Like many abusers, Maciel was very charismatic and had many achievements.
Maciel targeted the wealthy, but he also used their money to also help the poor. One report about Maciel’s home town:
The Legion, according to religious observers, was founded with practically nothing in 1941, but flourished as Maciel courted the wealthy — a group that was largely not being ministered to by existing orders.
The Legion founded elite and expensive private schools — the Instituto Cumbres and Universidad Anahuac, to name two — and expanded abroad.
It supported charity projects such as the Mano Amiga schools for children in poor barrios, but was still primarily associated with wealth, status and exclusivity.
The poor appreciated the help he gave them, because no one else seemed interested in them:
In recent years, a Legion foundation worked with the Michoacan governor to build a museum, cultural center and a health clinic that offers doctors’ appointments for just 10 pesos. A private university that charges low tuition fees was also built with Legion money.
These projects haven’t been forgotten. “He did a lot for this place,” said campesino Juan Espinosa, who was selling green beans in the town plaza when interviewed. “There have been so many works.”
Therefore even those who have heard and believed at least some of the allegations still like Maciel:
“It really doesn’t matter to me,” said local historian Elena Silva Trejo, whose father used to make Maciel’s suits. “There are two sides to every coin. You have to look at them both.”
Maciel used his good works to make people admire him, but they were really good works. Maciel made the Legionaries take a vow never to criticize him. He is a classic example of a phenomenon that Richard Sipe described:
They tend to be critical and demanding of others, yet are sensitive themselves to any slight, criticism, or correction from someone else. As priests they can do adequate work for the Church. In instances where they closely identify with their projects, they can accomplish remarkable things. Dr. Richard Gilmartin, a psychiatrist who has treated many priests, refers to this phenomenon as “altruism in the service of narcissism.”
“Altruism in the service of narcissism” – that is why abusers are so successful, and why they have so many defenders when they are finally exposed.
well said, Lee! thank you
I have no love for Maciel or the L of C. I think he was a sociopath and that the Legion is , well, lets just say it is a child of 19th Century Catholicism and leave it at that. But in all fairness, this narcisist did a lot for the RC Church. He did feed the poor and educate the rich in order to feed the poor, perhaps? There is no doubt that this guy had a sex life that was abusive, and where children were involved, criminal. I get that. But lets be fair. He raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the Church. Is that bad?
Like any other human being he must be seen upon his death in the totality of who he was. He was a sociopath and a child abuser, a seminarian raper and he fathered a child while he was supposedly celibate. The all around wrap around phrase here would be LIAR. But then again, so am I . And so are you.
Could it be that the Holy Spirit used this criminal and pervert for His own uses? I am not exactly sure what to do with that, but it appears to be true. Now, where does the L of C go from here?
Above statements make a lot of sense and helps explain the approving attitude of many Catholics who defend abusing priests. They explain away the crimes by the good things the perp did.
in the service of narcissism?
OK
How about the Mexican drug wars and the US war on drugs?
Mexican bishops deny church accepts donations from drug lords
By Brigitte Schmitt and David Agren
Catholic News Service
MEXICO CITY (CNS) — Several Mexican bishops denied that the Catholic Church accepts donations from drug lords after the president of the Mexican bishops’ conference said drug traffickers have been “very generous” to the church.
Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City said the church condemns drug trafficking as a social evil and that it never accepts drug money.
“The money that comes from narcotics trafficking is ill-gotten and therefore can’t be cleaned through charity projects,” he said April 5 in a statement released by the archdiocese.
Auxiliary Bishop Marcelino Hernandez Rodriguez of Mexico City emphasized during his homily April 6 that money laundering carried out by making donations to the church is completely unacceptable.
Archbishop Jose Martin Rabago of Leon, former president of the Mexican bishops’ conference, categorically denied that clergy in his region accept donations from drug traffickers. He rejected suggestions that the church would sanction contributions from traffickers for social projects.
On several occasions, church officials have made it clear the church preaches salvation and that everyone who honestly repents will be forgiven. But this does not mean the church approves of drug trafficking or would accept “dirty money,” said Archbishop Martin.
Bishop Carlos Aguiar Retes of Texcoco, president of the Mexican bishops’ conference, acknowledged that murderous narcotics trafficking gangs provide funding for the construction of churches in some of the country’s most impoverished villages.
“They are generous and often they provide money for building a church or chapel,” Bishop Aguiar said after the bishops’ conference meeting April 1-4. He added that drug kingpins undertake other forms of “charity” by financing public works projects.
“In the communities where they work … they will install electricity, establish communication links, highways (and) roads,” he said in comments that received nationwide media attention.
The bishop emphasized that the church does not condone narcotics trafficking, but also that he was “saying how it is.”
He added that narcotics traffickers often come to prelates in search of spiritual guidance.
“There has been a rapprochement with them as it’s known that discretion is going to be kept,” Bishop Aguiar said. “What they want is to encounter peace in their consciences. What they’re going to get from us is a sharp response: Change your life.”
Comments from Catholic officials on the subject of donations from narcotics trafficking have been less clear in past years.
The late Bishop Ramon Godinez Flores of Aguascalientes drew intense criticism in 2005 after he said in a television interview that the church had no responsibility for scrutinizing the sources of large donations and that “all money can be transformed just as a corrupted person can also be transformed.”
His statements were quickly disavowed.
The Mexican government has been waging an ongoing battle against well-armed narcotics trafficking gangs. The battle, which has been a priority for President Felipe Calderon, has already claimed more than 857 lives in 2008, according to the Grupo Reforma newspaper chain, and largely has been carried out by members of the Mexican military.
Johnwirtz: Actually I am an abuse victim myself. I was physically and sexually abused at the hands of nuns, and as a young seminarian in Philadelphia I was propositioned by a nun repeatedly. Later in college (Mt St Mary’s in Emmitsburg, MD) I was the victim of an attempted rape by a priest…I was drunk…but not THAT drunk! Nothing happened.
I have no use for clerical sexual abusers. Maciel was a criminal and without doubt he was mentally ill. So let me ask you a question in all Christian charity, what are we supposed to do about these monsters? Hate them? Why? They already hate themselves and their actions betray that. No, hating them is not the proper action.
The proper action, once they are dead, is to leave them to their God. It is the only fair thing to do. And furthermore John, I believe you know that.
Maciel sounds a lot like Obama. Kurt Gladsky