(Vatican Radio) The Extraordinary General Chapter of the Legionaries of Christ begins
its working sessions on Thursday, under the guidance of the Apostolic Delegate to
the Legion, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis. Among the challenges facing the Legion are
those of adopting new constitutions and electing new leadership in the wake of revelations
regarding the double-life led by the congregation's deceased founder, Fr. Marcial
Maciel. Following a Vatican investigation into Fr Maciel’s life and conduct as founder
and leader of the congregation, Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 stripped the priest of his
leadership role and ordered him to a life of prayer and penitence.
Cardinal
De Paolis celebrated Mass on Wednesday evening in Rome, to open the Chapter officially,
during which he delivered a homily addressing the principal tasks of the six-week
convocation of 61 priests from 11 different nations, specifically the needed constitutional
reform and election of leadership. “The constitutions that you give yourselves,” said
Cardinal De Paolis, “will therefore not be simply a code of laws that unites you only
externally in discipline,” but, “an expression of a common vocation, a common ideal,
a common mission, a common path to healing.” Cardinal De Paolis went on to call the
election of new officers to govern the congregation, “a point which should always
be given special attention, especially for you, who have a history of suffering in
this regard,” adding, “it is important not to forget that.”
The Legionaries
of Christ have as many as 950 priest-members, and an estimated one thousand seminarians
at various levels of formation. With the help of their once 30 thousand-stron lay
organization, Regnum Christi, the Legion operates schools and other works of social
and charitable service in more than 20 countries around the world.
Below,
please find the full text of the Legion’s English translation of Cardinal De Paolis’
homily, which was delivered in Italian.
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HOMILY
FOR THE OPENING OF THE LEGIONARIES’ GENERAL CHAPTER January 8, 2013 We are
celebrating this Mass of the Holy Spirit for the opening of the Extraordinary General
Chapter, for which we have been preparing for about three and a half years, with a
precise mandate from the Holy Father Benedict XVI. It is an event of faith, which
we can celebrate only under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It comes about at the
end of a long journey, whose path was marked out for us by the Holy Father; therefore
it can only be understood in the light of the journey already made. These two events
are closely connected. The preparation’s goal was the Chapter, together with the specific
commitments it entails; namely, the appointment of the new government of the congregation,
and the approval of the constitutions, which, with the efforts of all involved, the
congregation of the Legionaries has reviewed profoundly.
It has been repeatedly
stressed that the revision of the constitutions cannot simply be considered a technical
effort, but should be accompanied by a process of examination of life, of review and
of spiritual renewal for the institute. Thus far, we have only completed the process
of preparation.
We are holding this celebration in view of the Chapter that
is about to open: it is an invocation to the Spirit of God to enlighten our hearts;
to instill confidence, grace and strength; to reconcile our hearts with God and with
one another; and to unite us in love for God, the Church and the Congregation. We
expect the miracle of Pentecost to be renewed, the miracle of tongues of fire. While
each of us speaks his own language and expresses his own ideas and convictions, with
the light of the Spirit and his strength, we are called to understand one another’s
language, since each of us is equally moved by the same love, the Holy Spirit. This
miracle of unity in language and love, within the richness of the plurality of languages
and ideas accompanies us.
The constitutions that you give yourselves will therefore
not be simply a code of laws that unites you only externally in discipline, but the
text will be an expression of a common vocation, a common ideal, a common mission,
a common path to healing, an impulse to strive in common striving for the fulfillment
of God’s plan for the congregation and for each of you, for the glory of God and service
to the Church and to the Legion. The heart of the constitutions is the charism, or
spiritual patrimony, of the Institute. The Pope, although he showed us that the main
purpose of the journey undertaken and the Chapter should be the review and approval
of the constitutions, also stressed that in such a work, the very charism of the Institute
should be examined in depth. In fact, the constitutions must contain the vocation
and identity of the Institute (that is, its charism or spiritual patrimony) and the
fundamental norms for its protection, advancement and progress. This has been the
concern in drafting the text, and the Chapter should have the same concern when approving
the new text to be submitted to the Holy Father.
But even if the main purpose
of the Chapter is the approval of the constitutions, no less important is the appointment
of the government of the Institute. The primary task, in fact, of the superiors is
to preserve and promote the Institute’s charism; the charism is only guaranteed when
authority is exercised as service, in the spirit of the Gospel and in fidelity to
the norms of the Church. It is a point which should always be given special attention,
especially for you, who have a history of suffering in this regard. It is important
not to forget that. And this has been a topic about which the new constitutional text
has been careful and vigilant. However, as you know, well-made laws are important,
but not enough, if there is not a new spirit. And it is this new spirit that you are
called to foster and cultivate inside of you when you are called upon to give yourselves
new superiors. You really have to have a new heart, both on the part of those electing
and those elected. To the degree that it depends on you, have present only God and
the good of the Church and the Legion, and choose those whom you deem most worthy
and suitable for the ministry of authority. For this, it is necessary to free your
hearts from resentment, jealousy and envy, and to free your memory so as not to feel
burdened by memories that blind and cause suffering.
You are actually reaching
this event after a long journey, not without suffering, but which today looks rather
calm and hopeful. For this, we have to thank the Lord. The same Lord who has accomplished
this work in you is the guarantor who will accompany you even further along the path
you are called to follow. What the Lord has done during this time of preparation is
like the memory to which you are called to return, so as to regain confidence, serenity
and hope: hope in the Lord who has preserved your vocation; hope in the Legion, which,
thanks to you, presents itself to this chapter with new strength and new horizons;
and hope in the Church, which has accompanied you, particularly through Pope Benedict
XVI—who, in the most tragic moment in your history, has had confidence in you and
has believed in your capacity for renewal and faithfulness to the Lord—and in the
current Supreme Pontiff Pope Francis—who wanted to be present at this important moment
in your history. It is also time to thank all those who have shared with me the work
of accompanying the Legion on behalf of the Church, especially my councilors, Bishop
Brian Farrell, Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda, Father Agostino Montan and Monsignor Mario
Marchesi.
In conclusion, I am pleased to recall all that I told you at the
beginning of my mandate. In my first homily addressing everyone from this same altar,
I expressed my awareness of the vocational difficulty in which you might have found
yourselves. I invited you to have trust and to be faithful, to wait for light and
peace to return before deciding. In the first letter I wrote you, I also expressed
my confidence about the success of the journey that we were called to take together,
emphasizing in particular your fidelity and obedience to the Church as a guarantee
of success. The vast majority have remained faithful to their vocation as Legionaries.
In particular, you are the ones who have gathered today for the Chapter and who want
to begin the first stage of the new Legion, with the appointment of new superiors
and the approval of the new text to which you are called to conform your life.
I
think you are glad to have reaffirmed your “yes” to the Lord. You have suffered much,
both internally and externally. You have suffered the shame of being accused, viewed
with suspicion and of being exposed to public opinion, even within the Church. You
have been able to accept this suffering out of love for your vocation, and out of
love for the Church and for the Legion. Suffering has purified you, matured you and
made you experience God’s grace and love, who has called you to share in the mystery
of redemption through the cross and through sorrow. You have participated in the pain
of those who have suffered because of some members of the Legion. You have chosen
the only way the Gospel knows for the redemption of evil: not escape, not rejection,
not the condemnation of others, but participation, solidarity, and love that enters
into sin and sorrow so as to redeem them from the inside. Today we are pleased to
participate in this liturgy of the Eucharist, made sharers of the mystery of Christ,
who gives up his life for love. Together with him, you renew the offering of your
lives.
Let us close with a passage from the letter to the Hebews, regarding
the redeeming sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, who offered the one perfect sacrifice:
“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living
God” (Heb. 9 : 14). The same eternal Spirit has moved your hearts to offer your lives
to cooperate with Christ’s redeeming sacrifice for the salvation of your congregation.
May that same Spirit always work in your hearts. This same Spirit is always ready
to wipe away the tears of your hearts and turn them into precious pearls in the eyes
of God.
Rome, January 8, 2014 Velasio Cardinal De Paolis, C.S.