LA Times Does Hack Job on Legionaries of Christ / Regnum Christi

via Amy Welborn's Open Book

Maciel's photograph hangs on the walls in Legion schools. Students revere him as a hero from the days of Mexico's anti-clerical persecutions. But Maciel was kicked out of two seminaries as a young man. No others would take him, which the official Legion history chalks up to "misunderstandings." Were it not for an uncle (a bishop who had him privately tutored), Maciel would never have become a priest.

Guess what. Every movement within the Church that is worth talking about has revered its founder. St John Vianney had a very hard time getting into the seminary; God uses humble means.

Members call themselves "the Movement."

Cue eerie music. It must be a cult! They have an internal way of referring to themselves! Early Christians used the secret fish symbol to identify themselves and used the mysterious term "The Way"! Ooh, Christianity must be a cult!

The schools have had their share of controversy.

Show me a privately owned school that has not had its share of controversy.

Atlanta's Archbishop John Donoghue, to the dismay of some of his priests, has given the Legion and Regnum Christi near carte blanche to teach catechism to Catholic kids who don't attend parochial schools.

Not teaching catechism! Please, not teaching catechism! What's next? Will their priests try to dispense the sacraments?!

Complaints mounted about secret meetings. One parent likened the Movement to a cult.

Oh, no! The school had staff meetings and did not invite parents! It must be a cult!