"It's About Human Dignity"

Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore is now going on the record discouraging his flock from involvement in the Legion of Christ or Regnum Christi. Here are a few key quotes from the Archbishop.

It seems to me and many others that this was a man [Father Marcial Maciel, L.C.] with entrepreneurial genius who, by systematic deception and duplicity, used our faith to manipulate others for his own selfish ends.

Finally someone has just said it! I have been less than satisfied with those who defend the Legion by saying that Father Maciel was just a troubled soul who lost his way. The evidence does not point to an otherwise holy man who went astray in the last years of his life. He was first investigated and temporarily removed as head of the Legion in 1956, with subsequent allegations coming in the '70s and '90s. As the public record on Father Maciel grows, it is a very sustainable conclusion that he was, from the beginning of public ministry, a charlatan.

While it's difficult to get ahold of official documents, it's clear that from the first moment a person joins the Legion, efforts seem to be made to program each one and to gain full control of his behavior, of all information he receives, of his thinking and emotions. This is not about orthodoxy. It is about respect for human dignity for each of its members.

For all charter members of Fortress Catholicism, please read the above quote again. It is wrong to use orthodoxy as a cover for totalitarian tendencies. “They love the Pope” should not be a justification for cult of personality. “They love the Blessed Mother” should not be a justification for psychological blackmail. “They hate the Buddy Jesus crowd” should not be a justification for vowed secrecy. We respect the life and dignity of the human person and must defend it from ALL attacks.

I hope more bishops will be buttressed by Archbishop O'Brien's words and take the necessary steps to combat these evil influences.

Mason Slidell