Legionary priest apologizes for comparing Maciel with St. Mary Magdalene
August 29, 2014
A spokesman for the Legionaries of Christ has apologized for a promotional brochure in which he compared the disgraced founder of the religious order, the late Father Marcial Maciel, to St. Mary Magdalene.
"I personally and profoundly apologize for my reflections," said Father Juan Solana, the director of the Magdala Center in Jerusalem. His thoughts were published last summer in a brochure about the Center, a Legionary project. The comparison between the disgraced cleric and the legendary saint caused new embarrassment for the Legionaries when it was exposed in a report by Jason Berry in the National Catholic Reporter.
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Posted by: jg23753479 -
Sep. 02, 2014 4:53 PM ET USA
I just saw this. I repeat what I have often said before: The Legion MUST be dissolved; no reform of that organization will ever change its fundamentals. Maciel formed it and left a mark on it that cannot be erased.
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Posted by: -
Aug. 31, 2014 12:57 PM ET USA
If ever there were a perfect, real life example of what Jesus's meaning was in Matthew 7:18, "...neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit", this is it; namely, that it doesn't matter if the fruit looks good, doesn't matter if it smells good, doesn't matter if it sounds good when u thump it for freshness, if it came from a diseased (evil) tree, it CANNOT be good, even if ur senses are trying to tell u otherwise. Maciel's tree must be cast into the fire, that's all there is to it.
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Posted by: Frodo1945 -
Aug. 31, 2014 9:18 AM ET USA
You can take Maciel out of the Legionaries but you can't take the Legionaries out of Maciel. This speaks volumes about the success of the "reforms". This can't be fixed, no matter how hard they try.
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Posted by: Bernadette -
Aug. 30, 2014 7:56 PM ET USA
The Legionaries need to either change the name of the order or be dissolved totally, their priests joining the ranks of diocesan priests. They, the Legionaries, will never get rid of the terrible stigma of a founder who was an evil man. I don't know why the Vatican does not recognize this or seems to want to bind up or put a band aid on this fraudulent order. They have many good priests; some have left and joined dioceses. Stop trying to fix something that is broken!
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Posted by: hartwood01 -
Aug. 29, 2014 6:57 PM ET USA
The poisonous center of the Legionnaires will leak out to the naive faithful for years. This is the result of not dissolving this mislead group when Maciel was revealed for the fraud he was.
