legionaries, flanked by Apostolics

[from life.after.rc blog with a few minor edits by blogger, a translator]

Institutional position on founder

The Legion has released a formal in-house decree re the Founder, Fr. Maciel. One wonders what this means as the Legion had already said this on March 25 of this year. Maybe Alvaro wants to show solidarity with the pope. It could also be a way to move Legion die-hards away from stubborn allegiance to Fr. Maciel.

===============

For the Legionaries of Christ

And consecrated members of Regnum Christ

Dear Friends in Christ:

Our General Director, after having meditated before God, having received many suggestions, and after having discussions with the regional directors and members of the general council during meetings held on 3 and 4 December, has found it necessary to take an institutional position in relation to Fr.. Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement. This decree therefore emanates with the approval of the Papal Delegate, Card. Velasio De Paolis, and is to be applied in all places and works of the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi.

It was not easy to get to these provisions, as the person of Fr Maciel "is a mysterious figure," as Pope Benedict XVI acknowledges in his recent book-length interview. As we said in our statement of March 25th, "God in his mysterious plans chose Fr Maciel as an instrument to found the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement, and we thank God for the good he did. While painful to accept, given the gravity of his faults, we can not see him as a model of Christian and priestly life." Our General Director is of the firm hope that this institutional position will help us focus more and more in the person of Christ, and to follow him closely united in love, actively fighting for his kingdom in the world.

We put this in the hands of Our Blessed Lady of Guadalupe, on the eve of her fest day.

Please remember us in your prayers
Yours affectionately in Christ,

========
[Here is the original -- improved translations over Googelle are welcome:

Nuestro director general, después de haberlo meditado ante Dios, de haber recibido múltiples sugerencias, de haberlas discutido con los directores territoriales y con los miembros del consejo general en las reuniones tenidas el 3 y 4 de diciembre, ha considerado necesario tomar una postura institucional en relación con el P. Maciel, fundador de la Legión de Cristo y del Movimiento Regnum Christi. Y por lo mismo emana este decreto con la aprobación del Delegado Pontificio, Card. Velasio De Paolis, para que sea aplicado en todos los centros y obras de la Legión de Cristo y del Regnum Christi.

No ha sido fácil llegar a estas disposiciones, pues la persona del P. Maciel «es una figura misteriosa», como reconoce el Papa Benedicto XVI en su reciente libro-entrevista. Según dijimos en nuestro comunicado del 25 de marzo, «Dios en sus misteriosos designios eligió al P. Maciel como instrumento para fundar la Legión de Cristo y el Movimiento Regnum Christi, y agradecemos a Dios el bien que realizó. A la vez aceptamos con dolor que, ante la gravedad de sus faltas, no podemos mirar su persona como modelo de vida cristiana o sacerdotal». Nuestro director general tiene la firme esperanza de que esta postura institucional nos ayudará a centrarnos más y más en la persona de Cristo, y a seguir muy unidos en la caridad, luchando activamente por su Reino en el mundo.]

"I ACCUSE FR MACIEL AND THE LEGION OF CHRIST"

the title of a memoir written IN SPANISH by Francisco Gonzalez Parga, another early member of Fr. Maciel's Harem....He had a relationship with Holy Founder from the age of 14 to about 26...
He was in the Legion from 1951 til 1971

If you speak Spanish be on the outlook for it to appear on Amazon.

Hope to post some excerpts.

Pope Fallible on Maciel

[From Pope's new book]

"Benedict also discusses the case of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the

late founder of the Legionaries of Christ. Maciel was a longtime Vatican
favorite because of his doctrinal conservatism and penchant for generating
vocations, but who has how become a symbol of the crisis as the Legionaries have
acknowledged he was guilty of various forms of sexual misconduct.

Benedict refers to Maciel a “mysterious figure,” saying that he led an
 “adventurous, wasted, twisted life.” At another point, the pope refers to
Maciel as a “false prophet.”

At the same time, Benedict says that the order Maciel founded is “by and
largely sound.”"



Blogger say:

Pope not infallible re LC/RC; pope logic failing him: how can a false
prophet found a work of God? -or maybe I need to refresh my biblical studies...

Maciel's Multiple Sins Could Not Overshadow his God Given Grace (Charism)

This would appear to be one of the conclusions to draw from Cardinal designate Velasio de Paolis' 2nd Letter to the Legionaries of Christ (October 20th, 2010)

See sister link with Essay

Our Commander who art in Panties

just off the news

A top ranked military guilty of murders, sexual assault and fetishes

The importance of mental health can never be stressed enough

People are still trying to figure out Fr Marcial Maciel's psychiatric diagnosis [Narcissists never go to therapists, much less anti social personality disorder people]

Fr. Flanagan of Boys Town had warned about Danger of Irish Clergy Abuse

Boys Town founder Fr. Flanagan warned Irish Church about abuse in 1940s


By

JOHN FAY,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, October 5, 2010, 2:15 PM

Updated Tuesday, October 5, 2010, 2:31 PM

As the Vatican prepares to send bishops to Ireland it is worth recalling what the last American priest who investigated a church scandal in Ireland found.

Father Edward Flanagan, founder of “Boys Town” made famous by the Spencer Tracy movie, was a lone voice in condemning Ireland’s industrial schools back in the 1940s –and he was viciously castigated by church and government for doing so.

Fr. Flanagan, from Co. Roscommon, left Ireland in 1904 and was ordained a priest eight years later. In 1917 he was living and working in Omaha, Nebraska, when he hit upon the idea of a "boys town," which offered education and a home for the poor and wayward boys of Omaha.

However, demand for the service was so great that he soon had to find bigger premises. Boys Town, built on a farm 10 miles from Omaha, was the result.

The center was open to all. There were no fences to stop the boys from leaving. Fr. Flanagan said he was “not building a prison." "This is a home," he said. "You do not wall in members of your own family.”

Boys Town eventually became so well-known - and so well-respected - that Hollywood and the U.S. President came calling. Spencer Tracey and Mickey Rooney starred in the 1938 movie "Boys Town," and it made a national hero out of Fr. Flanagan. He was internationally renowned as “the world’s most foremost expert on boys’ training and youth care.”

When World War II ended in 1945, President Harry S. Truman asked Fr. Flanagan to tour Asia and Europe, to see what could be done for the homeless and neglected children in those regions.
Fr. Flanagan decided to return to the land of his birth in 1946 to visit his family, and also to visit the “so-called training schools" run by the Christian Brothers to see if they were "a success or failure.”
The success of the film "Boys Town," meant Fr. Flanagan was treated like a celebrity on his arrival. His visit was noted by the The Irish Independent, which said that Fr. Flanagan had succeeded “against overwhelming odds,” spurred on by the “simple slogan that 'There is no such thing as a bad boy.'”

But Fr. Flanagan was unhappy with what he found in Ireland. He was dismayed at the state of Ireland's reform schools and blasted them as “a scandal, un-Christlike, and wrong.” And he said the Christian Brothers, founded by Edmund Rice, had lost its way.

Speaking to a large audience at a public lecture in Cork’s Savoy Cinema he said, "You are the people who permit your children and the children of your communities to go into these institutions of punishment. You can do something about it." He called Ireland’s penal institutions "a disgrace to the nation," and later said "I do not believe that a child can be reformed by lock and key and bars, or that fear can ever develop a child’s character."

However, his words fell on stony ground. He wasn't simply ignored. He was taken to pieces by the Irish establishment. The then-Minister for Justice Gerald Boland said in the Dáil that he was “not disposed to take any notice of what Monsignor Flanagan said while he was in this country, because his statements were so exaggerated that I did not think people would attach any importance to them.”
Fr. Flanagan was a devout Catholic, a man who Catholics and non-Catholics world-wide had deemed a hero. He was the Mother Theresa of his day.

Despite that, the Irish Church and the Irish authorities felt comfortable ignoring Fr. Flanagan, ignoring the fact that he was considered to be an expert in the matter of providing for the education and upbringing of boys who were otherwise considered to be “lost causes.”

When he arrived back in America Fr. Flanagan said: "What you need over there is to have someone shake you loose from your smugness and satisfaction and set an example by punishing those who are guilty of cruelty, ignorance and neglect of their duties in high places . . . I wonder what God's judgment will be with reference to those who hold the deposit of faith and who fail in their God-given stewardship of little children."

Again, his efforts fell on stony ground.

What was it about the Irish Church and the Irish authorities that made them so insular that they felt comfortable dismissing someone of Fr. Flanagan's stature? Despite the fact that Fr. Flanagan was a popular hero to many Irish people, his words had no sway with those in authority, whether in the government or the Church.

And, once those who endorsed the industrial school model survived Fr. Flanagan's broadsides, they must have known that no one would challenge them again. They were right, for 50 years anyway.

Not since the penal times has the Catholic Church been so threatened in Ireland. Only this time the damage is all self-inflicted and not imposed by an outside force. Unless strong Catholic characters arise from the wreckage we have now, the Church in Ireland is doomed.

Find this article at:

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Boys-Town-founder-Fr-Flanagan-warned-Irish-Church-about-abuse-in-1940s-104356519.html?showAll=y

Vatican Probes Disgraced Order's Cultish Lay Group

MSNBC created that headline!





Only about 900 are consecrated — nearly all women, but also a handful of men. They give up possessions and ties to their former lives much in the way nuns or priests do. They adhere to Vatican-approved statutes that require them to "voluntarily renounce the use of their capacity for decision-making" — pledging unswerving obedience to their superiors.

"I feel like I was brainwashed," said J., an American who joined the movement shortly after graduation from a Catholic university in the late 1990s and asked that only her middle initial be used. Like most of the women who spoke to the AP, she did not want to be identified for fear of retaliation from the Legion.

"I really thought it was a mortal sin to break any one of the little rules that were laid out by the statutes or the directress," she said.

"Members are not allowed to question or think outside group-think," she said. "I know that members totally dismiss any discussion of the Legion and Regnum Christi as a cult — I did when I was still part of it — but it sure looks like one once you get out."

Restoring the Catholic Historical Imagination

Had to post this finely written piece by a good friend of mine, Rollin A. Lasseter, R.I.P., Catholic historian, educator, writer and poet.

http://www.catholicliberaleducation.org/newsletters/2010_september/news_newsletter_article_3.htm

Excerpted from a paper by Rollin A. Lasseter

“Restoring the Catholic Historical Imagination” -- my title for this paper -- is itself problematic. Why should anyone want to restore an imagination of history, that record of what J.R.R. Tolkien called “the long defeat”? At first glance, ancient history seems a recycled tale of building up and tearing down -- conquest, persecution, intrigue, and betrayal. Then, modern history -- often marked as beginning with the guillotine -- is defined by the death camps at Auschwitz, the darkness of Hiroshima, and the mass murder that is abortion and genocide. What is there in history, if anything, that we would want to pass along to our poor children? How do we, leading our children, get out of this cycle of death and domination? Is there a way out? Can we imagine any history with a happy ending? Or do we follow the pagan imagination, expecting loss, defeat, and death, and declare: “Call no man happy until he is dead.”

The problem for parents and teachers today is the current malformation of our own and our children’s imaginations. The imagination of our time is on a wide scale formed, or malformed, by some one else’s nightmare: movies, pornography, popular fiction, music, and ideology-driven TV. We see what we have been trained to see. We image what we have been taught to image. The modern imagination is an imagining of despair and increasingly, as a people, we cannot imagine a happy ending.

We have to be able to imagine Heaven, if we are to believe what Our Lord promised: “that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.” From the Old Testament we hear the promise of the Deuteronomist’s words, “And underneath are the everlasting arms.” From the Gospels come assurances spoken by Our Lord himself, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”; and “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

The Catholic imagination has a great tradition of images to defeat the nightmares of despair. And the telling of history from a Catholic point of view is to see that human beings are, first and foremost, religious creatures who are given, what we call in our Catholic Schools Textbook Project textbooks, opportunities in time for choosing “grace-filled” change, providential evolution, if you will. One perception builds on another. One discovery makes way for another. Each inspiration leads to a purer understanding of mankind’s destiny: begun, continued and ended in God. Catholics are preeminently the people for whom history matters.
The Catholic imagination is not a closed, political view of a social utopia with a “preferential option for the poor,” -- though a free and just society is what we imagine as a Christian society. Nor is it defined by bitter polemics of Catholic isolation in America -- although a bit of Catholic triumphalism is not unbecoming. Nor is it that meager view represented by collections of overly pious saints-lives and sweet devotions -- though they may have grown out of the Catholic imagination.

The Catholic imagination is the good, the true and the beautiful -- vast and deep -- a world view that rests on two certainties: Man, as the Crown of Creation, and God, as the ever-present source of our life and hope -- the natural and the supernatural. A Catholic imagination sees all events of human life as participating in the Divine plan for Creation, the providential story being told by God.
They fail us not, the ever-suffering arms,

Nor careless, drop us from the trembling stage

Despite our petty sorceries and charm.

We rest enfold in comfort not in cage,

Still underneath, the Everlasting Arms.

(From the Hymn: The Everlasting Arms)

Therefore, I want to invite you to think about history and the teaching of history not as a clinical record of the facts of the past or as meaningless events in the sequence of ages, but as a lifting of a curtain on a great drama, an invitation to step--with imagination, thought and will--into the revelation of God in human history, to lift the curtain on the greatest drama in the cosmos: Salvation history. For it was not in myth or in “Once-upon- a-time in a galaxy far, far away,” it was not in some “Land before Time,” but instead at a moment in our own, our real human history, that God took flesh in the womb of His blessed mother, Mary. Lived. Spoke. Suffered, died, and rose from death for the salvation of all mankind. In this drama of salvation history, we see the hand of God in all ages -- His hand in the advances of human technology and science and in the everyday joys, sorrows, and miseries as well. In every moment of salvation history, God is present and does not abandon his special creation, made in His own image, “male and female created He them.”
To restore the Catholic historical imagination --so that students, and ourselves, can look at history as something other than nightmare and Death -- we need only to call attention to God’s intervention in the human story – God’s hand in events, in society, and in our own lives – to remind ourselves and our students of the interaction of providence with the story of human achievement, courage, and creativity. Human stories become true history when told as God-stories.

How is imagination formed? Through meeting with great souls and great visions. Not by philosophy or doctrine, for the young mind is not moved by doctrine, but by images, the images of divine reality. Images of virtue, images of faith, images of love, images of Hope. An imagination that cannot see hope is an imagination of death. It is not the imagination we want for our children. The imagination of hopelessness can be, must be, transformed.

Through the story and the romance of the past we can create an imaginative grasp of the world we have been given, so that our young people will know that “underneath, are the Everlasting Arms.” “And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

Our Father on Jack Keogh's Blog

this is me at San Simeon, not Jack

Thanks to Jack Keogh, who published only the second English language memoir of life in the Legion, Our Father got a bit of plugging when he blogged about "Another book about Fr. Marcial Maciel.".

Read my super interesting comments!

Irish Reporter interviews Lennon, Vaca, and Kineke

The blogger, author of Our Father Maciel who art in bed, with his parents in Rome, September 1969

"Legion of Crisis",
an article by Niall Stanage, US correspondent for The Sunday Business Post quotes former LC/RC members Lennon, Vaca,  and Gineke, mentioning the memoir "Our Father, who art in bed

Why Ratzinger/Benedict went after Maciel/Legion?

Maciel giving Holy Communion to Paul Lennon in the '80s

Hello, dear reader.
an interesting article came accross my desk today which continues to shed light on Ratzinger/Benedict's action re Marcial Maciel and the Legion of Christ; it is an interview with Monsignor Scicluna, the Vatican "Attorney General" who personally carried out the 2005 investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Fr. Maciel, founder and superior general of the Legion of Christ order.
In the interverview Scicluna suggests that during his time at the Defense of the Faith Congreation/Department then Cardinal Ratzinger had to review the cases of clerical pedophilia and became increasining distressed. Ratzinger/Benedict followed through when he became pope and "nailed" several powerful clerics who had gotten off scot free "during the previous adminstration"
=====
While Pope Benedict XVI has been accused of mishandling abuse cases, as an Archbishop in Germany, and also as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, Scicluna rejected those charges.


The Maltese Vatican official, said those who worked with the future Pope in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith were full of admiration for him and his “courage and determination” in dealing with the crisis.
“I am a direct witness to the compassion, the frustration and the anger that these cases instilled in Cardinal Ratzinger, the man, Joseph Ratzinger,” Scicluna said.

While Scicluna seems determined to avoid using the term “crisis,” he insists on calling sin by its name, and crime as well.
“People call this a crisis,” he said. “It is certainly a challenge to the Church, but it is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to call sin sin in its face, and do something about it. It is an opportunity for the church to show itself determined in its fight against sin, against crime.”

While the sexual abuse of minors clearly does not take place only in church circles, Fox asked Scicluna if he thought the Catholic Church should be held to a higher standard.

“I think so,” Scicluna responded. “Because we do stand for a very clear message which should be a light to the world. So we do complain about the headlines sometimes, but the headlines are a reflection that the world takes what we say very seriously, and is scandalized when what we do does not correspond to what we say.”

Scicluna, whose official title is the Promoter of Justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said a priest who abuses makes a “mockery” of his vocation.

“There is a sacred trust which has been violated,” he said. “The priest has been ordained to be an icon, a living image of Jesus Christ. He is another Christ at the altar, when he preaches. Now when he abuses, he shatters that icon.”

He said the Church has to face up to the truth, even if it’s not very nice: “There’s no other way out of this situation, except facing the truth of the matter.”

Vatican should remove Statute of Limitations for Child Abuse Cases say English-Welsh Bishops

As reported today on NCR Online English-Welsh Catholic Bishops recommend that Vatican remove statute of limitations for crimes against children

Lennon's Amazon Review of Former Legionary Jack Keogh's "Driving straight on Crooked Lines"

Maciel interfacing with Paul Lennon, Salamanca, Spain 1962, the year Jack Keogh joined

Buddy Holly in the Legion of Christ,

June 9, 2010

I say Buddy Holly because my first impression of Jack was Buddy Holly in a cassock: gangly, with horned-rimmed glasses, who could sing and play the guitar.

This memoir is a must read for the Catholic public, former Legionaries and members of Regnum Christi, their friends and relatives -not to mention priests, bishops, Apostolic Visitators and Commissioners. Let me humbly state that I am one of the people best qualified to write this review. I, too, am a Dubliner, and joined the Legion a year before Jack Keogh. His claim to fame is being the first Irish Legionary to set foot on Mexican soil; mine of being one of the first eight Irishmen to begin Novitiate and take vows in Salamanca, Spain, in what would become the fastest growing and most prestigious order (more precisely "congregations") in the Catholic Church.

Not that Jack and I became bosom buddies. As he explains, Legionaries don't discuss any personal thoughts or feelings among themselves even if they are living side by side. Friendships are not allowed. The memoir shows how every Legionary is an island -of silence, solitude, and secrets- and, for the most part, an island unaware of its own needs. Jack mentions moments of getting in touch with his own Eros -he was more alive than others. Occasionally, Jack pulls back the sunny curtain to reveal sadness, leading us into the mystery of Legionary life. The less enthusiastic and optimistic will find that "Most Legionaries live lives of quiet desperation." Legionaries and Regnum Christi members hide their real selves behind a solid rock happy face façade. "Mom, I'm fine. Everything is wonderful here!" The tragedy is they bury themselves alive.

Former Legionaries can be divided into three groups: those who had a good time/experience with Fr Maciel; those who had a bad time and/or were abused by him in some way; and those with little direct contact with him. Jack belongs to the first group. Marcial Maciel had the uncanny knack of zeroing in on a person's gifts/needs/weaknesses, exploiting them for his own (the Kingdom of Christ's) ends. Jack wanted to figure and do something worthwhile. Maciel sent him to found the Irish Institute in Mexico City among the rich and famous.

Bro. John, our Jack, was always upbeat. I can still recall this gregarious six-footer trying to boost the morale of the troops "in the community", his large frame skipping along the Travertine corridors at Via Aurelia, Rome, as he joined us after one of his expeditions into the outside world, regaling us with a joke, a funny story, or an edifying tidbit about Nuestro Padre. Jack, like the rest of us, tried very hard to be a good Legionary. Everything he says is true. Ours is the same tune, played on different instruments; or wearing different colored glasses, pink, blue, red or black...He the motivational speaker; I the skeptic.

As the "Feeling Introvert" (see Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) I thought a lot about leaving the priesthood, daunted by the practical perspective of life outside the monastery walls. Jack, the "Thinking Extravert" went into action quickly, chose a wife, got married, had a daughter, and entered the business world. We must not minimize the contribution of the woman who joined her life to his at that moment: Collette, an atractive, kind, intelligent, and supportive wife, helping to put "Humpty Dumpty" together again.

Jack is at his best when he drops the breezy debonair, baring his heart; as in the illness of his native African friend, Dominique; or good bye to his teenage sweetheart, or his friendship with confreres such as Juan Manuel Amenabar, the ebullient Spanish padre who was director of the Irish Institute without speaking a word of English.

Jack renders a great service by describing what other former members overlook as the obvious but which outsiders ignore and are curious about - the details of daily life -giving a peek into what it is like in a Legion house of formation or apostolate, the various activities, the routines, the rules, the customs of the religious life: our duties as time-keeper, porter, laundry-worker, sacristan, mechanic, driver... He also gives a face to many unknown unselfish Legionaries whose names and stories would have remained in oblivion. Thank you, Jack, for going to the trouble of telling your tale, for taking the risk of sharing your intimacy, for helping to fill in the blanks in the Legion chronicles, and for giving us your personal perspective, for trying to be "objective" and dispassionate about a very passionate subject.

One of the final triggers for Jack's departure from the Legion was when Fr. Maciel cruelly mistreated Jack's fellow exile in Gabon, Luis Lerma. Jack's compassion kicked in and liberated him finally from the yoke around his neck. One of the final triggers of my leaving the Legion was furtively learning -through a mutual lay friend, Angelina - how Maciel mistreated Luis and Jack. Years previously I had picked up on something that destroyed my admiration for Nuestro Padre, and in my mind disqualified the Legion Founder from being a holy man or a saint: Maciel's inhumanity to man (and scorn for women).

J. Paul Lennon, author of Our Father (Maciel) who art in bed, a Naïve and Sentimental Dubliner in the Legion of Christ.

Fellow Former Legionary, Jack Keogh's, Memoir

This blogger has just posted his Personal Review of Jack's book, different from the "official" one below. I enjoyed the memoir very much. I had hoped by writing mine to lead the way. I would like to see memoirs appear from more recent generations, from people who joined in the 70s, then the 80s, then the 90s...in different parts of the world, with different experiences, points of view.

[From Amazon.com]

Editorial Reviews on the webpage.

Review

"I was pulled along by the story of a young Irishman drawn into the world of the Legionaries of Christ... This is a sad yet in the final measure uplifting memoir." --Jason Berry, investigative journalist, and co-author of "Vows of Silence" (added by author)

Product Description

Driving Straight On Crooked Lines is Jack Keogh's inspiring autobiography, covering the twenty years of his life from adolescence in Dublin, Ireland, to adulthood as a Catholic Priest in the Legion of Christ, and onwards: transitioning to a new life as husband, father, and international management consultant. For twenty years, Jack's life was intertwined with the Legion, and its controversial founder Marcial Maciel. Both the Legion, and Maciel feature in this memoir, but it is not about them. Rather, this is Jack's story. As such, it is told with candor, a sparkle in the eye, plenty of blarney, and Irish good humor. Spanning locations across the globe, this memoir gives insight to the inner workings of what some see as a religious cult, and to the inner thoughts of a former priest. It tells how an Irishman found his heart, and in doing so, nearly lost his mind. It is often moving, frequently funny, very entertaining, and always memorable.

Do I want Maciel to Sizzle in Hell?

[the blogger at the age of 12, the age of Maciel's victims when the abuse started]

A friend wrote:

I am grateful for the gospel injunction that I not judge lest I BE judged. Maciel's deathbed refusal of the Sacraments of Annointing & Reconciliation shocks me. May God have mercy on him.

Blogger's response:

I do not totally accept reports regarding Fr Maciel's last moments, whether receiving or not the Sacraments. It is very hard to know the facts. Nobody will come out publicly and put his head on the block behind his allegations/reports. We have only unconfirmed "rumors" from inside and out, from friends and enemies. And I, despite it all, am not an "enemy of Maciel", and derive no particular pleasure from thinking of him sizzling in Hell for all eternity.

On the other hand he does deserve some punishment for all his evil deeds -especially the sex abuse of minors which is so traumatic and damaging - and for getting off almost Scott Free in this world.

Buddhist Sect Suppress Buddhist Critic...

Echoes of Legion of Christ VS John Paul Lennon and ReGAIN, INC, in Alexandria City District Court, August, 2007

Gary Beesley Buddhist scholar forced to withdraw 'A Cuckoo in the Peacock Palace'

dialogueireland
May 17, 2010 at 11:52 pm
Categories: Abuse, Books, Buddhist Origin, Cultism, New Kadampa Tradition - NKT, Religion, Uncategorized
URL: http://wp.me/pq5hv-SM

Dear Colleagues:

It is with sincere regret that I write to inform you that, due to the threat of legal action from the New Kadampa Tradition, and in light of the inadequacies of UK libel law, I have been forced to withdraw my forthcoming book, 'A Cuckoo in the Peacock Palace: The Decline of Tradition in 21st Century Western Buddhism and the Rise of the New Kadampa Tradition' from publication.

I appreciate that many of you will be very disappointed by this decision, a disappointment that I share with you from the very depths of my heart. However, as a Buddhist layman with a wife and children, I must place the short and long term well being of my family at the very fore of my considerations. Having raised myself up from poverty through dedication, hard work and the blessings of the Buddhas, I could not bear to impose an undeserved life of poverty on my wife and children when I leave this world. Therefore, for the sake of my family, as well as the good name of the Dharma, I have made this difficult, indeed heart wrenching decision. The NKTs legal representative kindly reminded me that, as Buddhists it is very important that we try to resolve our problems in a peaceful manner. I hope the withdrawal of the book is an indication of my intention to observe such advice in my dealings with others from now on.

With respect and sincere regret for any hurt or disappointment I may have caused.

Yours in the Dharma

The layman Gary Beesley
===========================
[Dialogue Ireland goes on to say:]

We were very sorry to hear the news of the withdrawal of the book. This raises great issues of free speech and reminds the Director of an experience he had in 1996. Jon Caven Atack, author of "A piece of blue sky," had his book destroyed by Scientology. He had to withdraw from all forms of commentary and it also resulted in his family breaking up. So it is great understanding that we read what Gary has written. We appeal to all world wide to rise to his support and to consider ways to address this crisis of free speech. To misquote JK Kennedy, Ask not what your freedom can do for you, but what it can do for Gary. Here in Ireland where we have a written constitution we decided to sell the book here in Ireland. We went into the court and told Scientology to lodge £50,000 to defend their position after they threatened me with ruin. Our barrister was Adrian Hardiman currently one of our Supreme Court Justices. We call on all right thinking people to stand up and be counted on this issue.

Irish Times Rumor Off Base!

I was better off throwing coins in the Trevi Fountain!

New information has led me to believe that the rumor from the Irish Times regarding the well respected Secretary for Christian Unity, Monsignor Brian Farrell - kind of LC- being appointed as Commissioner to the Legion of Christ is unfounded. Brian is too nice a guy for such a crappy job
Sorry, Brian,
and God Bless
Up Dublin!

Dubliner Mons Brian Farrell rumored by Irish Times as Vatican Envoy to Legion

According to the Irish Times, Bishop Brian Farrell, a Legionary of Christ, presently Secretary for the Sacred Congregation for Christian Unity, may be the one chosen by Vatican to overhaul the Legion of Christ.

Another rumor has it the bishop of Guadalajara may be the one...

A Hail of Bullets greets Fr. Owen Kearns' Apology

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

A couple of days ago, the Legion of Christ's National Catholic Register director came out and apologized for not knowing Fr. Maciel was a con-artist and for having defended him and offended truth seekers in the process. Comments have been lively and divided.

Most people have demanded further transparency and accountability; a few have thanked Fr. for his Christian virtue and honesty, continuing to defend Fr Owen, the Legion, the Regnum Christi, and what is left of Fr. Maciel

Spain's LC Director "Sets the Record Straight" re Maciel's Death

Fr. Jesus Maria Delgado, Territorial Director, Spain

For some time a version of the events surrounding Fr. Maciel's death, attributed to Vicar General, Luis Garza in a secret conference to the members,  has circulated. Now, in response to this version in El Mundo the Spanish blog, Legion Regional Director for Spain, Jesus Ma Delgado has written to the editor.

http://www.cope.es/religion/12-04-10--legionarios-cristo-responden-mundo-158088-1

Fr. Jesus Maria gives a detailed rebuttal to an article which appeared in El Mundo. It seems to offer an explanation to the mysterious fire that Luis Garza mentions in his secretly recorded meeting....to members of the Regnum Christi Consecrated members.

JM says that Maciel died in Jacksonville and that there were only two consecrated women, some LCs and two local nurses present. He also says that Maciel received the sacraments on various occasions. Does this tally with what Luis Garza said about Maciel's death - that he didn't receive confession and Alvaro gave him the sacrament when he was in a coma, that they asked Maciel's "wife" to encourage him to have confession?

Who knows what to believe anymore!

On 4/19/10 the blogger found and English language report on Spero News [CNA] which explains Fr. Delgado's peeves; it appears there was some sloppy reporting mixing fact and fiction and the LC Spanish Territorial Director takes the writers to task. Perhaps rightly so.

RJ Neuhuas Deceived by Maciel and Legion

the blogger hopes to publish very soon his correspondence with the Giant of Catholic Conservancy
And -added on June 3rd- here it is!

Was Maciel a Pedophile?

It is incredible how complex the answer to this question became several years ago, at a time when many denied Fr. Maciel had abused his seminarians, and prominent "Catholic Thinkers" such as RJ Neuhause defended Maciel with complex arguments and explanations, including blurring distinctions between pedophilia and homosexuality, etc.

I came  upon this brief definition today in the New World Encyclopedia online. Without shedding the complexity and ambiguity inherent in this abuse the central premises are helpful in understanding Maciel and other "pedophiles", even in the light of other liaisons with young women and adolescent  boys and young men...

The word pedophilia comes from the Greek paidophilia (παιδοφιλια)—pais (παις, "child") and philia (φιλια, "love, friendship"). Paidophilia was coined by Greek poets as a substitute for "paiderastia" (pederasty) (Liddell and Scott 1959).


The term paedophilia erotica was coined in 1886 by the Austro-German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in his writing Psychopathia Sexualis (1886). He described the following characteristics:


1] the sexual interest is toward children, either prepubescent or at the beginning of puberty


2] the sexual interest is the primary one, that is, exclusively or mainly toward children


3] the sexual interest remains over time


Strictly speaking, this definition would include many adolescents and prepubescents for whom such an interest might be normal. Thus, some experts add the criterion that the interest be toward children at least five years younger than the subject. However, according to other experts, a diagnosis of pedophilia can also be appropriate for a post-pubescent adolescent (Janssen 2003).


In the United States and several other countries, the term "pedophile" is also used to denote significantly older adults who are sexually attracted to adolescents, as well as those who have sexually abused a child (Ames and Houston 1990).

Pedophile Pediatrician Abuser of Girls Indicted in Deleware, USA

Just to show you that pedophiles, sex abusers, or whatever we chose to call them, do not target boys exclusively -and that therefore are not necessarily "homosexual"- here is news item from today on Yahoo

--
Del. doctor indicted in serial child abuse scandal

By RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press Writer Randall Chase, Associated Press Writer

Tue Feb 23, 8:22 am ET

DOVER, Del. – Prosecutors expect to add more counts to a lengthy indictment against a Delaware pediatrician charged with serial molestation of 103 children as investigators urge former patients and parents to come forward.

A grand jury returned a 160-page indictment Monday against Dr. Earl Bradley of Lewes with 471 counts of sexual crimes.

The case has shocked the close-knit coastal community of Lewes and the central Delaware town of Milford, where Bradley closed an office in 2005 after police investigated him.

Bradley's attorney, Eugene Maurer, said he would seek to move the trial out of Sussex County. But he said the "real battleground" in the case will be Bradley's mental state, not what is seen on videotapes seized from Bradley's home and office or alleged in the indictment.

Announcing the grand jury's indictment, Attorney General Beau Biden said all of the alleged victims, mainly girls but including one boy, were caught on more than 13 hours of video recordings, some dating to 1998.

"The charges in this indictment are unique in the history of the state of Delaware, as far as I can tell," he said.

The charges against Bradley include rape, sexual exploitation of a child, unlawful sexual contact, continuous sexual abuse of a child, assault and reckless endangering.

Bradley, who was arrested in December and initially charged with 29 felony counts for allegedly abusing nine children, is being held with bail set at $2.9 million. His medical license was permanently revoked by the state Board of Medical Practice last week.
Maurer said he had not read the indictment but was not surprised by the allegations.

"I'm sure they have their reasons for including all these different victims in this indictment," said Maurer, noting that under state law, a single conviction of rape would be enough to put Bradley behind bars for life.

The indictment alleges Bradley was videotaping his sexual exploitation of patients as far back as December 1998. Many victims were assaulted repeatedly, some on consecutive days, according to the indictment, which alleges that one girl was raped more than a dozen times over a period that lasted more than a year.

Authorities would not say whether they think Bradley had videotaped all of his alleged assaults or whether there may be more victims.

"I expect that we will add to this indictment with new charges over the coming months," Biden said.

He encouraged parents and victims of Bradley, "regardless of age or gender," to contact prosecutors, who have sent out about 3,100 letters to Bradley's patients and set up an office in Lewes to handle complaints and direct potential victims and their families to counseling and other services.

Sussex County prosecutor Paula Ryan declined to say how many alleged victims seen on videotape have been identified by name, or to provide an age range. The indictment refers to each alleged victim only as "Jane Doe" or "John Doe."

After years of suspicions among parents and questions about his strange behavior from colleagues, Bradley was arrested after a 2-year-old girl told her mother that the doctor hurt her in December when he took her to a basement room of his office after an exam.

While prosecutors allege regular and repeated abuse by Bradley, the indictment contains a gap of more than a year, from October 2004 to June 2006, in which no alleged crimes are listed.

Biden and Gov. Jack Markell have ordered reviews to determine whether doctors, hospitals, state agencies or law enforcement authorities failed to comply with a state law that requires all such entities to report to the medical licensing board in writing within 30 days if they believe a doctor is or "may be" guilty of unprofessional conduct.

Biden said Monday that those investigations are aimed at determining "how this physician could lurk in our midst for as long as he did."

Former LC, Alex Martin, speaks of widespread corruption of Religious Life in Legion of Christ

 

Fr. Maciel, Benefactress Flora Barragan, Pope VI, private audience in the 60s

Posted on GlobalPost a propos Investigation
by Spanish speaker in English
[without edits]
May be pseudonym

Posted by Alexmartin73 on July 20, 2009 17:48 ET
-----------------

I was a Legionary for many years. During my time as a legionary I saw Fr. Marcial (Nuestro Padre) live a very extravagant life. And there was a cult of him. He also knew how to wine and dine the elite. I was a waiter in the CES (Centro de estudios superiores) in Rome. One of the brothers who would prepare the Dinning room. We only had the very best for the visitors. (we would enjoy the leftovers afterwards in a Room beside the small kitchen). The display given to visitors would be similar to a very expensive restaurant. (I still remember the Mount Blanc deserts bought for the occasions). We could not even question things we saw, if I were to say "why does Nuestro Padre need special rooms in each house" to a brother, I could be 100% sure that brother would report my remark to superior and there would be consequences (I would be sent to work in east Europe or Columbia). The Legion had a way of keeping us in toe. It was a question of shut up or leave.(if you had the bottle) We really did believe we were doing God’s will by going on "recaudacion de fundos" in Mexico (begging for money from Rich). There was an Irish Priest Fr. William, who would get millions for the legion; The Guy got sense one day and left.
----
There are a lot of Good, very good priests. However the Legion knows how to spin a story to match their needs. I had a lot of good times in the Legion, they treated me very well, I was no abused by anyone, However even after leaving the Legion it was not until the Legion revealed the true story about the Founder that I became aware of the true nature of the Legion and its ability to brainwash people. because the Legion did pervert Religious life for its only ends and that of its founder. Many Legionaries did not live as Legionaries should, they would live apart, have their own money, own houses, cars, etc.. Any now I know why, because the founder was not a true Catholic, he did not believe, he was a parasite of the church, using faith for his own means.
---
Its sad when I think of the day in Mexico in 1998 when Fr. Alvaro spoke to us in Rosedal in Mexico about the allegations. He said they were false and were made to discredit "Nuestro Padre". These guys so intelligent as they are, were not able or willing to see the truth or even investigate. Fr. Macial has more power in the Legion than the Pope did, He knew how to use is power.
I hope and pray that the 5 Bishops will be able to see the true structure of the Legion (not the legion Painted by superiors), They will see pious communities, clean seminarians. What they don't and won't see are the one to one's the seminarians get with superiors, team balance, and the culture that is still there of hiding the truth. Even today they did don't criticize a superior, they keep the spirit of the Legion (I know this from a priest in the legion)
---
From what I can see in the Media only the Tip of the Iceberg has been revealed, There is a lot more to come. I feel sorry for the men of Faith in the Legion.

[5] Oh, Sweet Jesus, thank you for Protecting me from Maciel the Pervert!

The author of Our Father who art in bed, Paul Lennon, with parents in Rome, 1966

When I look back on the following episode, described in my memoir,  Our Father who art in bed, excerpted below,
I experience retro-active fear and revulsion:
I, too, was geographically close to him, the predator,
under the same roof, walking the same corridors...
Oh, my God! He sexually abused people on my watch - not that I knew of it at the time, pedophiles are so astute! But Vaca, Jurado and Parga were in the Legion at the same time as me, "prefects" in Salamanca and in Rome. Then, ten years ago, it came as a blow when I learned that one of my close companions in Bundoran and Rome, Michael Caheny, was also a victim.
Oh, Sweet Jesus, thank you for protecting me!
Oh, Holy Mother, how I cry for those that were abused!


My General Confession to Nuestro Padre


I am at Sanborn’s restaurant at the Plaza de las Estrellas

mall in Mexico City’s Anzures district on Saturday, September

10, 2005. Sitting across the table, Dr. Fernando González

interviews me about my experiences with the Legion of Christ

against the background of pedophilia. He is researching Maciel

& Legion abuses, and will later publish Marcial Maciel, the

Legion of Christ: Unpublished Testimonies and Documents. I tell him

honestly I was never sexually abused in the Legion, nor was I

ever approached in an inappropriate way by any member. Two

years after Sanborn’s I still must rack my brain to recall one

unusual incident.

It involved Father R.C., LC. I was already an

ordained priest. During one of my few visits to Rome, we were

strolling along the Via Aurelia Nova close to our Legionary

residence. A woman passed by. I paid only fleeting attention

to her. I can only infer that she was “a lady of the night” from

R.C.’s question: “Ever thought of going off with a prostitute?”

I said nothing but thought to myself: “What could have caused

you to pass a remark like that? Don’t you know I have sisters? I

love and respect women. Of course, I find them attractive. But

I don’t use them! I forgive you because you are a Legionary. One

never knows why Legionaries do things. Maybe you were on a

special mission to spy on me, to look for chinks in my armor.

What would you have said, thought, done if my answer had

been ‘Yes’? Was it just your own morbid curiosity? Yours was

certainly not the kind of question sanctioned by the myriad of

Legion rules, norms, guidelines and instructions.”

Entering the LC at age 17 and 7 months, I admit I was

very immature mentally, emotionally, and spiritually; naïve

and sexually unaware, too. However, as the son of a warm

and structured home, I had strong relationships with my

mother—her only son—and with my father; he and I were

“boon companions.” I did not need Nuestro Padre as a surrogate

father.

I had the “privilege” of going to confession to Nuestro

Padre for the first time before my Religious Profession in

Salamanca, September 1962. I was 18 years and 10 months

old. By then my Spanish was good enough. It was suggested

to me by my spiritual director/superior that I make a general

confession to Nuestro Padre to receive special graces through

the Founder and as the best way of preparing for the religious

life.

During the relatively uneventful and sheltered life I

had lived before entering the Holy Novitiate at age 17, I

had accumulated two “sins against purity” that troubled my

somewhat scrupulous conscience and about which I felt very

ashamed. Before entering the Legion I had unloaded one to

a Carmelite friar at St. Teresa’s Clarendon St., Dublin. In fear

and trembling I unloaded the second to Nuestro Padre, Man of

God. I do not recall any Earth-shattering advice or apocalyptic

revelation. I felt he was kind. At the end, I kissed the end of his

stole as a sign of reverence and gratitude. He may have brushed

my cheek with the tassel in a fatherly way. I experienced a great

sense of relief because I had been able to get rid of that sin. I

don’t remember any advice. Now, I had no sin on my soul, I

was free through the Sacrament of Confession, and I was ready

to take on my vows—although the doubts of faith continued

to torture me.

My interviewer Fernando insists: was there nothing, not

even the slightest sexual innuendo in this encounter with Fr

Maciel? No, nothing. “And you were not aware of any abuse

going on around you as appears from the testimonies of others?”

Not at all.

Taking into account the two dozen testimonies of sexual

abuse from the 40s and 50s, and those beginning to appear

regarding the 60s and 70s, why were so many of us so totally

unaware? Could it be that Father Maciel is a Master of the

Game of secret societies, with their isolated concentric circles

of information and power? Maciel in the middle, surrounded

by a first cadre of “unconditionals” who silently acquiesce to his

power? Only The Master knows everything. The unconditionals

know more than the following circle, and so on. The victims do

not necessarily belong to the inner circle, for it is now clear that

those closest to Maciel are used to bring more sheep into the

shepherd’s fold. They appear within a separate circle, isolated

from the community at large, which in turn is totally oblivious

to what goes on behind the infirmary door or Father Maciel’s

sickbay? Reading the chilling descriptions in John Le Carré’s

A Perfect Spy and Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago regarding

secrecy, isolation, and control lead one to such considerations.

I don’t think I can fairly say that Father Maciel was an

indiscriminate sexual predator, thought there is no doubt that

he had a large harem to choose from for years as undisputed

totalitarian leader of the Legion of Christ. Thus there is no

reason to believe that all who came within his “spiritual”

radius or halo were potential victims. That said, could it be

that the “sin” I confessed to Father Maciel in that first general

confession, about being sexually accosted by an Irish Christian

Brother, somehow “immunized” me against abuse? If so, oh

blessed “sin”! Or could it be that my conscience was already

gelling, thus making me impervious to molding according

to this Spiritual Director’s unusual criteria? Had I already

gathered sufficient “ego strength” to avoid enmeshment with

the guru? Or had he simply not found me attractive? Maybe I

wasn’t his type. Or my nose was too big.

[4] Fr. Maciel's "Personal Assistants" and Male Nurses

El Puma’s Personal Assistants and Male Nurses

[Excerpt from "Our Father (Maciel) who art in bed"'s sole chapter on Fr. Maciel's Pedophile Activities]



During Novitiate in Salamanca, 1961-62, I was trained

as community nurse—which included giving shots of various

kinds—by Jesus Martinez-Penilla. Called “Padre Penilla,”

he was probably just another philosophy or theology student

appointed as “Prefect”, i.e., assistant superior. I never had any

problems with him, despite later reports linking him to sexual

abuse scandals in Ontaneda, Spain. He may have been Father

Maciel’s nurse, administering intravenous, intramuscular, and

subcutaneous shots to him. There was always a good stock of

injections, from vitamins to sedatives, in the supply cabinet.

Some medications were used exclusively by Father Maciel,

“Nuestro Padre’s medicines,” or could only be administered with

his authorization. I distinctly remember largactil phials which,

I believe, Father Penilla administered either to Father Maciel or

other members of the community on an as needed basis. We all

knew that Nuestro Padre was affected by a variety of illnesses

that required rest, special care, and medication. Knowing Father

Maciel’s secretive nature, it is more than likely that he kept

his personal effects—including more personal medications—

always close at hand, in his room, with his luggage, or in the

infamous crocodile-skin briefcase.



I was never Nuestro Padre’s nurse.

During my stay in Salamanca, Brother Guillermo

Adame was his personal assistant, secretary, valet, nurse and

chauffer. This young man—a dark-skinned well built Mexican

with chiseled features and jet black hair, who was never

ordained—later had a nervous breakdown and left the order; a

“throwaway”? His younger brother, Carlos, was also a member

for a period and he too left without holy orders. Both were

musically talented. I distinctly remember Guillermo playing

Bach’s Toccata on the chapel organ. Other special “secretaries”

to Maciel paraded by during my Legion training in Salamanca

and Rome: Valente Velasquez, Raul De Anda, Bonifacio Padilla,

Francisco Parga and others. In retrospect I thank God for not

having the “privilege” of being particularly close to El Puma.

He did want to be our “father”; he loved to be considered such

by the brothers, and to be addressed with terms of affection.

I remember feeling early on some anger toward a fellow Irish

novice for using what I perceived as the even more endearing

term of “Mon Père” when addressing the Founder. Although

some of the older members used this name, the title smacked

of too much adulation for me.

[3] Father Maciel's Sexual Seduction Technique

Pedophile founder of the Legion of Christ, Fr. Marcial Maciel, embraces now Superior General, Alvaro Corcuera, after the latter's ordination



El Puma’s Accusers, flashbacks

[excerpt from Our Father [Maciel] who art in bed, a Naive and Sentimental Dubliner in the Legion of Christ....]

I supported Father Peter Cronin when, in 1992, he

initiated a newsletter to other ex-legionaries whose whereabouts

he knew. We were unaware of the serious accusations of sexual

abuse against Father Maciel at that time and for several years

later. The bomb exploded in the American media in 1997 with

the Hartford Courant articles of Renner and Berry. I had not

read them and was still oblivious.

In 1998 I received a phone call at my home from José

Barba: “Paul, do you remember me? I am José Barba. Do you

believe our testimonies?” It was too point-blank. “Testimonies,

about what?” I was totally at sea. I lacked context and

information. First, we had to catch up on the past twenty-five

years of our lives. Such is frequently the disjointed existence

of ex-Legionaries. I remembered José Barba, known as one of

the most intelligent LC students ever, from a visit I paid him

when he was an ex-Legionary teaching at La Universidad de

las Americas in Puebla, Mexico. Legionary priest Juan Manuel

Amenábar—who would later accuse Father Maciel on his

deathbed—because of the relative freedom his fundraising

activities then afforded him, found a way to visit his old

confrere. I do not know why he took me in tow that day.

Barba now launched into an explanation of his efforts to

bring the testimonies of ten ex-Legionaries accusing Father

Maciel of sexually abusing them to the notice of the Catholic

hierarchy. He mentioned other members I knew personally,

Juan Vaca and Arturo Jurado. I was surprised but the stories

seemed credible. He told me about one of his encounters with

Father Maciel. It was true to the Legion atmosphere, and to

the customs and character of the Marcial Maciel I had come to

know beyond the aura of holiness and the legend of integrity.

One thing I was convinced of regarding Maciel: he had no

concern or respect for people. Nevertheless, I could not roundly

condemn him without knowing more. I would be open to

learning more about the accusations. After that I read the

newspaper articles. They rang true. They were all different,

but said the same thing. Maciel’s method sounded uncannily

authentic; the abuse sickeningly real.



“Dear Arturo (Jurado),

On Tuesday I received the videotapes you sent and started

watching them last night (April 4, 2003; Mexican Canal 40,

Círculo Rojo Program April 15, 2002), beginning with the

first video: the “rough” version of the testimonies of three brave

ex-Legionaries. On the screen appeared the face of Jose Barba

whom I haven’t seen for many years, and there he was, full of

dignity, ruefully talking about his abuse. I was saddened and

angry at Father Maciel listening to Jose’s story. I, who love

to sleep late, did not sleep well. I got up at six; a record for

me. As I follow with the second tape, the Mexican Canal 40

report, I understand better the nature of, and grasp the reality

and seriousness of, this abuse. Hearing and watching Alejandro

Espinoza talk about the recruitment of “pretty” boys I made an

uncanny connection with my own “intuition.” I seem to have

stumbled onto the realization of Maciel being an “ephebophile”,

an adult who loves adolescents, a few days ago when I shared

my reflections with our ReGAIN group.

Memories and names from my own experience come

to mind. When I arrived in Salamanca in September 1961,

I do remember seeing a certain Arturo Jurado. He belonged

to another community, and therefore we were not allowed to

speak or communicate in any way, although we lived under

the same roof. (You told me later, Arturo, that Maciel had

you “quarantined” as a form of punishment.) At the time I

assumed Bro. Jurado was already a Philosophy student in

apostolic practices (i.e., a period when the Legionary takes a

break from studies to get experience in one of the Legion’s

Apostolates or missions). From what I remember, although I

could not talk to him, he did seem to be a particularly gentle

and quiet individual. I certainly do not remember crashing into

him during one of our “friendly” intramural soccer matches.

But maybe that too was forbidden to you during your solitary

confinement.”