The order is binding. All the houses of the Legionaries of Christ must be emptied of photos of the founder, Marcial Maciel Degollado, the man of "foolhardy, wasted, bizarre" life whom Benedict XVI called in his recent book-interview "a false prophet."

Not only that. They must no longer call him "Our Father." They must no longer celebrate his anniversaries, but only pray for him on the anniversary of his death. They must no longer display or sell his writings. In Cotija de la Paz, Mexico, where he is buried, his grave must no longer have any distinguishing marks. Next to the spiritual retreat house there must be built "a place dedicated to reparation and expiation."

These provisions were issued on December 13 to all the Legionaries in the world by their director general, Álvaro Corcuera, by the order of Cardinal Velasio De Paolis (in the photo), the pope's delegate to get the congregation back on the right track.

They follow the insistent requests that had been building up within the congregation itself, as www.chiesa had documented in an article last August 30:

But the real news of recent weeks is that within the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, the critical voices and the calls for renewal are no longer those of a few isolated individuals, but have become a chorus.

The seal of silence and fear that was weighing on many of the Legionaries has been broken. The criticisms have become a topic of public discussion. And they are aimed precisely against the leadership group, the circle of those who stood in allegiance around the disgraced founder and still occupy the positions of command.

In a short time, their credibility has dropped so dramatically that some of the criticisms are being directed against pontifical delegate De Paolis, who is being blasted for moving too cautiously, when he is instead expected to "make heads roll."

An open letter that is circulating among the Legionaries under the title "Velasio De Paolis, entre la expectación y el despiste" highlights precisely this contrast between the expectations invested in the pontifical delegate and the disappointment over how little he is doing.

Cardinal De Paolis is being criticized for dedicating "only three mornings a week" to the renewal of the congregation, of holing up inside the offices of central management, of not speaking or understanding Spanish, the prevalent language in the Legion, and above all of submitting to the smothering control of the leaders, who have remained the same before and after Maciel's death.

The few changes at the top decided so far by De Paolis have been seen by many as proof of his inertia. 

On November 23, when the most powerful of the leaders, vicar general of the congregation Luís Garza Medina, had to give up the offices of prefect general of studies and of territorial director for Italy, the news was met by many with disappointment rather than relief, because those appointed to succeed him were two of his proteges, José Enrique Oyarzún Tapia and Óscar Náder Kuri, the latter of these from Monterrey, the Mexican city where Garza was born and where he located the general headquarters of Grup Integer, the personal financial structure with which he controls all the schools and activities of the congregation.

On December 8, when the general management of the Legionaries of Christ revealed the composition of the commission that will revise the constitutions, many of the reactions were again of disappointment.

The commission will be headed by Cardinal De Paolis and by two of his four assistants: Gianfranco Ghirlanda, a Jesuit, and Agostino Montan. But all of the Legionaries called to be part of it seem tied in to the circle of the founder.

One of these, Roberto Aspe Hinojosa, Mexican, belongs to the group of Maciel's first followers, the ones he formed personally.

Another, José García Sentandreu, Spanish, is head of the works of the Legion's apostolate.

A third, Anthony Bannon, was head of the Legionaries in the United States from 1976 to 2004, and was a member of the congregation's general council until 2005.

The fourth, Gabriel Sotres, was for twenty years the head of communications for the Legion, the "spin doctor" who protected Maciel's double life so successfully that Benedict XVI said, in the book-interview "Light of the World," it really "was covered up very well."

At the same time, the director general of the Legion, Corcuera, has released an interminable letter in which he announces a series of provisions that will be enacted in the future, as if he were still the one fully in command of everything.

But that's not the case. And various indications make this clear.

First of all, Corcuera's letter prompted public reactions on the part of Legionaries, including some of the most prominent, something that had never happened before, when no one dared to criticize the word of the superiors.

A letter of reply to Corcuera, highly critical, bears the signature of Fr. Pablo Pérez Guajardo, 56, Mexican, a pastor in Cancún after a period spent at the central headquarters in Rome.

In it, Fr. Guajardo asks three things: that Maciel be definitively disowned as "founder" of the Legion; that every Legionary be authorized to confess to a priest selected by him instead of by the superiors; that the Holy See be given back the Notre Dame institute in Jerusalem, taken "by deception," he writes, from John Paul II in 2004.

Of these three requests, the first was essentially granted by the provisions of December 13.

The third has no chance of being effected. Meanwhile, however, Cardinal De Paolis has entrusted to his assistant Ghirlanda, a former rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University and a proficient canonist, the task of organizing the administrative structures of the Legion, taking power from Grupo Integer – meaning Garza – and attributing managerial autonomy, with its own directors, to each individual university, school, activity. This work of cleaning and reorganization is proceeding at a fast clip. The European University of Rome will be one of the first to benefit from this rearrangement.

As for the second request, the free choice of confessor is already becoming an increasingly widespread practice, at the initiative of individual Legionaries. Freedom of conscience and the distinction between "external forum" and "internal forum," together with the exercise of authority, are in any case at the top of Cardinal De Paolis' agenda for the renewal of the congregation's rule of life.

But what really makes Garza, Corcuera, and the entire coalition of power that came together with Maciel tremble is above all the fact that for the pontifical delegate, this group has its end marked out for it.

De Paolis is moving at the snail's pace typical of the Roman curia, in which he is a perfect example of the old school ways. He is still studying the terrain, but he already knows where he's going. He is absolutely convinced that there can be no renewal of the Legion with the same men who brought it to disaster still at the top. He has the full support of Benedict XVI. In a few months, maybe for Easter, the first heads will roll.

Every Sunday at Our Lady of the Roses Shrine there is a Holy Hour from 10:30 am till noon for the clergy.  Please join us each week in prayer for priests at this time.

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"Man shall not condone evil or rationalize sin. Homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God and man!  The Creator condemns those who do not repent of this sin." - Our Lady of the Roses, August 5, 1977

"Are you so blind that you do not recognize the acceleration of sin among you?  Murders abound, thievery, all manner of carnage, destruction of young souls, abortion, homosexuality, condemned from the beginning of time by the Eternal Father.  Yet sin has become a way of life.  Sin is condoned now, even unto the highest judge of your land and your lands throughout the world. As you have sown so shall you reap.  Sin is death, not only of the spirit, but of the body.  Wars are a punishment for man's sin, his greed, his avarice." - Our Lady of the Roses, August 14, 1981

The awesome Bayside Prophecies... https://www.tldm.org/../Bayside/
These prophecies came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995.

READ  YOUR  BIBLES
"Your word of homosexuality can be explained by the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Read in your Bibles or consult your clergy.  Find yourselves, My children, a humble, pious clergy.  Many have fallen away from the Faith." Our Lady, October 6, 1992 

WOE  TO  THE  PASTORS
"My children, can I bring you a message of joy when My heart is torn by the murders and the loss of respect for your elders?  Children against parents, parents going about, running to and fro, marrying and giving in marriage, living adulterously, consorting with evil, with homosexuals and lesbians!  What manner of life do you show for your children to make example of?  Woe to the parent that scandalizes his child.  It is better if that parent had died in his mother's womb!  Woe to the pastors that scandalize the children!  They shall burn in an eternity of hell for their deception!" Our Lady of the Roses, August 5, 1977 

PASTORS  HELD  RESPONSIBLE
"We hold the pastors of My Son's House, We hold them as being responsible for the fall of the children.  Be ye warned now, My children, that woe to the man who has this responsibility upon his conscience and his soul.  Scandals have been brought into the lives of your children.  Perversion, homosexuality, immorality, perverted sex, My children-where shall you stop but at the abyss!" Our Lady of the Roses, December 7, 1977

"YOU  WILL  BE  REMOVED"
"I am your God, and I say unto you:  continue to change My Church and you will fall!  You will build a secular church, bringing in all--even heretics, even homosexuals.  All aberrations condemned by the Eternal Father, you will permit in the name of humanism.  Nay, no!  I say unto you as your God.  You will be given a short reign, for I consider you then an abomination, and as such you will be removed." Jesus, May 23, 1979 

AN  ABOMINATION
"Man shall not condone evil or rationalize sin. Homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God and man! The Creator condemns those who do not repent of this sin." Our Lady, August 5, 1977

BLACK  CLOUD  OVER  AMERICA
"In the days of Sodom, so too were men giving themselves over to all the pleasures of the flesh: eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage. All manner of sinful lusts are being committed. Men shameful with men, women casting aside their role of motherhood and lusting after women. As it was in the days of Sodom, so now is this black cloud over America."  Our Lady, July 14, 1979

SODOM:  "WE  DESTROYED  IT"
"And the great issue now of homosexuality in your country, that shall be on the balance that Michael holds.  Unless this balance is evened by removing this evil from your country and bringing in just laws to prevent the spread of homosexuality, you cannot be saved; your country cannot be saved.  Because I repeat again, as I have repeated in the past:  When a country has given itself over to immorality and all pleasures of the flesh, and abominations of the flesh, then that country will fall!  If you do not believe Me, My children, I say:  You will read your history books, and you will find out that there was a Sodom and Gomorrah.  And what did We do to that abominable city, Sodom?  We destroyed it!  And what did We do to Gomorrah?  We destroyed it!  And We destroyed all who did not follow the plan for their redemption." Jesus, November 1, 1985 

 SIN:  FORERUNNER  OF  WAR
"For sin is always a forerunner for war, My children:  murders, persecutions, robberies, all manners of sins of the flesh, homosexuality, lesbianism, perversion, sodomy.  Sodom and Gomorrah fell for less sins than you have committed now upon your earth.  Noah took to the ark and the world was in a better state spiritually than your world now; for you have accepted a sophisticated manner of sin, based on man's reasoning and not God's truth." Our Lady, October 2, 1979 

ANY  COUNTRY
"Any country that allows homosexuals to roam and to seduce the young shall be destroyed."  Our Lady, June 30, 1984

HOLY HOUR
"I wish that there be held on these sacred grounds an hour of reparation on the Day of the Lord.  This hour will be for your Vicar and the fallen hierarchy in the House of God.  This hour will also be in atonement for the discard of the holy Day of God." - Our Lady, September 14, 1972

Directives from Heaven... https://www.tldm.org/directives/directives.htm

D63 - The Third Secret  PDF
D169 - Stigma of a Fallen Hierarchy, Part 1 PDF
D170 - Stigma of a Fallen Hierarchy, Part 2   PDF
D171 - Stigma of a Fallen Hierarchy, Part 3   PDF
D172 - Priestly Celibacy PDF
D174 - Homosexuality, Part 2  PDF
D177 - Seminaries  PDF

Articles…

A Rude Awakening - My experiences in the Legion of Christ 2000-2001
http://www.regainnetwork.org/article.php?a=47245755

Spiritual Schizophrenia - The Legion of Christ cannot affirm both a Wise Pope and a Holy Maciel
http://regainnetwork.org/article.php?a=47245965

Father Maciel suspended: New allegations against other Legionary priests on the horizon?
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/mershon/060525

Vatican says no to homosexuals in priesthood - approved by Pope Benedict
https://www.tldm.org/News8/homosexualityPriesthood3.htm

Vatican appointed seminary investigator says homosexuals should not be ordained
 https://www.tldm.org/News8/SeminaryInvestigator.htm

Cardinal George of Chicago reaffirms longtime Vatican teaching: no homosexuals allowed in priesthood
https://www.tldm.org/News8/homosexualityPriesthood.htm

John Paul II and a Vatican official speak out against homosexuals in the Catholic priesthood
https://www.tldm.org/News5/gays_in_priesthood.htm  

Clear Vatican statement against ordaining homosexuals: "a person who is homosexual or has homosexual tendencies is not, therefore, suitable to receive the sacrament of sacred orders."
https://www.tldm.org/News5/Estevez.htm

Bishop D'Arcy urges ban on gay priests
https://www.tldm.org/News7/D'Arcy.htm 

Philippine Bishops Conference bans homosexual seminarians and priests
https://www.tldm.org/News7/PhilippineBishopsBanHomosexuals.htm 

Santo Domingo Cardinal says gays do not belong in seminaries
https://www.tldm.org/News7/homosexualityCardinalNicolas.htm 

Austrian seminary: no more homosexuals
https://www.tldm.org/News7/HomosexualityAustrianSeminary.htm

American seminaries: "hell-holes of error and heresy"
https://www.tldm.org/news5/seminaries.htm

John Paul II orders cleanup of U.S. seminaries
https://www.tldm.org/news5/seminaries2.htm

Vatican document: homosexuals should not be ordained or admitted to the seminary
https://www.tldm.org/News5/Vatican_document.htm 

“This hapless bench of bishops”
https://www.tldm.org/News5/hapless.htm 

Gay and lesbian newspaper reports: “Victory at Bishops' Conference”
https://www.tldm.org/News5/WindyCity.htm 

The American bishops and homosexual priests
https://www.tldm.org/news4/scandal1.htm 

81% of clergy sex crimes committed by homosexuals
https://www.tldm.org/News6/homosexuality9.htm

What the Saints say about the sin of homosexuality
https://www.tldm.org/news7/homosexualitySaints.htm

What the Bible says about homosexuality
https://www.tldm.org/News6/homosexuality3.htm

Great Britain study says 43% of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals have a mental disorder
https://www.tldm.org/news7/GayMentalDisorder.htm

Our Lady of the Roses gave 17 requests to save America from annihilation
https://www.tldm.org/news5/17-steps.htm

Homosexuality and Hope: excerpts taken from a document by the Catholic Medical Association
https://www.tldm.org/news6/ssa.htm

America: Slouching towards Gomorrah
https://www.tldm.org/news5/gomorrah.htm

Homosexuality: dispelling the lies
https://www.tldm.org/News4/homosexuality2.htm

Supreme Court Justice Burger speaks out against homosexuality
https://www.tldm.org/news6/homosexuality1.htm

Sin is insanity
https://www.tldm.org/news6/insanity.htm

Links...

U.S. Bishops to Begin Inspecting Seminaries, National Catholic Register
http://www.ncregister.com/articulo.php?artkod=NTU-

Expected Vatican Ban Roils American Church, [U.K.] Guardian, September 22, 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5295980,00.html

Trust us to fix it, Catholic World News
http://www.cwnews.com/offtherecord/offtherecord.cfm?task=singledisplay&recnum=2791

Bishops meeting to avoid gay issue, Washington Times, June 15, 2005
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050614-114626-2482r.htm

Why won't our bishops solve the 'gay' priest problem? New Oxford Review, July-August 2004
http://www.newoxfordreview.org/note.jsp?did=0704-notes-bishops

How America's Catholic Church crucified itself, [London] Times Online, March 13, 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-1517560,00.html

Vatican Monsignor says gays shouldn’t be priests, Washington Times, September 20, 2002
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020920-85049356.htm

Catholic official argues against gay priests, Modesto Bee, September 19, 2002
http://www.modbee.com/24hour/nation/story/543081p-4290797c.html

John Paul II to Church: Risky seminarians must go, National Catholic Register, Sept. 15-21, 2002
http://www.ncregister.com/Register_News/091002sem.htm

John Paul II: Men with deviant affections can’t be priests, ABC News, September 5, 2002
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20020905_339.html

Catholic Medical Association: Homosexuality and Hope
http://www.cathmed.org/publications/homosexuality.html