True Docility

"There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant." (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)

The false understanding of docility that Maciel promoted through the Legion was a sham that deadened consciences.  The path to the true faith that Maciel buried starts with the rediscovery of the real meaning of conscience and docility and the real nature of the Church.

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What Maciel cultivated through the Legion:

Fanatical Denial:

The first Apostolic visitor concluded in 1957 that the Legion "offers hope insofar as it can be freed from fanaticism. Which seems doubtful". This fanaticism was amply demonstrated in 2006 when the Vatican exiled Maciel to a life of penance. The Legion characterized Maciel as an innocent man ""following the example of Jesus Christ" and the decision as “a new cross...that will obtain many graces for the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement”.

The 2010 communique observes the Legion was formed by a man "devoid of scruple and of genuine religious sentiment" and identifies the crippling of the Legion with the "relationships created by Fr. Maciel... to gain the trust, confidence and silence of those around him" 

For more on the history of denial read this fanaticism summary.

Impaired Conscience:

As Fr. Berg observed the Legion "occasions unholy and unhealthy restrictions on personal conscience...a simplistic, and humanly and theologically impoverished notion of God's will ... that breeds personal immaturity".

The 2010 communique observes "the behaviour of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado has had serious consequences for the life and structure of the Legion" and highlights the urgent need to "review the exercise of authority, which must be linked to truth, in order to respect conscience".

For more on the toxic consequences of Macielism read this toxic legacy summary.

Using People:

John Paul 2 wrote: "Nobody can use a person as a means towards an end, no human being, nor yet God the Creator... Anyone who treats a person as the means to an end does violence to the very essence of the other"

The 2010 communique zeroes in on the central error in Legion thought by contrasting the reality of the Legion to the  "'militia Christi' which characterises the apostolic and missionary activity of the Church  which is not the same as efficiency at any cost."

For more on the pervasive utilitarianism read this utilitarianism summary.

[updated 10/15/2015 and bumped to top of blog. All links on this blog to external web sites are active of that date. Duc in Altum.]