Archdiocese of Miami Bans Legionaries of Christ

MIAMI, FL (Zenit.org) - Archbishop John Favalora of Miami has officially prohibited members of the Legionaries of Christ from exercising any ministry in the archdiocese, effective immediately.

Msgr. Michael Souckar, the archdiocesan chancellor, communicated the ban today in a letter addressed to all priests of the archdiocese. ZENIT confirmed the veracity of the letter with the office of the chancellor.

Both Msgr. Souckar and Legionary of Christ spokesman Jim Fair were unavailable for comment.

The letter said that Archbishop Favolorola made the decision based on alleged abuses of earlier permissions given to the Legionaries that restricted their work to attending to the needs of members of the Regnum Christi movement, a lay apostolic association connected to the Legionaries.

"In the past," it explained, "their priests were given individual approval by the vicar general each time they wished to come to the Archdiocese of Miami, but their ministry was restricted to their own members. Because the Legionaries of Christ have not abided by these restrictions, Archbishop Favalora has barred them from any ministry in the Archdiocese of Miami."

The letter furthermore stated that the Regnum Christi movement is not permitted to work in schools or parishes in the archdiocese.

On the Web site of the archdiocese, a notice appears that reiterates the ban.

The Legionaries are currently undergoing a worldwide apostolic visitation under the direction of the Holy See.

Has anyone ever read the History of The Popes? I was a legionary for ten years and for many of those a personal assistant to the Founder, so you can imagine the shock! Back to the Popes, some of them, a good many of them, actually, did things that would make your hair stand on end. Yet, the Church survived, and it survived because of the good people in it and in spite of the horrendous behaviour of a lot of its leaders. Hopefully, this will be the case with the Legion and RC. They both need to urgently ammend their behaviour and their attitudes, but there are enough good people in there to allow it to survive.

Eddie Farrelly | 11/4/2009

I asked God to allow me to serve Him somehow. Believe it or not it wasn't easy for me to figure out how to serve God and be a devoted apostle in the Catholic church

He led me to RC. I joined because I fell in love with FAMILIA training. It was the only formation I had recieved as a cradle Catholic that teaches the Cathechism, the Bible, Papal Encyclicals (which are spiritual poetry), and the importance of the role of motherhood.

So what if the founder Maciel fell from grace? He won't be the first or last. There is nothing in my life's experience to make me think that people are perfect. My/our leader is Jesus and I'm wise enough to know that only He will never dissapoint me.

Look for attacks against ALL conservative Christians to come hard and strong in these times. We need to support each other more than ever.

Michelle | 11/3/2009

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