I wrote earlier about the urgent need for Catholic priests and religious willing to provide pastoral care to those suffering in the wake of recent revelations about the Legion of Christ's founder, Father Marcial Maciel.
Nearly two months since news leaked that its superiors were telling members that Maciel fathered a daughter (and were admitting for the first time that Pope Benedict had good reason to remove him from public ministry), the Legion's crisis remains unresolved. A rumored official statement from the Legion that would address “the difficult circumstances created by the recent discovery of the double life led by Fr. Maciel and the need to restore peace, trust and apostolic vitality within the spiritual family he founded" has yet to materialize. Without an organized and public effort on the part of the institute to restore the trust that has been lost, many current and former members of the Legion and Regnum Christi are hurting spiritually and potentially face a crisis of faith.
Since the crisis broke, ReGain, the support network for former members of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi, has provided a list of pastoral-care resources on the front page of its Web site. Thanks to the efforts of those pastoral-care providers who have made themselves available in the wake of the crisis, numerous people have already been helped.
If you are a priest or religious, please consider allowing your contact information to be included on ReGain's site so that current or former LC/RC members who need pastoral care may contact you directly. Write ReGain via the contact form on its Web site, or write me and I will forward your information to the organization. ReGain's list of resources includes a disclaimer stating that inclusion on the list does not constitute an endorsement of its entire Web site.
For the latest news on the LC/RC crisis, see the continuing coverage in American Papist.
Comments closed. Please pray for the Holy Father and for the healing of Christ's Mystical Body.
