Compensation

Holy Mother Church has a new shepherd:

Mgr Charles J. Scicluna was this morning ordained auxiliary bishop at a ceremony in a St John’s co-Cathedral filled to overflowing with members of his family, visiting archbishops and bishops and representatives from across the Maltese diocese, among other dignitaries.

The 53-year-old newly ordained Titular Bishop of San Leone, is now entrusted with leadership responsibilities in the Curia and in the diocesan pastoral ministry. He has become a member of the Maltese Episcopal Conference alongside Archbishop Paul Cremona and Bishop of Gozo Mario Grech.

Renowned for his policy of zero tolerance towards the Church sexual abuse cases, Mgr Scicluna acted as the Vatican’s promoter of justice and chief prosecutor in the sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church over the past decade.

The Ordination began with the Bishops putting aside their mitres, standing near the principal ordaining Bishop, with hands joined, facing the people and inviting them to pray.

The Bishop-elect knelt alongside other members of the congregation and the litany was sung. The principle ordaining Bishop stood at his chair and, wearing his mitre, placed his hands on a kneeling Scicluna, surrounded by a number of priests, without saying a word. The Book of Gospels was placed on the Bishop-elect’s head while the Prayer of Ordination was read out.

The anointing of the head followed with the principal ordaining Bishop putting a linen tunic on his lap and, taking the Holy chrism from one of the priests, anointed the head of the newly-ordained Bishop, who knelt before him and prayed.

The ring was placed on Mgr Scicluna’s ring finger and a standing ovation and round of applause followed.

While many will keenly feel his absence at the CDF, he has promised that he will continue his work, adding to it his new authority. Moreover, he offered these words of advice:

On Friday’s discussion programme Xarabank, presenter Peppi Azzopardi put Mgr Scicluna on the spot by asking him for his opinion over the child sex abuse scandals which saw two priests sentenced to jail for a total of 11 years, and his personal stand on the compensation requested by the victims from the Church for psychological damages.

“It is the Church’s role to help the victims by offering them psychological help – which also costs money – but that is what money is for after all, for use when it’s needed. However, regarding monetary compensation, the victims should seek that privately from the abusers,” he said.

It is meet and just. The Legion raised money on the "holiness" of Maciel, and that indicates where the responsibility lies--whether physical abuse or mental abuse grounded in MM's own methodology.

Comments

[Dingledore]

Yippee!! Justice reigns and corruption / manipulation / sexual deviants falter!! I knew there was a God!

[Deirdre Mundy]

Not on topic but: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/duffy/2012/11/gratitude-for-the-people-who-fostered-my-faith/

Sigh. "Public Catholic" treating association with Maciel's group as a badge of pride, and going on about how it's superior to 'remain faithful' to the 'vocation' in the group.

I haven't said this is a while (been really busy), but: NO ONE ON THE PLANET had a vocation to Regnum Christi or the Legion. You may have had a vocation to the priesthood, to religious life, or to teach teens about the faith, but YOU NEVER HAD a vocation to Maciel's Machine.

God never calls us to lies. He never calls us to follow false prophets. He calls us to follow TRUTH. Maciel and his group HIJACKED you. They led you off the path. God continued to call you, even in the wilderness, but he wasn't calling you to follow a lie.

And, even if someone in LC/RC helped you go closer to God, that doesn't mean that 'Slave to Maciel's vision' was their vocation. There was a place out there, a place not founded on lies, where God was calling them. Maciel and his recruiters just managed to send them onto a detour so they could be set upon by thieves.

For those still entangled, God is still calling you. He's ever-faithful and never gives up on us. And he will give you a place in the Church that is NOT bound up by lies.

[Truman]

Thank you for that post, Deirdre, and Amen! On this Feast of Christ the King, I realize that I am still in need of healing. Praying this morning with Magnificat was so difficult for me.

My first instinct was to be fruustrated with myself, but I'm now taking a gentler path that simply asks the Holy Spirit for this much-needed healing.

If any of you have recommendations for making new connections to Christ as King, I gladly welcome them. In the meantime, I'm going to continue to refrain from the battle cry of "Christ our King, thy kingdom come!" which I still so deeply associate with the Movement.

Come, Holy Spirit!

[Deirdre Mundy]

Truman-- You could always go with "Long Live Christ the King!"--The cry of martyrs through the ages. Or the ever popular, "Please, be king of my heart..."

And, instead of the (awful, frankly) Regnum Christi- Icons, how about a pankrator? http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3457/3944413634_f044cf8975_m.jpg

There are lots of Eastern-style representations of Christ the King...

Also--- it may just help to look ahead to Advent for the time being. It's OK not to feel a deep, personal connection to every single liturgical feast! So, you can always just recognize that Christ the King may NEVER be a favorite for you-- and that that's PERFECTLY OK!

[reid]

How come I don't feel much like celebrating? When I was first becoming aware of the l/r con in 2009, I decided to educate myself about l/r. Well, as they say, if you want to keep your faith and you're traveling in the barque of St. Peter, better not look too closely into the engine room.

I have some acquaintances who are still members of l/r and who appear (I say “appear” because I don't pretend to know what is in their hearts) relatively untouched by the entire sorry saga. They cheerfully continue to do the “thy kingdom come” stuff for l/r. They appear very careless about the victims of mm and very careless about the victims of l/r methodology.

I thought it wasn't a good thing to be deceived about the truth of things. Now I'm left wondering. I'm hanging with Mother Church by my fingernails while my l/r acquaintances, deceived about the truth of l/r, remain committed to Mother Church (and l/r). Not only are God's thoughts not ours, but also, apparently, God's sense of humor is not ours.

[LAN]

Wouldn't it be somewhat healthy to acknowledge that being so gullible as to believe in the paederast was at least partly your responsibility?
Why think your silly "kingdom" had anything to do with Christ the King, who inspired so many martyrs?
Grow up, please!

[les]

LAN, I am offended by this comment. Why do people who were suckered have to blame themselves for believing people who appeared on the surface to be good Christians? I was lied to. My pastor endorsed this group. As soon as I saw negative evidence against LegReg, I got out. That's all anyone can do. I never met the paederast. I met other seemingly good people who vouched for him, including priests. Prior to my experience in RC, I trusted priests. Why would anyone expect priests to be dishonest? Is THAT healthy?

So no thanks to your blaming of good honest sincere people who believed their priests.

[Dingledore]

I think we were all suckered, but we should know right from wrong and by now, after all of the news, pull our heads out of the ground. They are all in absolute denial. The actions of their founder and leaders have clearly been deceptive and impure. Why DePaolis and the PTB allow it, I'll never know but I have a hunch, it has to do with $$$$ and favors. They have to keep the corporation growing. That's what it boils down to. Remember what they said? Surrender (i.e. if you can't beat em', join 'em). I'd rather not and be pure.

[MariGold]

On the day after Monsignor Scicluna was ordained bishop, he was ALSO named JUDGE for the Congregation of Faith; here's a link -- http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121125/the-new-bishop/bishop-scicluna-appointed-judge-of-the-congregation-of-the-faith.446875

[MariGold]

Truman: there is a story in Acts that St Paul was bitten by a viper on the Island of Malta where he was shipwrecked; St Paul shook the viper into the fire and was not harmed. Everyone was amazed! So the Gospel was first brought to Malta by St Paul himself and has never left it. It is a happy place with an incredibly festive society; nobody has ever heard of the Legion or Maciel, except through papers. The authority by which Mons. Scicluna was ordained came, as the ritual required, by the ordaining bishop's reading the essential Mandate from the Holy See; an open book of the Gospels was placed over Mons. Scicluna's head, with the text open to his pate (large Gosepel book held by two deacons on either side); and he gave his promises to defend the Faith and serve the Church in strong, clear voice; then, silently, each bishop placed his hands on Msgr. Scicluna's head. It was a glorious moment, and the certainty that here was a real knight, who would do what he said he would do, came across with great strength and joy. It was like experiencing the coming of dawn after long night. There we saw the real authority of the Church, as it came from the apostles, lived out so that the world might not be deceived by Satan and the lies with which the Legion deceived us all. For me, being there, the Feast of Christ the King was redeemed for the first time in more than 15 years, and I have been set free to pray again, not only privately, but in public liturgy, in the freedom and happiness that is the Church's truest gift to us as a community. Please, friends, don't give up on our Mother, who has been so harried by the Beast.

[Tom]

“However, regarding monetary compensation, the victims should seek that privately from the abusers”
Sorry, as a simple lay, this statement makes me queasy. The physical, mental and spiritual abuse was part and parcel of an institution under a leadership that is still largely in place.
Its time to get heads out of the sand. When is the Pope and/or the Delegate going to meet the victims?
It is time to start exploring seriously what advice/directives MM got from people like Cardinal Alvaro de Portillo, who were key canon lawyers and legislators at the Vatican when MM put the “lay” LCRC structure in place, with all the bells and whistles that lead to abuse. No point in hiding and sweeping things under the rug with happy talk. From what I read, Bishop Scicluna no doubt is on the right side. But he is also a careful individual, and can not do everything on his own....Lot of prayers this advent season..

[reid]

The things you touch on in your comment, Tom -- issues of monetary compensation, l/r leadership still largely in place, victims being iced out, the corruption in the engine room on the barque of St. Peter -- remind me why I'm in no frame of mind to celebrate.

[reid]

I say this in all sincerity -- it is good, MariGold, that you are able to pray again. As St Patrick wrote, "I ask of God that he give it me to persevere . . ." which is what you have done.

Now and then, I think about this outfit pulling that old change-the-office-lock stunt on Marigold's loved one and attempting intellectual theft of his work. Just another one of those "misunderstandings." Right, legion? I thought when the "visitators" (remember them?) had collected the stories from those tossed to the side of the road by the legion and its gotta-grow-the-kingdom mentality, that surely Mother Church would not cross to the other side of the road. But it has.

[Dingledore]

Reid: I totally get your anger. I could be wrong, but my impression is that Rome sees the problem (the crooked, con-man, narcissistic founder, Maciel plus leadership) to be minuscule compared to the numbers of priests who would be impacted if they were to shut the whole, obsessive-compulsive, anal, place down. What would they do with all of those blessed priests (like Garza and TWilliams)? There may be more good ones than rotten
ones. This brings no solace to you and thousands of other silenced victims, many who
have been severely affected by their years of
mind control, entrapment and abuse. Our
mission is to protect people from further harm.
Our mission is to make people aware of our
experiences and to let others know that they
can say NO to abuse (mental cruelty, sexual abuse, shunning seminarians for having a brain). This is America (not Mexico). Having a mind and a voice is a constitutional right. Yes, the CCC has a chock full of rules, but abuse is never ok. Priests are not Gods, they are men who are supposed to be HOLY.

[reid]

Dingledore: It's very likely that the cardinal overseeing the l/r "reform" was given a directive to conduct damage control, and salvaging as many legionary priests as possible is part of that directive. I don't see how a salvage job can be effective. Other than pointing to mm- the- scapegoat, the legion superiors have acknowledged nothing, ducking and dodging to continue business pretty much as usual.

I have my hunches (there are always hunches, so not worth a whole lot) as to why the Vatican-conducted "reform" of l/r has taken the route it has. Those hunches include such stuff as clericalism, complicity, duplicity, whitewashing. I'm enough of a realist to know that the Church, like other institutions, does not escape the truth that power and money attract corruption like flies to honey. But, man, does the engine room need a scouring!

For all victims of l/r, the withholding of justice continues. For justice withheld, charity is no substitute (Augustine). A big first step to justice would be for the the legion superiors to acknowledge their role in the cover-up, as well as admitting to wrongs done to others by them in the name of l/r. That would, of course, require the Vatican to accept its own share of responsibility for this mess. How likely is it that either legion superiors or Church officials will be taking that first step any time soon? (How long did it take the Church to come around to apologize for its treatment of Galileo - three centuries?) So, Dingledore, giselle is kind enough to allow her blog to be a place for people like me to vent.

[MariGold]

Vent away, dear Reid! Sometimes, I, too think of those changed locks on my husband's office and the steam comes out of the old chimney! But so many of us have been helped by this forum -- thanks, precious friend, Giselle! -- and those LC/RC stinkers just can't get away with their one-and-only game plan as easily as they once did. We can call a spade a spade and know the face of fraud that hides behind a false smile and lies.