A Legionaries of Christ priest is furious over the Maciel deception. Excerpt from his open letter to members of Regnum Christi:
I am not making any excuses, however, for the fumbled media responses (which I believe have been too often unfairly attributed to Jim Fair our communications director who needs your prayers and has earned a very high place in heaven for what he has had to endure this week), for the appearances of being less than forthcoming, for the lack of information, for the confusion of messaging. For that, there is no excuse in a way, and tragically is largely due to the ineptness of many of those in leadership positions to respond with expertise and diligence in a crisis management situation like this. But it is more than just crisis management. The thing I am most pained about--I share this as a brother--is the near absence of but fleeting suggestions of sorrow, and of apologizing for the harm done, both to alleged victims of Maciel, and, frankly, to all of you. I am deeply, deeply sorry, and I personally apologize with my heart in my hand to each and every one of you. I understand your feelings of betrayal. For twenty-three years I have loved and tried to follow Christ in the Legion. I can say before God, in spite of my many human frailties, I have been faithful. I have also, more than many of you to be honest, gone out on limb after limb, trying to defend Maciel. I have lived my priesthood always with that cloud hanging over me, always having to essentially apologize for being a Legionary. You feel betrayed? You feel rage? I can only say that the rage, and raw emotions that I have felt these past days (the hardest days of my entire life, emotions like I have never experienced) are only a glimpse of the unspeakable hell that victims of priest sexual abuse must go through. My thoughts and my heart have been so often with them these days...
Go to Patrick Madrid's blog to read the whole thing.
Good for Father Berg. This must have been an excruciating letter for him to have written. Pray for him. I find it encouraging that he has come to understand at least in part what clerical sex abuse victims have struggled with in the face of lies, stonewalling and manipulation from Church leadership. Would that more priests had had the courage to openly and uncompromisingly demand accountability and transparency from the Church's leadership class. The OCA priests who dared to stand up and challenge the previous metropolitan to come clean about that scandal helped push it to a good resolution.
UPDATE: A former member of Regnum Christi fisks Father Berg's letter. You'll really want to read this.
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The Institute for Psychological Sciences practices a form of psychology that is in subordination to the beliefs the Legion follows in other areas.
Clearly this outfit draws on Catholic teachings on the nature of the human person. But whether or not its policy is to subordinate its clinical practices to the particular charism of the Legionaries of Christ -- this I don't know. Do you -- or are you guessing?
Well, Zach, I think you're as capable of googling "institute for psychological sciences legionaries of christ" as I am, if you really wanted to know. Thomas Berg himself served as an adjunct professor there; Gladys Sweeney, founding dean of the IPS, is an LC/RC member; their own website says they're affiliated with the Legion of Christ.
Someone signing himself "Jay Dunlap - Communications - Legionaries of Christ/Regnum Christi" wrote the following on the occasion of the LC's 60th anniversary celebration in Rome:
Dr. Gladys Sweeney, founding dean of the Institute for Psychological Sciences, sent me an email she wrote to you:
"I too have known Fr. Maciel for a number of years and rarely have I met anyone with a more sound psychology. The behaviors that he has been accused of can only be the result of severe psychopathology. People suffering from these pathologies cannot "fool" others consistently, year after year. Sooner or later, the pathology gets out of control, and ends up in a disaster. Fr. Maciel, after many years of dedicated service and sacrifice, has continued to give more and more to the Church, and maintained an extremely fruitful life. This is psychologically inconsistent with a severe pathology. Also hundreds and hundreds of holy priests have followed his leadership and example. A person with a severe pathology may be able to "fool" a few dozen people, for a few years, but certainly not countless intelligent and balanced Legionaries that have dedicated their life to the Church, for nearly 60 years. Among the many supporters of Fr. Maciel, is our Holy Father, who certainly is very wise and most learned about the psychology of people."
I think the fact that she could be so completely and disastrously wrong about the psychology and character of this predatory priest says all that I really need to know about the quality of her judgment and expertise. Feel free to continue with your own research if this doesn't satisfy you, however.
Nice job skirting the question, Sig. I never discounted the Legion of Christ's backing of the IPS. I questioned the authoritativeness of your statement that the IPS "practices a form of psychology that is in subordination to the beliefs the Legion follows in other areas." Wondered what info you were basing that on. As I can see by surfing the IPS website, your assertion was pure conjecture.
Here's the fulltime faculty of the Institute (note the varying and highly respected schools from which they earned their respective doctorates and other degrees):
http://ipsciences.edu/pages/the-institute/faculty.php
Here's the adjunct faculty:
http://ipsciences.edu/pages/the-institute/faculty/adjunct-faculty.php
Dr. Sweeney's gaffe vis a vis Maciel notwithstanding, this does not look like an operation that subordinates itself to the Legion of Christ in teaching or clinical practice.
Of course, you're free to believe what you wish even when what you choose to believe is something other than the truth. I'm sure you have your reasons and I'm sure that, to you, they're good enough.
Zach, I'm surprised that you feel I'm skirting the question. The IPS appears in a list on the LC's Education website, along with schools and other endeavors run by them. I don't see why it's a stretch to assume that they mean what they say when they offer the IPS as one of the options the LC uses to bring its philosophy to the world. Presumably, they don't run a school of psychology that contradicts their teachings in other areas.
You quote "practices a form of psychology that is in subordination to the beliefs the Legion follows in other areas" disparagingly. The LC states that their specific objective in the IPS is to promote a form of psychology that "integrated the Catholic faith into the science of psychology." In other words, their form of psychology is subordinate to the version of the Catholic faith that the Legion practices. I think that's a fair construction to place on those words. You obviously don't see that, and would prefer to interpret them otherwise. That's your privilege, of course. But I don't understand the hostile tone of your comments, or the implication that I'm somehow duplicitous in providing this information. It seems to me that you could disagree in a manner less disagreeable.
Please consider signing the following petition to the Legion of Christ asking for transparency, reform and reparation: http://lc.petitionhost.com/
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