Monday, January 03, 2005
EMAIL FROM LEE PENN
A collection of stories and web sites about the Legionaries and their founder ...
Lee
======================================
First:
This was printed today:
Connecticut News - State, National and World News from Today's Hartford Courant - FROM TODAY'S COURANT
I have put key parts of the story in bold:
[I have included only the parts Lee put in bold. To read the entire news story, go to the website - ct]
Vatican Revisits Abuse Charges
Accused Priest Is Close To The Pope
January 3, 2005
By GERALD RENNER, Special to The Courant
The Vatican has reopened an investigation into charges first reported nearly eight years ago that a powerful Mexican priest close to the pope sexually abused seminarians.
The allegations surfaced in a Courant report in February 1997. Nine former members of the Legion said Maciel first abused them years ago when they were young boys or teenagers, ages 10 to 16, in seminaries in Spain and Italy.
The accusers, all professional men - two Mexican-Americans, five Mexicans and two Spaniards, one now deceased - tried for years to call their accusations to the attention of Pope John Paul II, who nonetheless has remained effusive in his praise of Maciel. Just five weeks ago, on Nov. 27, the pope praised Maciel in a letter on the 60th anniversary of his priestly ordination, citing his "intense, generous and fruitful priestly ministry."
A week later, the complainants against Maciel were told the Vatican was reopening a canon law investigation that had been squelched without explanation in 1999.
Under a 2002 policy adopted by the U.S. hierarchy, an American priest facing allegations such as those made against Maciel would be suspended immediately while an investigation was conducted. The Vatican has no such policy.
Barba said it appears to him that Vatican authorities are heavily divided about how to handle the complaints against Maciel, accounting for praise from the pope one week and a decision to investigate him the next.
There is such a division in the church in Mexico. It was not until 2002 that the charges against Maciel were aired at a meeting of the Mexican hierarchy, when it was acknowledged for the first time publicly that the Mexican church had a problem with priestly sexual abuse, as did the U.S. church.
Two Mexican priests who helped Maciel's accusers advance their complaints say their careers suffered.
============================================
Second, here is a link to the just-mentioned book by Jason Berry and Gerald Renner:
Amazon.com: Books: Vows of Silence : The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II
I have read the book, and highly recommend it. It demonstrates the corruption of the Hierarchy by contrasting the lives and careers of Fr. Doyle (who warned the US bishops of the pederasty scandal and cover-up in the mid-1980s, and whose Church career was derailed as a result) and of Fr. Maciel, the founder of the Legionaries and a favorite of the Pope.
I believe the charges against Maciel are true ... in part, because of the evidence in the book, and in part because of assessments of the case that I have heard privately from several orthodox sources.
==============================================
Third, here is a link to the Legionaries' page of self-defense:
LegionaryFacts.org
===============================================
Fourth, here is a link to a page that rebuts the Legionaries' self-defense:
LegionaryFacts.com
===============================================
Fifth, here is a link to a group of survivors of the Legion:
ReGAIN Home Page
================================================
Sixth, here is a column by Matt Abbott about the Legionaries:
Author's view on Legion of Christ controversy
Matt C. Abbott
December 19, 2004
Archbishop Harry Flynn of St. Paul and Minneapolis recently threw down the gauntlet — at least in one respect. In an Oct. 22, 2004 letter to Father Anthony Bannon, territorial director of the Legionaries of Christ (www.legionariesofchrist.org), Flynn effectively banned the controversial religious order from the archdiocese, citing concerns of a "parallel Church." (To see a copy of the correspondence, visit www.regainnetwork.org.)
I asked journalist Lee Podles, whose upcoming book, A Harsh Light: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church, was featured in a previous column, what he thinks of LegionaryFacts.org, a site dedicated to refuting past sex abuse allegations against the founder of the Legion, Father Marcial Maciel. ...
[Go to the website to read Podles comments - ct]
=======================================
Seventh, and last, is this rebuttal of the preceding column by Jason Berry:
Journalist responds to Legion's "disinformation strategy"
Matt C. Abbott
December 20, 2004
In response to my previous column on the Legionaries of Christ controversy, I received the following e-mail from journalist Jason Berry, co-author of the book 'Vows of Silence':
"I would like to counter an impression your readers may have regarding Father Marcial Maciel in the book that Gerald Renner and I published, 'Vows of Silence.'
"You noted that the Legion website [www.legionaryfacts.org] refers to 'false allegations against Father Maciel, the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi to distort the record of Pope John Paul II and undermine his teachings.'
"The Legion's disinformation strategy suggests that in order to discredit Pope John Paul II (God bless him), two seasoned journalists, both Catholics, would spend years of research to promote false charges. Two hard facts are at the center of the book. ...
[Again you will need to go to the website to read the entire story - ct]
======================================
Lee
