Archbishop of Baltimore sets conditions for the Legionaries of Christ

H/T: Food Fight in the Cafeteria

The Archbishop of Baltimore sent a letter to the superior general of the Legionaries of Christ asking for a liaison Legionary priest that would keep him informed of the order’s and Regnum Christi’s activities within his Archdiocese. More specifically, the archbishop asks for the names and locations where Legionary priests minister, the identification of all Regnum Christi groups as well as their “activities, meeting location and schedules, membership rolls and methodologies for gaining new members.” Then the Archbishop sets a series of conditions for the Legionary/Regnum Christi members that are active in the Archdiocese such as: “to avoid any undue sense of vocational obligation, ongoing and individual spiritual direction is not to be given to persons under the age of 18.”

Emphasis mine. I would recommend reading the two-page letter in its entirety.

UPDATE I: One of our readers has pointed out that Archbishop O’ Brien wrote about this ongoing situation with the Legionaries of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement on June 10th in The Catholic Review. The post gives us a better context for his petition:

I have met a good number of Regnum Christi members who lead exemplary Catholic lives and see this movement as a God-send. But I also am well aware of the challenges that have led a number to leave the movement, some angrily insisting that Church authority must act to correct the excesses they claim have endured. Hence, the dialogue these last five and more
years.

UPDATE II: National Catholic Reporter has a complete interview with Archbishop O’ Brien on the matter.

Can you describe what led you to issue this letter?
When I came into the archdiocese, I was told by our Vicar General that there had been a long series of exchanges between the cardinal and the locals of the Legionaries about programs going on in the archdiocese that our pastors didn’t know about, didn’t know the extent of them, didn’t know the nature of them. There were seemingly heavily persuasive methods used on young people, high schoolers especially, regarding vocations.