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  Censure Most High
Many Abusive Priests Have Been Punished. Never, However, One So Well-Regarded As Father Maciel

By Richard K. Taylor
Philadelphia Inquirer
June 15, 2006

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/14820279.htm

Is Pope Benedict XVI planning to take the church in a surprisingly new direction?

On May 19, the Vatican issued a communique stating that, after a long and detailed investigation, it is asking a leading priest, the Rev. Marciel Maciel Degollado, to relinquish any form of public ministry and to retire to a life of penitence and prayer. The Vatican made this decision after reviewing numerous allegations that the 86-year-old, Mexican-born cleric was guilty of many acts of sexual abuse against youngsters in his charge dating back to the mid-1940s. Maciel has agreed to comply with the Vatican's request.

At first blush, this may seem unremarkable. Since the clerical sex-abuse scandal broke upon the church in 2002, Catholic officials have disciplined hundreds of priests for molesting children. What makes this Vatican action so unusual is that Maciel is no ordinary priest. Until his censure, he was a prominent international figure, praised by Vatican officials and recognized as one of the church's most successful fund-raisers.

In 1941, Maciel founded a new religious order, the doctrinally conservative Legionaries of Christ. Under his leadership, the Legion became one of the most quickly growing and influential communities in the church, with schools in Europe and America, 650 priests (75 in the United States), 2,500 seminarians and a lay branch reputed to have 50,000 members worldwide. This rapid growth happened at a time when seminaries were closing and priestly vocations have fallen off markedly.

Even more significantly, Maciel was a close confidant of the late Pope John Paul II, who praised him as "an efficacious guide to youth." The late pope received Maciel at the Vatican on several occasions, dined with him in the Apostolic Palace, took him on four of his papal trips to Mexico, made him a delegate to three synods of bishops, and expressed complete confidence in his work. In a 2004 letter, John Paul II praised Maciel for 60 years of "intense, generous and fruitful priestly ministry."

As allegations of sexual abuse cropped up over the years, leading U.S. Catholic conservatives to leap to Maciel's defense. The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, a prolific author, wrote in 2002 of his "moral certainty" that the charges against Maciel were "false" and "malicious."

Given Maciel's lofty connections and widespread support, many observers felt sure that the charges against him would be buried, especially given his indignant and repeated protestations of innocence. "I never thought the Vatican would take such a significant step," said Alejandro Espinosa Alcala, spokesperson for the seminarians who brought charges against Maciel in 1997.

This suspicion of leniency, or even of a whitewash, was strengthened in 1999 when the future pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, halted the Maciel investigation. However, after becoming Pope Benedict XVI, he allowed the inquiry to proceed. Witnesses were interviewed on several continents, including extensive questioning of abuse victims and the testimony of at least 20 accusers. Finally, as the evidence against Maciel mounted, the pope signed off on the recommendation that he be removed from active ministry.

Maciel has become the highest-profile Catholic priest to be disciplined over charges of sexual abuse.

Imagine what it must have taken for the new pope to act so quickly and decisively in a way that his immediate predecessor eschewed. Could this be a message from Benedict XVI that church leaders must at last stop the denials and cover-ups of sexual abuse, which have so disillusioned ordinary Catholics and done so much to tarnish the church's credibility and moral standing? Might Benedict XVI be willing to take a new look into the church's secretive and self-protective clerical culture that has contributed so greatly to the sexual-abuse scandal and introduce a more lay-partnered form of governance? Or does the long delay between when the allegations first surfaced and the Vatican's final action suggest business as usual?

Whatever Benedict XVI has in mind, he has given this Catholic at least a glimmer of hope for a more compassionate, just, humble, open and accountable church.

Contact Richard K. Taylor at rktpbt@aol.com.

 
 

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