life-after-RC

Why LARC?

Contrary to the thinking in many circles, LARC was created to be a forum where the people who once got caught in the Legion net (by contributing in some way to its enterprise) can assess how and why it happened. In particular, they want to understand how our Church (headed by a man invested with the authority of Saint Peter and guided by the Holy Spirit) could fall for such a scam. Does this undermine her claims to infallibility? Does this make the faith less true? Could this justify putting a distance between ourselves and Holy Mother Church?

My sense has always been that this didn't touch on faith and morals, that the faith is still true and that we need the Eucharist, which is only available to those who embrace the authority of the teaching Church. So here we are, after many years (this site was set up in May, 2005) older, wiser, and perhaps more at ease with some things, while still exasperated about others.

Having assessed many facets of the Legion during that time, and witnessed its enduring obstinacy -- through a refusal to show remorse or a sincere desire to change -- "Little Light" reminds us of the heart of the matter. (This is in response to whether it is to the Legion's credit that they fire poor teachers):

"Solid Catholic education" (schools) = "solid Catholic formation" (seminaries). LC/RC is basically about presenting an image, recruiting & fundraising. If someone becomes a shark in the fishtank and the fish are scared, they will not be easily recruited or be big $$ supporters. This auto-defense mechanism is not about "Catholic education" but about results which are the results the LC/RC camp wants to achieve. So running off a "bad teacher" can be proof of protecting Catholic teaching but also can be a useful tactic within the LC/RC methodology to circle the wagons and keep their prey closer as these families are building trust in LC/RC.

When LC/RC burns too many bridges & there ain't no more to get, they blow out of town faster than a devil from holy water. As their fanatical base builds they invest more. Just look at St Louis vs Atlanta.

My recommendation for all LC/RC people is take a step back, take a deep breath and look at things from an objective viewpoint free of knee-jerk reactions. The simple point is that maciel created the legion to have access to boys. lots of boys, who he could manipulate as he wanted. He build around the legion an aura of holiness & Catholic tradition. Over time he refined his abilities & eventually it looks & smells Catholic but in the end it was all about money, manipulation, abuse & protection from the "church's enemies".

I personally know that LC leaders lie to achieve their goals. They abused the vows by recommending people to profess whether temporal or perpetual to continue as LCs only to harvest their dreams, manual labor & skills. They lied to benefactors about projects to get large donations based on falsehood. They lied to parents to get their children to an apostolic school. So, so many lies. & who is the father of lies?

At one time we believed the lies & now we are here to tell others the truth... as we saw it & experienced it. So it is not hard to believe that the LC/RC people have a hard time believing us but you will be thankful to us when you do.

So yes, subpar teachers are let go, but so are any who will not submit to the methodology, not necessarily for the sake of education, but for growing the Movement. Likewise, there is a shunning process for all who populate the apostolates, which are more about growing the parallel structure than actually benefiting Holy Mother Church. To the degree that there is an overlap, the real Church does benefit, but that is not the primary motive, only part of the window dressing.

[Btw, here are the second and third posts. One can see that nothing has changed, given recent pep talks within concerning fidelity and discernment.]

Your family is not an apostolate

A faithful reader highlights an essential truth about the Movement:

Almost one year after leaving RC (and after 12 years of involvement up to 2nd degree 2nd level), I've just had another big "Aha!" moment thanks to you good people and the other post-RC blogs out there. 

My "personal light?" We were repeatedly told as wives and mothers that, although we have a vocation to RC, our family is our first apostolate.  This was the Movement's way to sound balanced and serenely sympathetic as we wept for our chaotic home lives. 

But it kept RC as our core identity and our families as "the thing we did for God." In truth it was just an insidious platitude with a BIG LIE at the heart of it!

The Truth is that my VOCATION is to be a WIFE AND MOTHER, and RC was the apostolate!!! Of course, it's not that either--it's an ANTI-apostolate that sucks the life out of one's ability to do real work for the Lord in freedom and Truth. 

But by making RC one's core identity (Core Convictions, anyone?), Maciel & Co. were able to make it excrutiatingly painful and confusing to try to leave--it was tantamount to not only betraying who God called me to be, but also abandoning my very identity.  RC was who I WAS, not something that I DID.

[This may have been said before] but for some reason it just sunk in on a deeper level, and I wanted to share this just in case someone still on the inside read this and had a lightbulb moment, too.

It cannot be said enough, because when grace kicks in, that's when you hear the message. It's like the pro-life message, lessons from your parents, and many other serious things in life, up to a point you cannot "hear" the truth, and when the time is right, it all clicks. Hard to explain, but a crystal clear moment for everyone who's been there.

I've tried to explain this verbal "switch" many times (and it was a centerpiece of my testimony with the CDF). When being introduced to RC, the recruit is told that Regnum Christi doesn't ask any more of its members than the standard prayers and devotions aligned with basic Catholicism: Mass, Rosary, daily prayer, Confession, regular retreats and apostolatic work. After nailing those in (RC-style) and establishing that the Movement is synonymous with the faith, that's when the mental switch takes place:

RC = Catholicism 101; therefore to walk away from the Movement is to walk away from the Church. That's the crisis in so many discernment stories, because members believe that to abandon this "vocation" is tantamount to abandoning Christ.

I know this point is a little different than that made by the insightful reader above, but the bottom line is the same: MM's methodology had a clever way of inserting itself into one's life of faith, so that it becomes the baseline of belief. That sets up the confusion over priorities and authentic discernment.

• The Regnum Christi Movement is not the Church;
• Your time spent in Regnum Christi doesn't define your vocation [amended];
• Your vocation to marriage and family life is not an apostolate;
• Leaving the consecrated life is not "divorcing Jesus" (Sorry, but that needs to be said. And if 3gf's can leave without commiting the slightest sin, then it's all the more true for married members.)

God is good -- and patient. Ask for the grace of discernment, and trust that many, many people are praying for you.

"That's not Catholicism"

Yes, that's the refrain of many readers who review what we once considered lock-step conformity with the Magisterium, only to find that the patina of orthodoxy quickly wore thin. (We'll leave aside the wise bystanders who recognised from the start that the emperor wore no clothes!)

Women joined Regnum Christi for several reasons, one being the reverent Masses and the earnest young priests who were so patient in the confessional. In some regions, more savvy priests knew how to harvest the abundant (and not so abundant) energies of these harried mothers, and many fell over themselves to help wherever they could -- even cooking and cleaning for the hard-working priests who so generously oblated themselves on a daily basis, building the Kingdom.

Is it possible that these hours in the confessional were a little more manipulative than we realised? Is it possible that the concentration on some sins played into the hands of the Movement that banked on willing handmaids, large families and prioritising the needs of the Legion over the needs of each family? How was the Plan of Life manipulated to turn generous, conscientious souls into RC worker bees?

What are your recollections of:

1. spiritual direction and the actual harms that accrued from their spin on virtue, obedience and the protestant work ethic? 
2. the Legion's approach to NFP and openness to life?
3. the sanctity of marriage and the relationship between husband and wife?
4. endorsing deception, either misleading parent, pastors, or others about apostolic endeavors?

Nota bene: this seems to be a ladies only post, but men are welcome to chime in. I'm curious to see if they were played as well, or if this was a mysogynist game reserved for the fairer recruts.

News concerning another apostolate

Don Conklin [named fixed] writes to interested parties concerning this:

Thank you for your work with K4J and your prayers and support over the years. I wanted you to be among the first to know about the new and very exciting news about the future of K4J. After 13 years of hard work and perseverance, we are taking another big leap of faith! Kathleen and I are forming a new company called “Creative Catholics.” This new company will be totally independent  from Mission Network, Regnum Christi and the Legion. Under Creative Catholics- K4J will keep improving and growing, while allowing new marketing in many more areas than currently possible. Creative Catholics will also produce several new products for parish RE in the future- including sacramental retreat packages, Mary Memory Game (again) and as soon as possible a new dynamic Religious Education curriculum with the K4J methodology and excitement built right in.

This new structure will all be finalized in the next few months and we are asking for more prayers and help than ever in launching and maintaining the new phase of this apostolic endeavor. Promoting the 2011 “Always Catholic” K4J VBS “Win the World for Jesus” and sharing this link about the success of the School of Virtue Program are great places to start.

Sounds like what the founders of Familia did in starting Together! and we wish them well.

Updated list of Legion-affiliated apostolates

In this thread we will identify the groups associated with the L/R Movement. Kindly list the apostolates in the combox with the groups you know to be affiliated for certain. If there are questions, feel free to raise them here; and if a group is only suspected to be linked -- kindly indicate why. Remember that no active member of Regnum Christi can offer time to apostolic work without some accountability to his/her superiors, so excuses like, "I'm in RC but I do this work on my own" only has limited credibility. Furthermore, those who are given permission to work with other groups usually have as a stealth intention to infiltrate, recruit, or ultimately take over the independent work.

Those who can take the time to dig up links to old discussions may provide them here as well -- God bless you!

Nota bene: When I was active, I did work that was unaffiliated (founded and edited a magazine) but all the rest of my time was for the benefit of the Movement. And being entirely devoted to their "kingdom," I would have used the magazine for their benefit as well if they wanted it. They didn't.

Starting young--binding and loosening

As parents consider programs for their children and wonder if the RC apostolates aren't really, after all, rather harmless, consider this point from our contributor, Tom:

One way to achieve control over potential members of a "movement" is to have members make pledges or oafs to the “movement,” in particular early on, and excessively. This is something St Ignatius warns against in his Spiritual Exercise, and so does the Bible (Matthew 5:34-37; James 5:12). One reason is that, invariably, a member fails even in small way, and the resulting guilt is used by movement handlers as a manipulation tool. 

 

What is disturbing is that pledges to the “movement” are introduced at a very early age in K4J, and very frequently (eguidebook, grades 1-2). Children are required to make a daily pledge to the K4J program (e.g. RC), and then “pray” to keep these “promises.” K4J is part of a movement (RC) under investigation, founded under fraudulent circumstances, that includes various allegations against the well being of children. The Vatican's May 2010 statement said that a visitor will be appointed, something that has not yet happened. Until this happens, it seems that no one should be made to make pledges to this "movement." Parish links to these programs should be dropped, and local dioceses child protection offices informed.

 

Current:

K4JPledge. I can change the world-- with my mission in K4J. As a true apostle of Jesus, I pray, love and serve each day. I am loyal, honest and kind. I work and always obey. I use my gifts and talents to serve in Jesus' name. I thank God for choosing me. Mary will show me the way. I will accomplish great things for the Church because I am K4J

 

Morning Prayer.

Good morning, Jesus. Thank you for being my best friend. Help me to stay close to you all day. Let my words, my work and my play remind others about you. Help me be a friend to everyone, obey my parents and forgive those who hurt me. Give me the courage to live all my promises and do all I can to bring others to you. Amen.

Example of possible changes:

 

No pledges or promises (merge modified content with prayer, do not make about the "movement," but about God and the child).

Morning Prayer. Good morning, Dear Lord. Thank You, Lord, for my Faith, for my family and Your beautiful world. Teach me to Love and serve You better, and those around me, each day. Teach me to stay close to You all day and to obey Your commandments.  Help me to obey my parents. Teach me to say I am sorry if I hurt some one, and teach me not to do it again. Teach me to forgive those who hurt me.  Teach me to be loyal, honest and kind to my family, friends and those that I encounter every day. Help me use the gifts and talents You gave me, so I can better serve You, those around me, and my Church, in Jesus' name. Teach me to be humble. 

Help me to be a good friend to those around me. Please help me, that all that I do, reminds others about You and Your Love. Please help me change the world around me, by the example You taught us. Please give me the courage, so through my kind and humble example, I can to bring others to You.  Please protect my family, my friends, all those around me, and me, each and every day. I pray to Mary to help show me Your way. Amen.

If your parish, homeschooling group or children are involved with these groups, take a careful look at their prayers to discern if there are any untoward ties/oaths involved that must be abrogated.

 

UPDATE: Ponder carefully what Aaron adds concerning these youth groups. This can just as easily apply to K4J:

 

It all looks so innocent, and so good but it must stop. Why? The mass and the confession and the baseball diamond are all the same means to the one end - incorporation, integration and domination. The priests aren't there to bring you to Mass, Mass is there to bring you to ECYD, to RC, to LC.

Thoughts on the next visitation

Most readers have come to recognise that the Vatican is moving with lightning speed concerning the Legion, at least during the pontificate of Benedict. Another visitation has been alluded to, and yet there is confusion as of yet whether it will include all of Regnum Christi or just the third degree (3gf's and 3gm's for women and men respectively). Tom from Atlanta has some thoughts on the direction of this next step:

Personally, I think it would be a big mistake if the RC visitation looked only at the 3gf. The 3gfs are the end product of the assembly line. The whole thing needs to be examined from bottom up, starting with the J4K program on. Some questions for the RC visitor team:

 

Design of the “RC movement:”

 

How could it be that Vatican LC investigators were surprised to find 3gf members? If so, how does the “approval” and “revision” of lay movement’s statutes in Rome work? Is this not a good reason why statutes of lay movements should not be held “secret”? Who was/is in charge in Rome of this process? What canons are followed and who reviewed these? For example, for spiritual direction (SD) of lay by other lay, what canons are used? If there are none, what standards are used? What canons define lay movement “vows”or other such promissory requirements, if any? More specifically, what are the objectives of children, teen and adult RC programs? Who designed these programs and for what? How was the education material used? How close or afar from Catholic teaching/doctrine is this material? What was added? What was removed?

 

Effect of the “RC movement” on parish life:

 

What was the effect on parish ministries, and parish life? How often parishioners were shunned from parish ministries, by RC parishioners for either refusing to join RC or leaving RC? How often did this not happen? Why was RC active in some parishes, while not in others?

 

“RC movement” and the role of the Bishops:

 

What oversight did the local bishop provide, especially in places like Atlanta, where LC/RC was/is active? If none, why? What was and is the influence of money and influential people at the diocesan level? Is this why some bishops ignored letters from concerned parents? How did local dioceses interpret movement “vows” (having had an extensive conversation with one of the canon lawyers for the Archdiocese of Atlanta almost 4 years ago, I can say he had not a clue). 

 

 “RC movement” regional/general infrastructure:

 

What were and how did the affiliated various shell companies, marketing firms, legal teams, spread-sheet recruitment and retention operate? What happened to the money? How was it used? What was the link between US and non US operations?

 

Most importantly, effect of the “RC movement” on engaged members:

 

There needs to be an accurate descriptive account of casualties. Did children and young adults stay or travel to possibly unsafe environments? What about strain on movement families? How many families stayed together, how many broke up? How was SD administered? Where there breaches in confidentiality in schools, as stipulated by laws regulating education? How where teens, young adults recruited? How many, in SD, were told to quit college education?  How many young adults in the RC “assembly line” drop out of RC? What happened to them?

 

Was the discussion to join RC free of coercion? If not, what was the coercion? Where there severe outcomes and how often did these occurred (long term severe depression, isolation, or worse)? What percent of targeted people became 3gf? How long did they stay on average as 3gf, what was the range? What percent left? What happens to those who left? For example out of a total of  “n” 3gfs that were recruited in the world from 1990 to 2010, “x” are still in the movement and are “ok” by such and such criteria, “y” are in but not ok, “z” dropped out, and we have no data on “v” members.

 

Of these that dropped out of 3gf, here is the break down by categories: those that remain in the Catholic Church and are doing ok (married, had children, jobs, joined orders, moved on), those that left the Catholic Church all together, those that live in the basement of their parents houses and have not come out for 10 years, those that stayed in Vegas, those on whom no data is available, break down by countries, regions, period, gender, etc…

 

The team that examines the RC lay movement hopefully will include well trained, non-movement affiliated (to any movement) clergy/religious as well as expert (including non-movement lay) in canon law, civil law, mental health, Catholic education and forensic finances, at the minimum. Results of the investigation should not be held “secret” at the Vatican, but publicly available, as this is a “lay” organization, in our parishes. Meetings open to all should be part of the process. Such a grave mistake (approval of RC as a lay movement in the circumstances we now know), that involved and ultimately hurt, for the great part well intentioned lay that wanted to be active in the Church, should never repeat itself again.

 

Other lay movements, that use similar methods, that inspired LC/RC, could also learn from this, and institute corrective actions.  If done seriously, this could help the Church better minister to all lay and help Church lay to better serve Her, without even needing to join a movement. All this to Love and Serve Him and those around us. Otherwise, any fog that we allow in, for whatever reason, even if not thick, risks to be exploited by evil, when it obstructs and distances us from the message Christ wants us to see. Hope this makes sense. Pax.

Why Regnum Christi is no longer viable

[Let me state at the outset that this argument is not personal. It has nothing to do with the good will of members of the Regnum Christi Movement, their history of generosity or love of the Church. The case I am making is strictly institutional, and is in no way meant to be an indictment of any member past or present.]

First, a graphic introducing the "new and improved" version of Regnum Christi:

The Regnum Christi Movement was founded by Marcial Maciel many decades ago as a lay association of his Legion of Christ, and it has served as a fund-raising and recruiting arm for his congregation. Its spirituality echoed that of the Legion, being "contemplative and conquering," although its mission was packaged in various ways over the years.

There are three degrees of membership, with the second degree also having three divisions in it, though the lowest ranking recruits are usually unaware of the middle category. The third degree has both men and women, and live a quasi-Religious life without the actual vows, having taken promises of poverty, chastity and obedience (to their in-house superiors).

The areas of apostolate have been focused on youth programs, schools, families and mass media apostolates -- each specifically designed to draw potential recruits into the houses of formation, which house boys and girls as young as eleven in some places. In retrospect, the calculation of MM's creation makes perfect sense, because it centres on the impressionable young, distracts the parents into intense apostolic work, slips in high-pressured recruiting tactics in all interactions, and papers over its outer image in the media outlets it either has created or infiltrated.

Very few would argue with the past reputation of the group, at least those who have accurately sized up the founder and pieced together why he needed such a lay group to undergird his duplicity with the clergy. Where the remaining argument lies is in the future: Can this group continue to exist as a vibrant and full-fledged member of the wider Mystical Body?

My reasons for concluding in the negative are as follows (in no particular order):

• This group was hatched from the mind of a depraved pervert with depraved and perverse motives. The communique noted that Maciel was devoid of religious sentiment -- he didn't have a confused sense, or a crooked sense, or a mixed bag of religious sentiment, but d. e. v. o. i. d. That's harsh. Thus anything that appeared to be religious was not. That requires slow, deliberate meditation to really understand.
• This group existed for decades to both prop up a scam, but also to give cover to it. The genuine good will of the members who were innocent of duplicity were the poster children for the religious sentiment that was lacking in the founder. They helped him to fool the world, they carried forward the scam by confusing outsiders who knew them to be sincere, generous and full of authentic religious sentiment.
• This group bore within it the seeds of Maciel, who wanted to "multiply himself." And in a mysterious way he did. As Bishop Watty said, “There are many elements from Father Marcial’s personality that have taken root, and the Legion must be freed from them." This goes for the methodology of RC as well. 
• The RC doesn't have a particular charism beyond the universal call to holiness. They add nothing unique to the Church, because the congregation to which they are attached has to be rebuilt. Now everyone doesn't  have to have a charism (your local DRE being a case in point) but in order to work as a group this way, you have to have a mission. If the mission is simply to help the pastor at the local parish, then RC isn't necessary. Join a Bible study or prayer group for nourishment and volunteer where needed.
• But what if the methodology is effectively purged? If that is possible, the scandal remains. In the words of one recent commenter: "It's as if everyone who stays with RC/LC is saying to those who have been hurt: 'I don't take you that seriously. I mean, clearly you've had bad experiences; I'm sorry about that. But I don't honestly think it's that big a deal. I have no problem associating myself with those who hurt you and the Church." There are two categories: the people MM abused and the Church that he insulted with his behaviour. Both are insulted again if the group carries on.
• It is entirely possible that the Maciel affair will create an impasse over the beatification of John Paul II, since he was also effectively duped by this con artist. The continued work in the name of MM by RC members essentially says that's unfortunate but irrelevant compared to their need to exist -- not just as loyal Catholics but as Regnum Christi. That's awkward.
• The Legion affair ranks with the Irish Crisis, the Boston Scandal, the various German prelates and the other details that Benedict XVI is mopping up in his advanced age. Embattled around the world, with the Church the butt of jokes, he has said that the most horrific part of this is the undertow in his own ranks, in that very Church. The continued existence of RC is a constant reminder and twist of the knife to our own beloved Pope.
• There will never be complete trust of RC members because of the past actions of the Movement. Even if they scraped themselves to the bone helping in parishes, catechising the faithful, if they do it in the name of MM's group, their motives will always be suspect, their formation will always be a cause of concern. This is almost a moot point, because there is nothing they can do to win trust. They will always be a sketchy step-child if they insist on meeting and working collectively in the name of Maciel.
• The concerns and mistrust of outsiders will feed a perverse mentality within, with the victim status being confused with actual martyrdom for the faith. As a poster notes, "Won't that, of psychological necessity, cause RCers to huddle closer to each other and feel 'attacked' and 'embattled' and 'misunderstood?'" In fact, this will distract enormously from the actual mission and dissipate the energy necessary to carry forth the hard work of doing God's will in a indifferent and often hostile world.
• The existence of RC in the future will be divisive, no matter how much members wish it weren't so. It's like the daugher of a divorced couple who is trying to plan her wedding. No matter how much she wants it to be a peaceful event, her father's subsequent marriage to his mistress is complicating things, and the seating arrangements are proving a nightmare. You cannot choose your family or control their actions -- but you can choose your lay associations. Insisting on your good will and sincere motives isn't enough. RC will always be the dog in the manger.
• With a wealth of other apostolic initiatives springing from purer motives, any particular worthy religious activity can be pursued apart from this group. With RC's history of either competing with or infiltrating existing groups, a good reparative move would be to bury RC. As long as RC exists, a fear will remain in the other groups that the RC-affiliated member is there on a stealth mission to co-opt the group. With no RC, there is no fear on that account.
• At the heart of RC as it stands is an unhealthy clericalism. At first it was tied to Maciel, then it was shifted in the recent campaign to help parishes and launder the RC image. Now it dangles by the odd thread that Benedict alone can decide their fate and those on the inside wait with baited breath to see what to do next. As many in this discussion have discovered upon leaving the Movement, we don't need that kind of "hand holding." Mature Catholics can pray and discern on their own -- and those who need guidance should be able to find enough in the recent communique to realise that this "Legion-shaped cross" on Benedict's back will be made lighter as people leave the group and integrate with the larger Church. Let's do something FOR Benedict instead of making him spell out the obvious.

I may update this with more reasons as they occur to me, or as other commenters bring them up in the combox. Many excellent points have already been made on other threads (and you're welcome to reproduce them below) but I've decided to press this point for the good of the Universal Church. The Legion is a canonically protected congregation with men in various levels of sacramental preparation. The Regnum Christi is nothing more than a free and voluntary lay association -- including the third degree members. They were free to join, and now are just as free to disband. I strongly urge them to consider doing so.

[As a final push, perhaps another blogger will do the necessary work to engage us all in the Great Novena for and end to this unfortunate mess. UPDATE: done.]

Rethinking subsidiarity

Let's look at a recent comment:

Before we jump up and down about why "nothing was done about all this sooner," don't forget that the way the RC relationship to LC is structured puts it out of canonical reach of the local ordinary. Apostolates, when incorporated, are lay owned and run and incorporated as not-for-profits according to state and federal law. LC rarely, to my knowledge, puts its name officially on anything that is funnelling money to it. So--it's not a matter of Bishops being aware and ignoring LC activities in their dioceses; it's a matter of those activities quietly growing in secret and becoming too large for the Bishops to comfortably confront [bold/italics mine]. That was my experience in Louisiana--by the time the Bishop was aware of RC, too many very faithful catholic families belonged for him to attempt to "shut it down," and, as he explained to me at the time, Catholics are free to associate among themselves in any number of ways and the Church cannot stop them.

Imbedded in this is a fundamental "truth" promoted everywhere in the Movement: Bigger is better, more is preferred to fewer, everyone was taught to think on a grand scale. We've even heard anecdotes from the inside that said that if apostolates didn't grow enough or produce enough cash flow, they were shut down, no matter how good or solid or helpful they were to the local community. [Interestingly, I think that EWTN -- which has been a life-saver in so many ways over the last 25+ years -- has unwittingly contributed to this by creating Catholic "rock stars," and creating a goal to shoot for: being recognised nationally for service to the Church.]

Let's pretend for a moment that all our accusations about MM and the structures he built were exaggerated or outright false, that at worst, MM was a little randy and meant well. Even so, I think we have all given in too much to the notion that apostolates have to be big in order to be successful.

From the Catechism [pax Tom]:

1883. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which "a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co- ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good" [cf. Pius XI, Quadragesimo anno I, 184-186].

1894. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, neither the state nor any larger society should substitute itself for the initiative and responsibility of individuals and intermediary bodies.

We see this most clearly in handing over children to be taught things best left to the parents' domain, but I think it applies to all endeavors that become victims of their own inevitable bureaucracy. This goes for secular institutions as well as religious. The Legion may have always taught "person to person," but its methodology was ruthless and impersonal in the end. Not only that, it made itself into an idol that deliberately grew itself with quasi-spiritual "miracle-gro" for two reasons: efficiency (encompassing both fund-raising and recruiting) and institutional fortitude. So that when the bishop looked in a little too late, it was indeed too large for him to comfortably confront.

Ultimately, on the global level this has been the game of chicken that the Man Behind the Legion Curtain has been orchestrating for decades (whoever he may be) and yet the Bishop of Rome is not intimidated. Indeed, subsidiarity may be exactly why he will continue to dismantle this Reckless Machine that is careening through the hinterlands, leaving destruction in its path.

In the end, too big to fail is exactly why it must fail in Catholic terms. Less is more.

Picking up the pieces

From a thoughtful onlooker:

So far, it has been well recognized that MM did bad things and victimized people by raping and molesting them. Thanks to Jason Berry everyone is learning more about how MM bribed his way into receiving favors from the hierarchy and was enabled and abetted by some senior Church leaders.

Regnum Christi has not even been checked officially and nobody seems to be admitting anything about mental emotional and spiritual abuse of those victims of mind control who still are on the inside of l/r. I believe that many "choose" to remain because they are terrified to leave and for any who don't have rich family members it would be extremely difficult to get reestablished. So if there is a refounding, I expect everyone would be given a free choice to leave or to stay with whatever l/r morphs into.

After the Church makes whatever retribution there may be for the primary victims I would like to see some assistance including counseling, guidance and financial assistance for those who need it to help them get out of the spider web. So far they have been presented with a terribly distorted view of what is happening. I would like to see someone in the Church other than Fr Garza, i.e. a senior Church official who is completely independent from l/r go in and explain the whole mess and provide some assistance and encourage and assist them to have time out away from the recruiting and the spin, hopefully with financing coming from Grupo Integer funds. Some need to hear from someone in authority that they won't be damned to hell if they leave l/r and they need to have an opportunity to know their alternatives and have a real choice not made in panic and confusion under the present set of rules.

Honestly, I hope against hope that Regnum Christi will be disbanded, based on the premise that a refounding of the Legion would naturally lead to severing from it anything attached to the Old Legion. It follows as a matter of course (in my lady brain) that even if the Legion remains in existence after the outcome of the AV is announced, the Church will insist that it will no longer be the Legion of MM's design -- and RC is MM's design. We shall see if there's any overlap between my logic and Benedict's logic.