And it occurred to me that it might be helpful to Regnum Christi members to have a blog site where they can vent and also share the REAL truth of what it's been like to be a Regnum Christi member for the last X years.... we're not drones or clones or separatists from the One True Church, or even (for the most part) faithful Catholics now in search of a new home within the Church. We're not in a "spiritual freefall", as one commentator suggested... though this IS a real crisis.
We're in love with our Movement -- with CHRIST'S Movement -- as it is now, at the service of His Church and of all mankind. We're hurting very deeply because we've just learned about our betrayal by a man whose heroic virtue is very well-known to us through anecdotes that we've been told for many years by people both inside and outside the Legion. And it's truly a grieving process -- there are waves of anger and resentment and frustration and confusion and sadness and helplessness and even peace... and then you go to bed and wake up the next day to start all over again.
I don't know where this will end up. I have full confidence that the Legion and Regnum Christi will continue, in large part because God has brought about these apostolic fruits which are available in few other places. And because our most recent instructions from Cardinal Franc Rodé, who oversees all religious orders and had full knowledge of Fr. Maciel's sins and the impending publicization thereof, were to "Cultivate and live your charism so that you do not extinguish the Spirit. Grow so that you can proclaim and extend the Kingdom of Christ more widely in this world."
But what kind of a transition this will represent for all of us is not known at this point.
I'll tell the story of my own vocation to Regnum Christi in a subsequent post. I just wanted to start off by saying to anyone who cares:
A) Regnum Christi people aren't drones, and aren't looking for a new home, we just need your prayers while we wait for the Church and our Legionary superiors to figure out all of the necessary next steps so that we can continue to serve the Church as we've started to do.
B) If you're a Regnum Christi member it's VITAL to grieve and to vent because we're human and we need that. Be sure that you keep living the charity that we've been taught WHILE you vent your legitimate anger and other emotions, because without charity the conversation ends up in a tailspin -- as we've all seen before. And as we vent we need to also accept responsibility for helping each other to work toward forgiveness rather than away from it.
C) If you're someone who's been hurt by the Legion or Regnum Christi in the past, I can't actually apologize for that unless it was me who hurt you, in which case I'd welcome a chance to apologize individually and personally. But in all cases I can offer my sympathy. More pertinent is that I'm also sincerely sorry for not having taken all of your complaints more seriously before now. There are those outside the Movement and the Legion whose true desire is to drag the rest of us out too in order to stop us from serving the Church; I'm deeply and truly sorry if I confused you with one of them just because you had a legitimate beef with something that an LC/RC member did to you. And I hope that this new crisis will represent the beginning of a true healing process for all of us.
Have a good day.