George Weigel (always to be read!!) writes on the changes the Vatican is bringing to the Legionaries of Christ!!
Next Acts in the Legionary Drama | First Things
Next Acts in the Legionary Drama | First Things
Well, it's been a hell of a ride, laying rubber all over the road for the past decade. But it's time to call it a day and park the Rogue in the garage. Effective today, I am shutting down my blog to focus my attention on other endeavours. My thanks to the more than 2.7 million people who regularly joined me on these sojourns through news stories over the years that dealt with the places with issues of religion and faith intersecting with public affairs. May God bless you with a continuing desire to learn about and help disseminate the issues of faith throughout the public square. Happy trails in your continuing travels! Fr. Tim Moyle, p.p. Diocese of Pembroke
Hi Tim,
ReplyDeleteI know you have the utmost respect for Mr. Weigel, however, I truly think he is attempting to make a silk purse from a sow's ear when he writes:
"To propose that such an unprecedented course of action be seriously considered is not a question of desperate situations calling for desperate measures, but of great evils requiring the remedy of heroic virtue—in this case, the heroic exercise of the cardinal virtues of courage, justice, and prudence."
Quite frankly, I see absolutely nothing heroic about the Church's winding up of the Legionaires. What were the Church's other realistic options? Keep it running "as is", even after its founder was clearly shown to be a fraud and a reprobate? The evidence of the founder's malfeasance is overwhelming and accessible in the public domain. It cannot be hidden by the Church without causing even greater damage to the RCC's tattered reputation.
The Church had no alternative or realistic options available to it - therefore - winding it up can hardly be classified as "heroic". My goodness, if this is not a case of literally making a virtue out of necessity, then I do not know what is.
What might be considered truly heroic is if the Church decided to actually accept some criticism for its own complicity in promoting a blind and simple minded piety that encouraged such gullability among its own adherents. Hmmm...but of course such self-awareness and reflection might actually tarnish the image of JP2 who did so much to encourage a climate in the Church where the Legionaries could flourish. I am quite serious - you guys should not be too quick to canonize JP2 until his legacy unflods a bit more. You will only end up with more egg on your faces.
Lastly, let's not forget that the Legionaries are an extremely rich order. I am sure that the Church will be very careful to keep its fingers on all the goodies which have been amassed over the years.
Some heroism...do what is plainly obvious, engorge yourself on the wealth of the corpse, deflect your own complicity, all the while crowing about your unprecedented courage, justice and prudence.
Good grief. Apologetics has sunk to a new low in the RCC.
Cheers...Martin