HOLY MOUSEPAD:

Legionaries of Christ - shock of the future

Last month, Sydney's Redfern parishioners' Church Mouse Journal carried the news that, "on good authority", the Legionaries of Christ are about to take over the nearby inner-west parish of Stanmore.

It's likely that Cardinal George Pell sees a steady flow of young priests, for years to come, from cult-like organisations such as the Legionaries and the Neocatechumal Way. Therefore he had the confidence to tell ABC Radio after his October Synod intervention, that he has "just about enough" priests and there is "no real vocations crisis". He was explaining his decision to devote his Synod intervention to defend compulsory priestly celibacy, contrary to the view expressed by the National Council of Priests.

This annoyed Canberra auxiliary Bishop Pat Power, and most likely others, who are unlikely to consider young recruits from these outfits as an appropriate source for a significant proportion of future priesthood for the Church in Australia.

Elsewhere, including Minneapolis-St Paul and Columbus, Ohio, the Legionaries have been banned. An editorial in the most recent issue of the National Catholic Reporter refers to a reader concerned that the Legionaries might have designs on taking over a local parish school, and spells out why fear is justified:

We have reported on several instances where the order has taken over a school, revised curriculum, set up some rather strange ways of getting their message across and fired long-standing professionals - from administrators to teachers - who raised questions.

This would sound very familiar to the Redfern parishioners, who've been struggling to protect the integrity of their community and the legacy of the late Fr Ted Kennedy's ministry, from the Neocatechumenate "invaders". Their Journal editor links to the Rick A. Ross Institute, which has collected more than 50 articles packed with reasons why any mild mannered Catholic should be wary of the Legionaries.

In one, the National Catholic Reporter's John L. Allen reported in June this year that the Legionaries in Rome issued a media release that falsely misrepresented the Holy See in stating that there was "no canonical process underway regarding our founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel", who was facing accusations of sex abuse. The Legionaries were quoting from an unsigned fax from the Secretariat of State, which was not the office charged with the responsibility of making such a judgment. Any such statement should have come from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was in fact still actively pursuing several lines of investigation.

The Legionaries respond to allegations against their founder, but not to charges that they misrepresented the Holy See, at LegionaryFacts.org.

With 600 priests and 2500 seminarians, the Legionaries were founded less than 65 years ago, but appear to have a bright future. The number of priests is not yet significant, but they already have an influence way beyond their numbers through their large and strategic base in Rome where, five years ago, they built a seminary able to accommodate around 1000 students for the priesthood.

They run the well-resourced, polemical Zenit daily news service, which is also read and supported by liberal Catholics, who have no practical alternative and may not realise what they are reading. You won't find mention of Legionaries on the 'What is Zenit?' page, which says it's run by the innocuous-sounding 'Innovative Media Inc.', which is a front for the Legionaries, supporting accusations that they operate secretively.

They're also being given certain responsibilities around the Vatican, with US Legionary Fr Kevin Lixey being put in charge of the new Church and Sport desk at the Pontifical Council for the Laity. Last Friday and Saturday, he organised the Holy See's first international seminar on sports.

Sport is hardly considered important at the Vatican, but in a decade or so, you could have the Legionaries in charge of the Vatican's Secratariat of State, and many other Church offices and works between Rome and Stanmore.