More LC News

Ed Peters questions two common assertions being made on behalf of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi, namely, that they should be allowed to attempt a reform from within, and that Maciel’s conduct does not negate the charism of the L/RC.

Also, Fr. Raymond de Souza argues vigorously that the National Catholic Register needs to make some very big changes in the way it has coverd the Maciel scandal. I agree and I think Tom Hoopes, who is (as Fr. de Souza notes) a good guy, will rise to the challenge.

Finally, a reader (not affiliated with LC/RC by the by) writes:

I am starting to wish that the American commentators who are shouting about the LC lack of transparency would show a little more sophistication in this respect: recognizing the likelihood that the top echelons of the LC are acting with the approval of their own consciences. For one thing, not everyone’s cultural DNA and formation points them ineluctably toward maximum transparency as a good (as American culture does). For a second thing, consciences themselves can be deformed (abetted by the influence of someone who leverages cultural dispositions to their own advantage, as Maciel may well have). In short, the LC leadership in all likelihood feels itself to be acting in a principled way, even as it points the gun ever so carefully at its own foot.

I mean, I basically agree with these commentators, but their high dudgeon needs to be combined with a measure of realism in moral psychologizing. If the LC leadership saw what they were doing as others do, they would all be guilty of leading a double life, wouldn’t they? Surely it is more likely that just don’t see what they are doing as others do.

This particular reader is a layman and Thomist whose doctoral work has focused on the human capacity to rationalize evil, so I tend to give his insights rather more weight than I do some of the easy breezy psychologizing and armchair analysis that dominates much of the blogosphere. That said, I hope that, whatever the ultimate explanation for the delusional Happy Talk emanating from the LC leadership, those guys get a freakin’ clue before it all burns down around their ears. They may not have started the fire, but the fire doesn’t care. It will consume them if they don’t start facing reality and stop issuing preposterous bulletins praising Maciel.

Fortunately, the rank and file seem to simply be ignoring the Happy Talk, facing reality and setting about doing what they can to save what can be saved of all their hard work and devotion. I have to believe that God, who sees hearts, will honor that.