life-after-RC

Documents to be released

UPDATE: Details of case here.

The Legion's effort to block the release of documents related to the Mee lawsuit has failed, and the documents will become avaiable at any moment. Here is the AP story:

Documents related to a disgraced Roman Catholic order called the Legion of Christ were released to the public Friday amid a legal battle over a widow's bequest of $60 million to the organization.

A Rhode Island Superior Court judge said last year that the documents raised a red flag because a steadfastly spiritual elderly woman transferred millions to "clandestinely dubious religious leaders." But they had been kept under seal until The Associated Press, The New York Times, the National Catholic Reporter and The Providence Journal intervened, arguing that they were in the public interest.

Pope Benedict XVI took over the Legion in 2010 after a Vatican investigation determined that its founder, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, had lived a double life: He sexually molested seminarians and fathered three children by two women. The pope ordered a wholesale reform of the order and named a papal delegate to oversee it.

The will of Gabrielle Mee, who died at age 96 in 2008, is the focus of the lawsuit. Mee's niece, Mary Lou Dauray, had alleged that Mee was defrauded by the Legion and unduly influenced by its priests into giving away her fortune. Her late husband was a onetime director of Fleet National Bank, which has since been absorbed by Bank of America.

Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein ruled in September that Dauray could not sue, but he noted there was evidence that Mee had been unduly persuaded to change her trusts and will and give the Legion her money. Dauray's lawyer, Bernard Jackvony, said Friday that the documents being released show an orchestrated effort by higher-ups at the Legion to get Mee's money and cover up Maciel's misdeeds.

The Legion says its actions surrounding Mee and her estate were appropriate and honorable. It says it did not exert undue influence over her decision-making, and that the gifts she gave to the order were made of her own free will.

Among the documents being released are depositions given by top-ranking leadership of the Legion, including the Rev. Anthony Bannon, who was once Maciel's deputy, and the Rev. Luis Garza, current head of the Legion's North American operations.

The Legion's argument was that these documents might prejudice a jury in the future, and just such a case is on the horizon.

A Connecticut man has sued the Legion of Christ, accusing the disgraced Roman Catholic order of using ‘‘predatory’’ means to persuade his ailing father to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Paul Chu’s lawsuit alleges that the order used ‘‘undue influence’’ to persuade his father, a retired Yale University engineering professor, to make the Legion the beneficiary of his retirement funds. Paul Chu’s lawsuit seeks the return of the more than $1 million he donated and $10 million in punitive damages.

The suit says James Boa-Teh Chu was in declining health when Legion representatives visited his East Providence home to ‘‘coerce’’ him into changing his retirement beneficiaries. Chu lacked the capacity to make decisions about the distribution of his assets and would not have made the Legion his beneficiary if he knew about allegations facing its founder, the lawsuit said.

The elder Chu, who was born in China in 1924, served on the Brown University faculty before working at Yale. He died in 2009. Paul Chu, of Meriden, Conn., is the executor of his father’s estate.

Legion spokesman Jim Fair denied the allegations in the lawsuit and said the order doesn’t pressures anyone to make a contribution.

‘‘We’re very confident that everything regarding him (Chu) was handled appropriately,’’ Fair said. ‘‘We’re always very concerned with respecting the intent of any of our donors.’’

UPDATE: It is important to clarify something related to Mrs Mee. Consider thist statement:

The disgraced Roman Catholic religious order the Legion of Christ bent its own rules for a wealthy elderly woman while it also isolated her from some relatives, according to newly released court documents, and a lawyer says the moves show the order was intent on becoming the beneficiary of her $60 million fortune.

The Legion counters that widow Gabrielle Mee was independent, strong-willed and happy and was never coerced into anything. The fact she led a less-restrictive life than others in its community shows she freely gave them her money, the Legion argues. Mee died in 2008 at age 96.

This very argument -- that she was given more independence than the other 3gf's -- is not a courtesy that denotes more freedom, but is rather a form of pandering. If a congregation has a rule, it is there for a reason. If women make promises of poverty, chastity, and obedience, then that is how they live their consecration (although, remember this is not real consecration).

If Mrs Mee made those promises, and then kept her own money, her own furniture and clothing, and ate her own food, and lived an independent life, then she was not living according to the statutes of her community. I know that elderly Religious (living in authenticly consecrated communities) often can skip portions of the Office, can have special diets, and a more relaxed life, but that is not what we have here. We have a woman with lots of money who was invited to live as a 3gf while not renouncing her money -- or living any sort of obedience.

That unique way of life was combined with the darker form of control -- namely the isolation from others who could benefit from her singular "independence" (i.e. members of her family). To allow her a chequebook and the ability to spend her money, but not allowing particular visits without minders or other forms of subtle control reveals the true nature of the Legion.

The "independence" she was allowed would not have been offered to any others (meaning women without fortunes) and thus it shows that her money created a particular status that the Legion played for their own ends. I don't fault Mrs Mee in the least, but cannot allow the Legion policy of pandering to a wealthy woman to be interpreted as their good will. Rather, it shows a kind of deviousness that played all ends to the middle. The "middle" with the $60 million fortune at their disposal (while keeping a pious elderly woman happy).

[Bernie] Jackvony said in an interview Saturday that the order's decision to bend the rules for Mee was designed to "gain her favor and keep her under their wing."

"The rules did not apply to her, and when you look at it the reason why is clear: because she had the capability of providing enormous amounts of money on a regular basis," he said.

Financial accountability

The latest from Jason Berry (with some suggestions from a reader below):

The Legion of Christ drew $2.19 million last year from a $28 million charitable trust that it controls, thanks to Gabrielle Mee, a wealthy widow who spent her final years as a consecrated woman in Regnum Christi, the order's lay wing. An orthodox Catholic, she was unaware that Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legion, had out-of-wedlock children or that the Vatican had banished him from ministry.

The Timothy J. Mee Charitable Trust -- established by the late husband of Gabrielle Mee, who died in 2008 -- paid the scandal-battered Legion $2.19 million in contributions, gifts and grants last year, according to the trust's 990 form, a public record that private foundations file with the IRS.

The Timothy Mee trust's $28.27 million net value is slightly less than half of the $60 million at issue in a lawsuit filed by Gabrielle Mee's niece against the Legion, Fr. Anthony Bannon and Bank of America, which manages the Timothy Mee trust with the Legion.

The niece, Mary Lou Dauray, sought to revoke the will and retrieve the assets, on grounds that her late aunt was deceived.

In a Sept. 7 summary judgment, Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein ruled that Dauray did not have legal standing to sue because she had no direct material interest in the outcome. Her stated intent was to apply any recovered funds to charities consistent with her aunt's religious beliefs.

But Silverstein's decision showed striking sympathy to Dauray's argument. The "transfer of millions of dollars worth of assets," the judge wrote in a lengthy ruling, "from a steadfastly spiritual, elderly woman to her trusted but clandestinely dubious spiritual leaders raises a red flag to this Court." Silverstein cited extensive information from discovery documents unavailable to the public.

Dauray is prohibited from giving interviews under the protective order the Legion requested and the court previously approved.

Tuesday afternoon, NCR joined The Associated Press, The New York Times and The Providence Journal in a petition to the court requesting that the protective order be lifted, which would allow the release of depositions and documents in the long-running dispute. A final decision on that could take weeks.

Is this really the Church I joined?

I'm a convert to the faith. I admit there are a few things I have difficulty with -- usually on the level of relics (the collecting of bones, hair, fabrics that touch them, etc. but specifically the rivalry between competing shrines and the stealing of each other's relics). Such things baffle me, but I trust there's something I just don't get about it.

I do understand the Station Churches of Lent. Interesting, and a blessed opportunity for those who are there, but this "churchathon" is not the same. It's so Not The Same that I am embarrassed as a Catholic that authentic Catholics thought it up. Really? People were "amazed" in Rome at the sight of seminarians? And they prayed so fervently? For what, 2 minutes with a camera on them, and then raced to the next church? I understand fraternity, fundraising and fun. But when acts of piety are seen as x's in a box (like our commitment cards) it seems that usual Legion utilitarianism has no prudent boundaries.

Is this really part of the Church I joined?

 

This piece is a little more reverent, but reminds us that the whole city is waiting for them (that maddening self-absorption we've come to expect).

ADDENDUM: Nicole Winfield reminds us how it should be done.

Meet the new boss...

...not like the old boss. AnonObserv has kindly alerted us to the fact that the Vatican-appointed delegate has already moved into his new role:

Velasio De Paolis, whom Benedict XVI appointed yesterday as papal commissioner of the Legion of Christ, has been working for weeks in his new responsibility. Since mid-month when the possible appointment became known, De Paolis (who serves as the head of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See) has had several meetings both with the five Visitors appointed last year by the Holy See as well as with some of those responsible for the congregation founded by the pederast Marcial Maciel, according to Vatican sources consulted by DR. All his work thus far has been with the acquiescence of Tarcisio Bertone, the true "factotum" of the designation.

So yesterday when his appointment became official, De Paolis already had all the necessary information. The Italian Archbishop, an expert on legal and economic issues, has already raised several possibilities for the future of the Legion of Christ. The most plausible is a total reform of the statutes, leading to a profound re-foundation of the congregation. To do this, the first decisions to be taken have to do with those still in positions of responsibility: Álvaro (formally continues as general director, but with no real effective power) and, especially, Luis Garza, who holds the financial keys to the economic empire of the Legionaries of Christ.

Precisely the money issues, not abuse--which is sufficiently documented and to the extent that the Legion has officially denounced its founder--which will mark the future of the congregation. However, it seems clear that many of the leaders at the time of Maciel, who continue in the order, will be expelled and even reduced to the lay state. The main problem De Paolis fears finding, is in the opacity of the accounts of the Legion. To date, no comprehensive study exists in the hands of the Holy See, although there are many suspicions, which have been heightened following the reporting of the five Visitors. However, the involvement of some officials of the Curia at the time of John Paul II (especially the Cardinals Sodano, Rode and Castrillón) could block the investigation of the Holy See.

In any case, the momentum of Bertone, who has the complete confidence of Benedict XVI, would enable the work of the new commissioner of the Legion of Christ to reach safe harbor. Ultimately, it is expected that the final decision about the Legion will not be taken immediately. In autumn some decisions could be known, for example the official termination of its current leaders. However, the reform of the statutes and its re-foundation--if the conditions ordered by the pope are not followed, could bring on the consideration of a hypothetical dissolution--which would take a couple of years.

I think the fact that dissolution is not off the table should take some of the shine off the "happy talk." We are all praying for reform, for purification and for transparency, but there is no guarantee that those things are possible. This is harsh (as was the May 1st communique) and the rank-and-file must wake up to its ramifications. To paint it as a brotherly stroll in the park with an affectionate pope is disingenuous and Regnum Christi members should help each local Legion priest to rethink his mission, for his own good--that would be authentic charity.

As for themselves, the scrutiny into the shady and tangled finances should be a red flag concerning further contributions, no matter how earnestly the solicitors remind them of hungry seminarians and crumbling kitchens. This is not about MM. The visitation was about the legacy--which led to enough grave concerns to take this unprecedented step. This is hard-ball against a congregation that has played by its own rules since its inception. It's time to read the handwriting on the wall and stop pretending that it's all a gesture of solidarity for a grieving order. Time to man-up on every level.

___________________________________________

[From a contributor: FWIW, an overview of how LC/RC works from the perspective of the US Fund Raising Office (FRO), where I had the dubious privilege to see the operations at a high and low level first-hand several years ago, with an indication of how DePaolis as Papal Delegate will unwind the Congregation from the backend forward ... ]

The FRO is a cash conduit for LC that leverages the LC and RC militia to generate its raw material ... but the FRO is the legitimate front of a financial empire that's anything but Catholic. From the FRO and other LC apostolates, such as National Catholic Register (NCR):

SOLICITATIONS OUT

• 12-20 times per annum, thousands of direct-mail solicitations (some in Fr Bannon's name, others not) are sent from the FRO to people on mailing lists for their prayer requests and donations;
• weekly:

  + hundreds of calls are placed for annual-giving and targeted donations to people who have either sent in direct-mail contributions before and need to be "escalated" to a new level of giving or those who are regular potential donors identified by LCs or RCs;

  + NCR places various advertisements for donation opportunities in the form of annual giving, trusts and estates, annuity-generating vehicles and appeals for specific LC apostolates, as do these other LC apostolates themselves;

• monthly, field teams of seasoned LC priests and the sweetest-/hungriest-looking seminarians or the smoothest FRO employees hit the road to convert regular annual givers and high net-worth individuals into much larger donors (big-ticket gifts of cash, real estate, public stock, etc)

DONATIONS AND PRAYER REQUESTS IN, PROCESSED

• daily, US Postal Service bins of donors' direct-mail and targeted donations arrive at the FRO, along with other donations answering NCR and other LC apostolate advertisements, and in some cases checks representing section contributions ... depending on the time of year or the direct-mail cycle, there can be many such bins daily full of mail although I suspect that the number of responses and the average donation have declined ... they are generally pre-sorted by direct-mail and other responses;
• the incoming envelopes are put through a machine that opens each envelope, extracts the contents, separates the check or cash from the prayer request, takes a digital image of each, catalogues them in a file for importation to the fund-raising database, stacks the checks in one output tray for endorsement and deposit, and stacks the prayer requests in another output tray for their interim destination in the US Postal Service bins;
• the prayer requests, stuffed into US Postal Service bins, are stacked somewhat inelegantly in a hallway outside the FRO's operations room ... it is charming to see seminarians-in-fundraising-training at the FRO gingerly step over these bins to pass through the hallway, a good-natured tip-toe over a mountainous annoyance ... and the contents of the bins are later destroyed whereas the bins, precious commodities, are returned to the post office for more collectibles;

MONEY ALLOCATED AND RE-DISTRIBUTED

• the checks are endorsed, they and any incoming cash are deposited ... checks are drawn for the entire amount on a periodic basis payable to the US Territorial Directorate, which allocates the majority to Grupo Integer, the behind-the-scenes LC financial arm in Mexico overseen by VG Luís Garza -- "... the creator and absolute master of Grupo Integer, the holding company that acts as treasury and administrative center for all the works of the Legion in the world, with assets totaling an estimated 25 billion euros" per Sandro Magister -- and then the US Territorial Directorate distributes the balance selectively to pay US expenses on as slow-pay basis as possible (accounts in arrears for services such as utilities, professional services, etc are common, often paid only when termination-of-service notices are issued by the providers) ... few know what Grupo Integer does with the majority of the donations;

(It is to be noted that the FRO has been effectively co-managed for some years by a felon -- not a light and breezy type, such as a murderer, but by a man convicted of fraud for attempting to steal a large amount of cash in donations from his hospital employer, a man the US Territorial Directorate bent over backwards to employ once he was released from prison -- and a gentleman from Atlanta representing the US arm of Grupo Integer, both under the nominal auspices of an LC priest.)

SO WHAT?

LC/RC is a pietistic façade, a Congregation replete with worker bees trumpeting the Kingdom but unwittingly leveraged to enrich a background financial empire with dealings in matters of Mammon and extraordinary opportunities so contrary to the true Kingdom that they're best left unmentioned.  But DePaolis will dig deeply into this financial empire's dealings, investigating the unmentionables, and put a lock on the cash flow to and from it.  Once the financial empire is thus disabled, the conduit of the FRO will similarly experience a certain restriction in its activities, and thus all of its foreground activities -- direct-mail, annual-giving, major-giving solicitations will also wither away with the donations.  The rank-and-file RCs will, of course, be the last to know and surely not the first to get it ... the spiritual dimension of the Congregation will be unwound with the Macielian (looks like Machiavellian, doesn't it?) constitutions.  When the well dries up, the spigot will only gush dust.  DePaolis will see to the majestic shell-game's demise.

UPDATE: almost forgot to mention that the new priest "overseeing" the fundraising office will be none other than Fr Shawn Aaron, of Southern Catholic fame. Perhaps he will change the way that the office deals with the constant calls from creditors for unpaid bills. (Doesn't that constitute another scandal, in that the outside suppliers will have an atrocious view of Catholic "justice" when they cannot even meet their own bottom line for months/years on end?) 

UPDATE II: numerous contacts assure me that little was ever done about the prayer petitions attached to the donations, not even an effort made to place them near a Tabernacle (as promised by Fr Owen Kearns). If God is omniscient, as we know Him to be, then be assured He could attend to them before, during and after the shredding process, but the promised clerical attention may have been ... wanting.

So the consecrata live on stale handouts and lose even the kitchen money they laboriously raised, the seminarians shiver through the winter and go without medical attention, the bill collectors cannot get paid in a timely fashion and the prayer intentions are ignored. Hard to see that vocations and faith are really the priority. Did Jim and Tammy Faye leave a handbook laying around somewhere?

Follow the money (I)

The first part of Jason Berry's article has been published here. Snippets:

The charismatic Mexican, who founded the Legion of Christ in 1941, sent streams of money to Roman curia officials with a calculated end, according to many sources interviewed by NCR: Maciel was buying support for his group and defense for himself, should his astounding secret life become known.

This much is well established from previous reporting: Maciel was a morphine addict who sexually abused at least 20 Legion seminarians from the 1940s to the '60s. Bishop John McGann of Rockville Centre, N.Y., sent a letter by a former Legion priest with detailed allegations to the Vatican in 1976, 1978 and 1989 through official channels. Nothing happened. Maciel began fathering children in the early 1980s -- three of them by two Mexican women, with reports of a third family with three children in Switzerland, according to El Mundo in Madrid, Spain. Concealing his web of relations, Maciel raised a fortune from wealthy backers, and ingratiated himself with church officials in Rome.

So despite the fact that the rank-and-file were building the Kingdom in all sincerity, their very efforts were being used for a very different end by MM.

Maciel left a trail of wreckage among his followers. Moreover, in a gilded irony for Benedict -- who prosecuted him despite pressure from Maciel's chief supporter, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state from 1990 to 2006 -- Maciel left an ecclesiastical empire with which the church must now contend. The Italian newsweekly L'espresso estimates the Legion's assets at 25 billion euros, with a $650 million annual budget, according to The Wall Street Journal .The order numbered 700 priests and 1,300 seminarians in 2008. On March 15 of this year, five bishops, called visitators, from as many countries, delivered their reports to the pope after a seven-month investigation. A final report is expected by the end of April.

Not in centuries has a scandal in the church had such complexity as this one. A huge financial operation is in the hands of a religious order many critics have likened to a cult, a group whose leadership is suspected of hiding its superior's corrupt life. As the Vatican grapples with the Legion -- and thorny legal questions as to whether the Holy See can intervene in the Legion's far-flung financial operations -- three of Maciel's sons and their mother in Mexico demand compensation, claiming they were cut off by the Legion when Maciel died.

The Legion scandal stands out for another reason: The Maciel case and the trail of money he reportedly gave cardinals raises profound ethical questions about how money circulates in the Vatican.

Excellent summary, n'est-ce pas? Solid writing that grasps all the ironies and names the underlying issues.

In 1998, eight ex-Legionaries filed a canon law case to prosecute him in then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's tribunal. For the next six years, Maciel had the staunch support of three pivotal figures: Sodano; Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; and Msgr. Stanislaw Dziwisz, the Polish secretary of John Paul. During those years, Sodano pressured Ratzinger not to prosecute Maciel, as NCR previously reported. Ratzinger told a Mexican bishop that the Maciel case was a "delicate" matter and questioned whether it would be "prudent" to prosecute at that time.

In 2004, John Paul -- ignoring the canon law charges against Maciel -- honored him in a Vatican ceremony in which he entrusted the Legion with the administration of Jerusalem's Notre Dame Center, an education and conference facility. The following week, Ratzinger took it on himself to authorize an investigation of Maciel.

Do you see the resolve of Benedict? Do you see his situation--still? Besides these prelates, Berry points out others who were courted and available at the right price:

The Vatican office with the greatest potential to derail Maciel's career before 2001 -- the year that Ratzinger persuaded John Paul to consolidate authority of abuse investigations in his office – was the Congregation for Religious, which oversaw religious orders such as the Dominicans, Franciscans and Legionaries, among many others.

According to two former Legionaries who spent years in Rome, Maciel paid for the renovation of the residence in Rome for the Argentine cardinal who was prefect of religious from 1976 to 1983, the late Eduardo Francisco Pironio. "That's a pretty big resource," explains one priest, who said the Legion's work on the residence was expensive, and widely known at upper levels of the order. "Pironio got his arm twisted to sign the Legion constitution."

Ah, but the rank and file use that very signature to denote the Holy Spirit's approval of the methodology. It's not that straight-forward, you see? The specifics on Dziwisz are also provided:

Dziwisz was John Paul's closest confidante, a Pole who had a bedroom in the private quarters of the Apostolic Palace. Maciel spent years cultivating Dziwisz's support. Under Maciel, the Legion steered streams of money to Dziwisz in his function as gatekeeper for the pope's private Masses in the Apostolic Palace. Attending Mass in the small chapel was a rare privilege for the occasional head of state, like British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his family...

One of the ex-Legionaries in Rome told NCR that a Mexican family in 1997 gave Dziwisz $50,000 upon attending Mass. "We arranged things like that," he said of his role as go-between. Did John Paul know about the funds? Only Dziwisz would know...The priest who arranged for the Mexican family to attend Mass worried, in hindsight, about the frequency with which Legionaries facilitated funds to Dziwisz.

"This happened all the time with Dziwisz," said a second ex-Legionary, who was informed of the transactions.

Canon lawyers were asked about the propriety of such gifts, but it seems to be a grey area just shy of bribery.

"Maciel wanted to buy power," said the priest who facilitated the Mexican family's opera carita to Dziwisz. He did not use the word bribery, but in explaining why he left the Legion, morality was at issue. "It got to a breaking point for me [over] a culture of lying [within the order]. The superiors know they're lying and they know that you know," he said. "They lie about money, where it comes from, where it goes, how it's given."

When Martínez Somalo, a Spaniard, became head of the congregation overseeing religious in 1994, Maciel dispatched this priest to Martínez Somalo's home. The young priest carried an envelope thick with cash. "I didn't bat an eye," he recalled. "I went up to his apartment, handed him the envelope, said goodbye. ... It was a way of making friends, insuring certain help if it were needed, oiling the cogs."

It turns out that for years, this Somalo would be the one to handle any complaints about religious orders--and of course there were many concerning the Legion. They all were handled in the Legion's best interest, which means the money was well-spent. He was succeeded by Cardinal Franc Rodé, whose support of the Legion to this day has been notorious. There will be more in part two, but read the whole thing for the excellent detail. Jason Berry has done his homework -- and it all needed to be written.

We need some help

Many weeks ago (maybe months now) I raised the question about considering legal action against the Legion for taking money for fraudulent purposes. While proving that in the abstract may be nearly impossible, could you think back to donations given for specific intentions that may not have been used for the promised purpose?

It would be very helpful to hear from those with this experience, and those who offer information more discreetly could email me at gisellestemarie [at] yahoo, etc. Most of your hard-earned money is beyond retrieval, but perhaps there is some that was earmarked in such a way that we could chase it down.

Specifically, were you told that there was already so much money raised for a project, and all they needed was a little more to make it happen? Obviously it would be very helpful to get a little "inside baseball" from exLC's who remember the procedures about such donations.

Is the Legion broke?

[IMPORTANT UPDATE BELOW}

Just as a mental diversion (and a reminder that the poverty that we see in the rank and file is a dissimilation of the Legion Matrix) we'll follow up some leads to help the parents in various US LC-affiliated schools to make the necessary financial decisions.

The Legion seems to own this building. [Remember that with the religious dimension to their mission, whatever they own they can claim tax exemption, whether they are using the properties to advance the Kingdom or not.] The write up reveals the rich history of Belgard Castle, which "is a large three storey eighteenth century house attached to a medieval tower. The tower has Georgian Gothic windows and battlements and the dining hall has Adamesque plasterwork."

At present, it's being used as the headquarters to the CRH Holdings Group [which has its own problems, now moot considering update below].

Now the fact that the Revenue board notes that the Legion also uses the address for its charities in Ireland is curious, meaning either they didn't sell the building to CRH or they did sell it and forgot to tell the Revenue board.

What other properties are classified as part of the Kingdom? What else should we keep in mind as the Legion reneges on its financial commitments to existing apostolates (who were founded to support the Legion, rather than the other way around)? Links appreciated.

Nota bene: as men and women of faith, we know that nothing is wasted. The sincerity and good will behind every sacrifice of members of the Movement is a seed of grace and lovely in the eyes of God. We are in no way indicting the generosity of the rank-and-file, who will be rewarded according to God's economy of grace. As for the economy of the world, that seems to be more akin to the yardstick for the hierarchy, which makes the entire mission suspect.

UPDATE: From the facilities manager of Belgard Castle (dated 16 November 2009):

Thank you for bringing to our attention the fact that Belgard Castle is listed as address of Legionaires of Christ on the Revenue authorised charities list.

I can confirm that CRH plc is the owner of Belgard Castle, and has no connection with Legionaires of Christ, or Regnum Christi. The Legion did lease Belgard Castle from Roadstone, in the 1960s before it became our Group Headquarters. I have informed both the Legion, and the relevant section in revenue, and expect to see the error corrected in the near future. 

[Forwarded response from a reader who took the trouble to inquire. Abundant thanks from all. I have since remove the damaging information about CRH, which is now irrelevant since there's no relationship.] So they don't own this castle and never did, but still have considerable real estate holdings, which has been noted in other threads. The problem here has thus become one of paperwork, not their net worth.

What's in that Bahamian account?

Over the last week or so, we've looked at many components of the scam, but now it may be time to ask one of the most painful questions of all: how much did it cost you? No, not the lost hours with your family, not the friendships, not the alienated family members, not the credibility that will take years to reestablish, but specifically:

How much did you spend on this Pipe-dream of a Kingdom?

Since Pure Fashion has come across our radar screens as an expensive (and questionable) way to catechise your daughters about virtue, I'll rehash for you the numbers I first offered concerning one fashion show in April, 2007:

In Atlanta, there were 60 models, each of which had to pay $450 to participate. Additionally, each young woman had to raise $1000 in sponsorship from friends, family and businesses. Then each participant was responsible for selling 20 tickets to the fashion show at $40/each. Thus we have each girl bringing in $1000 + $450 + $800 = $2250 x 60 for a net total of $135,000.

Now what does that money go for? The clothes are donated. The accessories are donated. The hair-styles are donated. The venues for meetings are free (i.e. Pinecrest). The speakers are in house, meaning volunteers. The photography for the event is donated (and if participants want pictures, they are purchased separately). The $40 ticket price ostensibly covers the venue. So we'll separate out that money to conclude that the Legion walks away with $87,000 each year.

The school tuitions that you paid for are hard to factor because you may have had to pay for private education regardless (though parish schools are famously flexible in working out deals for families with numerous children. LC, not so much.) What we do know is that many of those funds went straight to Integer (gosh, I hate stock photos!), who then decided what your plant needed for operations. There are the camps, the overpriced books, the multitudinous fund-raisers (where grandparents, aunts, neighbours are hit up repeatedly for "charity"). The travel expenses you incurred didn't usually help the Legion directly (unless they had some insider's deal with "Candy" at Elite Travel in CT) but now looking back, we see that it was money that your family could have used for other things. There are the boarding fees for Apostolic Schools, the kitchen in RI, the sox and underwear drives for the seminarians, the special collections and birthday gifts for MM, and the repeated pleas to help with the heating bills (which went to make sure that the hearty men of Cheshire were always at a cozy 60 degrees F. in their New England winters.)

This is a painful reflection, as I said -- the pinch was assumed cheerfully when we thought it was for a good cause. Now that the cheer has faded somewhat, the questions about off-shore accounts simmer in our heads along with all the other opportunities we missed out on over the years because funds were committed to this group.

We are not materialists, nor strictly mercenary, but we were defrauded in many ways, one of which was financial. It is entirely possible that you could consider a class action suit before it's too late. Remember: if the sought-after "anvil" falls, this money will no longer be accessible, so whatever response is out there, sooner would  be better than later. (The lawyers in our midst can guide this idea into a reality if they're inspired -- obviously we need legal tips for such a more.)

In the meantime, perhaps the more entertaining readers will remind us of those "charming lines" that LC's use to cloud our judgement and lighten our wallets. It was an art, we must admit, and here we are learning to be connoisseurs!

The Legion and Atlanta

According to the Legion of Christ, the Atlanta Archdiocese doesn't have the programs in place to form the lay faithful, at least they didn't as of 2007:

The diocese of Atlanta is relatively new (established in 1962) and does not yet have a department of evangelization or a school for the formation of catechists, so the diocesan directors of religious education were grateful for the formation offered by the Full-time Evangelizers. The course ended with more than 120 participants, since more people joined in as the week progressed. This experience begins a new process of evangelization in the archdiocese, and marks the foundation of the first School of the Faith in Atlanta.

Wow, over forty-five years have passed before something was done about catechesis? And who are these "Full-Time Evangelisers" affiliated with?

The course, organized by the Full-time Evangelizers program, was given in Spanish and in English for approximately 100 participants. At the archdiocese’s request, the Full-time Evangelizers program will also be providing the formation program to prepare 11 parishes for an upcoming archdiocesan-wide event next December 12: the crowning of Our Lady of Guadalupe as Queen of the Archdiocese.

The first intensive formation week for catechists and evangelizers began with a retreat centered on love for Christ, the Church, and souls.

Juan José Hernández, a religious of the Legionaries of Christ, directed the meditations for English speakers, while Bernardo Osorio, a consecrated man of the Regnum Christi Movement and director of the Pontifical Catechetical Institute School of the Faith, served the Spanish-speakers. There was excellent teamwork with the diocese as 3 members of the archdiocese and 2 consecrated members worked together to give the courses. Fr. Fabio Sotelo, the parish priest, was also actively involved in motivating and supporting the participants in the course. [Links in original are now empty pages. ed.]

Now of course a Marian event that was a diocesan affair couldn't pass without a plug for the Pilgrim Queen apostolate. Never mind that that the coronation of Our Lady was initiated by a member of the diocese who was not affiliated with the Movement (and was already well underway before the School of Faith came on board) the Legion makes it sound like the entire archdiocese was foundering, and grateful for the guidance and manpower provided by their congregation. Is Archbishop Gregory happy with this depiction?

It was promoted and praised in the Georgia Bulletin as being tied to John Paul II's "New Evangelisation," rather than as an initiative that had waited almost a half-century for someone to make it happen. There are subtle differences in how it was explained, although with grateful thanks to the ECyD, the Legion and the Lay Evangelists. (A subsequent search of the Archdiocesan web site shows no trace of these Full-time Evangelisers.)

Did they overstate their case, did they overstay their welcome, or have I just missed finding them? Maybe they were so successful they made themselves obsolete? I'm glad for the good that they did at that isolated event, but perhaps stating that nothing had been done all the decades before their arrival soured some folks at the chancery.

UPDATE: As an indication of current activity, consider this fundraiser:

Pins for Priests is a bowling fundraiser that supports vocations to the priesthood and specifically benefits the seminarians in the Archdiocese of Atlanta and seminarians of the Legion of Christ. It is an outreach activity that brings individuals and families together for a fun morning that benefits a great cause... Over $20,000 has been raised each year for the past three years.

It doesn't help the Jesuits, the Franciscans, or the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter. It doesn't help the Fransalians, the S.O.L.T. priests or the Cistercians. No pins for the Trappists or the Marists (all of which are in the archdiocese). If you want to help the diocesan seminarians, you also help the Legion. Interesting.

Crunching the numbers

ExLC has some interesting data. Indeed, "the laborer is worthy of his wages" (Luke 10:7) and yet...? Certainly such transparency is important for those who donate their widow's mites (Luke 21:2).