Marcial Maciel

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Marcial Maciel
Marcial Maciel
Founder and General Director
In office
3 January 1941 – 20 January 2005
Succeeded by Fr. Álvaro Corcuera
Born 10 March 1920
Flag of Mexico Cotija de la Paz, Michoacán, Mexico
Died 30 January 2008 (aged 87)
Flag of the United States Houston, Texas, United States

Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado (10 March 1920 – 30 January 2008) was born into a Roman Catholic family in Cotija de la Paz in the Mexican state of Michoacán. On 3 January 1941, with the support of the Bishop of Cuernavaca, Francisco González Arias, he founded the Legion of Christ. Father Maciel was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood in Mexico City on 26 November 1944. He also founded the Regnum Christi Movement in 1959. The recently canonized Rafael Guízar Valencia is the great uncle of Fr. Maciel as well as an integral part of the founding of the Legion of Christ.[1]

Through either the Legion of Christ or the Regnum Christi Fr. Maciel started many schools, a network of Universities and a large number of charity institutes, like the "Helping Hand" Schools.

In January 2006 he steped down as head of the Legion of Christ to a long time follower, Fr Álvaro Corcuera Martínez del Río.

In his life, Fr. Maciel was subject to conduct investigations, first in 1956, after which he has exhonerated and returned as head of the Congregation, and in 2006, when due to an investigation of sexual abuse, Pope Benedict XVI disciplined Rev. Marcial Maciel. This was following Maciel's January resignation.[2][3][4]

Contents

[edit] History with Vatican

Called to accompany Pope John Paul II on his visits to Mexico in 1979, 1990, and 1993, Fr. Maciel was also appointed by the Pope to the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the formation of Candidates for the Priesthood in Actual Circumstances (1991). He has been a member of the Interdicasterial Commission for a Just Distribution of Clergy (1991), the IV General Conference of Latin American Bishops (CELAM) (1992), the Synod of Bishops on Consecrated Life and Their Mission in the Church and the World (1993), the Synod of Bishops' Special Assembly for America (1997) and, since 1994, a permanent consultant to the Congregation for the Clergy. The golden anniversary of his priestly ordination was celebrated on 26 November 1994, with 57 Legionary priests ordained on the anniversary's eve. Fr. Marcial Maciel served as Chancellor of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, which is based in Rome. During the pontificate of Pope John Paul II he collaborated extensively with the Holy Father, either personally, or through members of his order, the Legion of Christ.

Fr. Maciel wrote extensively on the formation of priests and other matters pertaining to Church governance. In founding the religious order, his main purpose for the Legion of Christ was for them to form and motivate enterprising lay members of the Roman Catholic Church to take an active part in the Church's mission. In particular, this is focused on the members of the Church Movement Regnum Christi, for example, through spiritual direction. Regnum Christi was founded by Fr. Maciel.

After a sex abuse investigation had been re-opened against him by then Cardinal Ratzinger, Fr. Maciel, aged 84, was succeeded by the elect, Fr. Álvaro Corcuera Martínez del Río, LC, as General Director of the Legion at the Legion's Third General Chapter in January 2005.[citation needed] Shortly thereafter, the Vatican petitioned Fr. Maciel to withdraw from his ministry in lieu of further investigation and prosecution.

[edit] Allegations

Marcial Maciel was accused of an addiction to Pethidine, and of forcing his subjects to go to confession. In 1956 the Vatican had him removed as superior while they investigated. The Vatican found him innocent, after interviewing the members of the then-small congregation, and he was reinstated in February 1959.[5] There are no records of any members reporting sexual abuse at that time.

In the 1970s, allegations arose by ex-members that the abuse was not only narcotic, but also sexual. These allegations are covered below. Although the Vatican has not disclosed how many people have accused Marcial, nine names appear in the Hartford Courant. One has recanted. The remaining eight are Félix Alarcón Hoyos, José de J. Barba Martín, Saúl Barrales Arellano, Alejandro Espinosa Alcalá, Arturo Jurado Guzmán, Fernando Pérez Olvera, José Antonio Pérez Olvera and Juan José Vaca Rodríguez.

Since the 1970s, Marcial Maciel was accused of having repeatedly sexually abused other congregation members, including young children. Maciel's accusers include a priest, a guidance counselor, a professor, an engineer, a lawyer and a former priest who became a university professor. The men, seven Mexicans and two Spaniards, described themselves as former members of a favored group, known as the "apostolic schoolboys." The abuse allegedly occurred over three decades beginning in the 1940s in Spain and Italy, where boys and young men were taken for schooling. The abuse, they said, involved some 30 boys and young men and extended over at least three decades. Fr. Maciel and the organization denied the accusations. According to the ReGain organization, as many as 24 men have come forward with accusations of sexual abuse against him. Fr. Maciel and the organization continued to deny the accusations until his death in 2008. The liable Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), led by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, examined the allegations.

On 19 May 2006 the Vatican published a press communiqué, inviting Fr. Maciel to retire to a life of "prayer and penitence".[6] The statement said Maciel had been "invited" to withdraw to "a reserved life of prayer and penitence and not carry out his ministry in public". The statement said that no trial would take place because of his "advanced age [and] frail health."[7]

In Mexico, the Legionaries said in a statement that he had "accepted the instruction with faith, total calm, with a clear conscience knowing that it is a new cross which God, merciful father, has allowed him to suffer". It said that Fr. Maciel declared his innocence "and, following the example of Jesus Christ, decided not to defend himself in any way."[8]

[edit] Death

Marcial Maciel died in Houston, Texas, United States, on 30 January 2008 at age 87.[9][10][11] He had a private funeral, and was buried in his birth place, Cotija, Michoacán, in early February 2008.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Frances D'Emilio, "Pope Benedict bestows sainthood in ceremony". Associated Press (16 October 2007)
  2. ^ Ian Fisher and Laurie Goodstein, "Vatican Punishes a Leader After Abuse Charges". New York Times (19 May 2006)
  3. ^ Associated Press, "Vatican Disciplines Founder of Legionaries Over Sex-Abuse Claims"., FOX News (19 May 2006)
  4. ^ Alan Cooperman and William Branigin, "Vatican Disciplines Legionaries' Founder". Washington Post (19 May 2006)
  5. ^ "Legionary Timeline". Legion of Christ
  6. ^ Vatican Communiqué, "Father Marcial Maciel Invited to Renounce All Public Ministry". Zenit News Agency (19 May 2006)
  7. ^ J. McKinley Jr., "Pope-to-Be Reopened Mexican Sex Abuse Inquiry". New York Times (23 April 2005)
  8. ^ P. Pullella, "Vatican disciplines Mexican priest after abuse case". Reuters (19 May 2006)
  9. ^ "Rev. Marcial Maciel, founded order". Associated Press (1 February 2008) (no longer available, 5 April 2008)
  10. ^ Julián Sánchez, "Confirman que padre Maciel murió en Estados Unidos". El Universal (31 January 2008)
  11. ^ "Muere a los 87 años Marcial Maciel, fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo". El País (31 January 2008)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links