Distillation of TW affair

When comment threads get unwieldy, I think it helps to start fresh -- simplifying navigation by boiling down the thoughts, which have been very helpful. These seem to be the important points:

• It is deeply tragic that a priest has broken his vows, but as important as the matter is, it is the surrounding duplicity that is of far more concern, especially from a group that is trying to reform after decades of monstrous deceit;
• The most troubling element of the affair itself is that the child is referred to as "hers." For a congregation that associates itself with the New Evangelisation, they have dropped the ball grievously on this point, since fatherhood is a particular area where the culture is lacking;
• Since it has been admitted that the child was born some years ago, recent events (book tours, speaking engagements, television appearances, promotional material) had to have been approved with the full understanding of the monumental hypocrisy involved;
• Either TW did this alone, or the Legion was complicit -- and although they refuse to say when they knew, in such a case the refusal is damning in itself;
• We also know that the Legion only acted when their hand was forced by Patricio Serda, despite their laughable insistence that this, too, was the result of an internal investigation -- if that were the case, then it would have come out a long time ago. The timing is clear: they could no longer maintain the pretense;
• Cardinal dePaolis' response, "these things happen" beggars belief. One expects to hear that when sportscasters are announcing a quirky aspect to the game they're covering -- not from a "Prince of the Church" when responding to a grave breach of trust in a theological matter;
• The fact that TW taught Moral Theology at a seminary while harbouring such a secret is deeply unsettling; but another professor of moral theology scandalised LARC readers years ago by saying that the sexual abuse suffered within the Legion was known to him and not that bad;
• For years, TW has been the model Legionary, the "poster boy" as it were, filling the gap left by the previous model Legionary -- MM himself; since the Legion hierarchy cannot find a model Legionary who is a man of integrity, are the superiors deliberately telegraphing something, or just confounded in their choices?
• It has to be noted that once again the temptation from within the L/R ranks is to cast aspersions on those who are horrified by this tragic news. Their own reactions are deflected so that critics are called mean, scandalous reactions are called "judgemental," and there is the hasty [irrelevant] call for forgiveness;
• Yahoo showed that "Legion of Christ" was trending along with Ashton Kutcher and Paris Hilton, proving the breadth of this scandal in the most secular corners. While we're faced with a "gay president," massive unemployment, sky-rocketing debt, the shredding of religious liberty, and growing Christian persecution world-wide, the Church is in the spotlight for a baby-daddy story;
• The Legion says it's trying to reform itself, but we're faced with a group whose superiors are still in place despite decades of duplicity and cover-up, whose papal delegate doesn't speak their language (although he was appointed in 2010, he was not told of this story which was known by the hierarchy) and then the story is cast as a reason for pity, not outrage;
• The perverse psychology of this cult insists on denying the truth of things -- and shuts down authentic human responses when the lies are discovered. There is no hint of self-knowledge in this group, their spokesmen are untrustworthy and their formation material is utterly unreliable. It remains for anyone to show why they should exist, when the fruit they bring to the Church is consistently, deeply compromised.

If there are other points that should be considered, feel free to put them in the combox, and we'll expand the list. It is essential that we highlight the duplicity, for that is the common thread in all chapters of this tortured saga.

Comments

[Jose Gomes]

I am very sad this is happening. Fr Thomas was a good friend. Maybe there have been problems with my Legion and my Father...

[LAN]

Gomes, honey, see what Morticia -er, Lucrecia- is up to in the asylum.

[HonestyPlease]

It's in the NY Times (the story seems to downplay the cover-up, and it's since been taken out of the top stories on the "front page" online -- perhaps Slim called and told them to bury the story):

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/us/popular-priest-fathered-child-and-says-hell-step-aside.html

[giselle]

From the NYT piece:

“He was the face of the church at the time of the conclave,” said Susan Gibbs, the spokeswoman at the time for the Archdiocese of Washington and now a media consultant for Catholic organizations. “He really helped people understand how the church worked.”

Um, that's supremely ironic on many levels.

[Jose Gomes]

All of you must understand, I have been in the Legion for nearly 40 years and the Founder and the Legion hierarchy are my family and ones first instinct is to assume that lies and calumny are the reason for fall of the Legion and some of its members....

[Justice]

Jose, you're annoying.

My problem is that being a shareholder at one time in the business of the Legionaries of Christ, I actually participated in paying for the $6,000.00 veneers TW has on those front teeth of his!

I pity only that TW got sucked into believing that living a privileged life as a Catholic priest was actually acceptable to God in some way. A slow methodical wearing away at his thinking. How scary and what does that say about the rest of the priests of the Legion of Christ. Are they on the same trajectory? Can the world trust these Catholic priests or is it time to close their doors?

[It's the Deception, Stupid]

Lies and calumny by whom, Gomes? The enemies of the Legion? You do understand those are Maciel's words you are using, correct?

[Steve]

I will assume that the "..." are Jose's, not an editing after he tried to post.

With that assumption, it sounds maybe like whoever is posting under the moniker of Jose Gomes might be doing some soul searching. I'm just surprised that this particular story would start it--it's so derivative of MM's narrative.

[nat]

The #1 problem is that so many of them cannot come to grips with how much they learned from Maciel.

"He could articulate things in the abstract but not in relation to himself. It is very strange" Fr Williams said in an interview.

Fr Williams lived in the same house as Maciel for 10 years...

"If this had come out 30 or 40 years ago, the Legion would have been destroyed immediately" ... "My own explanation is that maybe God intended for this to come out late enough in the game"

http://www.life-after-rc.com/2011/05/providence-and-psychopaths.html

[Anon]

Giselle...are you by now, hopefully, seeing another big upturn in viewers of LARC?

[Steve]

Giselle: To your summary items, I would only add the following:

>> TW (and LC), in the fine Catholic moral tradition, do not seem willing to refer to the child as either "his" or "theirs", but rather as "hers". Talk about a new definition of Christian "manhood" (as in what it means to "man up")... the LCs are rewriting the book.

>> The (now disgraced) "poster boy" for the LCs had to be drawn from middle management because???? Perhaps none of the senior leadership is photogenic? Or is scandal free? Or commands any respect outside the Legion? Who is being held up as the LC "new man of the Kingdom" for all to imitate now?

[giselle]

@Anon: while attention is not gratifying (since it's based on a sordid topic) yes, there've already been over 10,000 hits since this broke, and we're closing in on 3 million overall.

As I said to my husband, there's so much that I write about -- this is not what I wanted to be known for. God's most holy will in all things. Please let this end.

[HonestyPlease]

Giselle,

The voice of truth is being heeded -- perhaps. It's taken a long time (not that the task is by any means finished), and there have been (and will continue to be) many attempts to block the truth from being heard.

Thank you.

[Jose Gomes]

I am just coming to terms with this latest scandal. But I believe, I have met Fr. Tom's wife and daughter. He always referred to her as his cousin and he was helping her through her divorce. But this was back in the late 90's.

[giselle]

@JG: I've assumed you've been writing "tongue in cheek" (with a bit of sarcasm) but we need to know if you're serious about this detail. It exacerbates the scandal, if that's possible.

[Anon]

Yes, Giselle, the voice of truth, reason, sanity, is here... as against the voice of LC, the voice of weak Church hierarchy,and the voice of the anti-Church world.

[Steve]

It just occurred to me that the culture that MM established in the LegC would allow certain key players (high enough up the chain of command) to get a pretty good map of where "all the bodies are buried." This intel would be useful in maintaining or enhancing one's status w/in the LegC.

Given that whistle blowing has been a career tanking move in the LegC since MM got rid of the first crew who tried to do it way back in the 1950s, I'm guessing that the current top leaders are sitting on a whole pile of explosive material, using it carefully to maintain their own positions in the inner circle and all praying that NO ONE else ever finds out what they know.

If I'm even 50% correct, then the only glue holding the operation together is the devil's bargain they've made with each other to let the bodies stayed buried as long as possible (and hopefully until they've departed this life.) Their biggest fear must be someone just outside of that inner circle getting ticked off enough to leave and spilling the beans on his way out.

Given their two most recent adventures in bean spilling, this has got to be causing someone some sleepless nights....

[Mary Ann]

I agree that the worst was the referral to the child as "hers."

As for the problem of being a moral theology professor, remember that for 50 years moral theology departments have been dominated by situation ethicists and that many seminary professors were/are active homosexuals. Keeping a scandal secret at least pays tribute to virtue!:) Most of us are beyond scandal. The offensive thing to most is his and the Order's promotion of him as a moral spokesman, knowing all the while.

As for Father W, I really think it would be relevant to know if he were an apostolic, if he had early exposure to the Legion - which could mean arrested development and a "forced" vocation.

[happy in diocesan life]

Giselle, thanks so much for the summary. You really break it down for us all. I invite everyone to go onto New Advent and see Erin Manning's blog. Jose Gomes, I am taking you by your word. Having said that Erin's blog really goes after what you have experienced... I was in for half of your time... and I know that when you are in a group for a longer time.. a "family", it becomes part of you. If you have been in for forty years, 1972, then you must have had much more individual time with Fr Marcial and these other first cofounders. But as Erin mentions in her blog, I pray that you come to see, believe and proclaim the Legion as a dysfunctional family that needs to be pulled apart and everyone needs to go their own therapists (especially the superiors) and through the Lord's mercy and our repentance, only reunite as a family in heaven. As I mentioned some months back, duplicity is so rampant that the legion has convinced themselves of this make believe world.. the movie "the Truman show" depicts it perfectly. The only way to see this false Christian way is to get out! (if it doesn't self-destruct first).

[giselle]

@Steve: I think you're right, for blackmail is an integral part of this game -- blackmail against fellow superiors, against would-be whistle blowers, against members of the curia who had a hand in MM's meteoric rise, and against former supporters who saw way too much. God will not be mocked, and so it's bound to sink eventually. What members have to remember is the pull of a sinking vessel. Everyone would do well to row their little boats well away from the Titanic as it goes down.

Forget the world and keep your eyes on eternity. A congregation that hitched its wagon to earthly stardom is only capable of one kind of fruit -- think about Martha Stewart's tv sets that pass for real kitchens, or Michelle Obama's garden...

[hauler]

Father father TW lived with MM for 10 years. Ahhh the apple does not fall far from tree, does it? From their works yee shall know him..... YEA....

Anyone know where I can get an autographed copy of "KNOWING RIGHT FROM WRONG" ?

[hauler]

OOPS, "FROM WRONG"

I post on here rarely but find it fitting to use profanity, the lords name in vain, and any other inappropriate language when discussing the Legionaries of Christ.

[Justice]

I would like to know if there are any RC encounter meetings being held in the US this month? I'd really like to begin a case study regarding the incessant need for duplicity among LC and RC members and how to be Catholic while living a duplicitous life.

May we also discuss how RC/LC stab fellow Catholics in the back, throw them to the curb, slander them, threaten them and then attend Church on Sundays?

Call me! I'm looking for some honest Catholic relationships!

[Anon]

@hauler: Vent your anger here as needed, but if you really MUST take the Lord's Name in vain...try to realize that God had NOTHING to do with WILLING this EVIL. SATAN is the Father of EVIL...the Father of LIES!!

[Steve]

OK. Group, it's time to vote on which case we'll be discussing this evening. How many think we are called to discuss Justice's organizational duplicity in the name of the Kingdom case?

No one?

OK. How many folks think we should discuss Bob's case on the little girl who sells five dozen homemade brownies each week and gives all her money to the homeless shelter?

Two hands?

OK. Final case. Gerald's case about the professional athlete who kneels and thanks Jesus after every touchdown?

Fifteen hands?

Sorry, Bob. Just not enough interest in anonymous little selfless girls. And Justice, I think it's time you moved along... It's apparent you've got some serious tude and need to go.

Now.