The WSJ and the Legion of Christ

In yesterday's Wall Street Journal there was a front page story on the Legion of Christ, which is a Mexican Catholic order. For more than a decade I have worked with several universities that are part of the Legion. I have gotten to know more than a dozen priests, a host of seminarians, an even larger group of people who are active in the order either through the lay group (Regnum Christi) or simply as employees of these universities. I have worked on several campuses and have had the opportunity to get to know the people who are important in the order. I should say at the outset that I am neither a lay member of the Legion nor even a Catholic.

What bothered me about the article was what it left out. Indeed, the Legion has created controversy. They are a very young order. Like the Jesuits must have been early in their history, they are fervent. But that fervency is not intolerance. They set high standards for themselves. At the same time their priests are very much engaged with the world. The article also spent an inordinate amount of time on their relationship with the powerful of Mexico. One example they did not mention was that the priest who offered mass for President Fox before his inauguation was a Legionnary. Had they used that example they would have had to point out that the president elect celebrated a mass with some of the poorest children of Mexico City. The critics of the order argue that they minister only to the very wealthy. That is nonsense. The article did mention the annual missions trip where thousands of young people go into the poorest parts of Mexico and offer assistance. The contradition of the order, at least to some, is their absolute commitment to social justice without the silliness of political liberalism. The commitment to leadership involves a lot of discussion and direction to personal responsibility - but part of that commitment is to capacity building in that area. They don't look to government, as some religious groups seem to do first. In October I was on one of the campuses of the Anáhuac system in Mexico City to celebrate that campus' 25th anniversary. The School of Business, which is one of the most prestigious in Mexico held an international conference on capital formation in Mexico. They had a wonderful group of people at the conference - the two experts who were writing the Mexican equivalent of Sarbanes-Oxley, several prominent venture capitalists, representatives of several of the largest family owned businesses in Mexico. On the opening of the second day, the new rector of the university got up and congratulated the group on its first day of discussions - which had been fascinating. But then he commented that we also had a responsibility for the thousands of people who had just been devastated by hurricanes. He told a story of his own involvement in disaster relief but he then challenged his audience to help raise fund and money to help the people in those parts of Mexico. That same university provides some very innovative training for small micro credit banks that have stepped in to aid the very poor in developing economic opportunities for themselves. That kind of commitment has been demonstrated to me time and again. So the order does work with the very powerful (afterall their inspiration is to deal with leadership) but that does not mean they forget the obligation of all Christians to serve the poor.

In my home area, we have a Shrine of Guadalupe which was the Mexican church traidtionally in the Sacramento area. Several years ago the Legion took over responsibility for it. The local free newspaper printed a series of articles about the Legion's changes. Priests in the Legion believe in Catholic doctrine and try to live it faithfully. That means they are traditional in their view on a number of issues. And the local free paper played that up. What the paper did not say is that what was once a very sleepy parish with declining numbers was transformed in less than a year to a vibrant community center - with thousands of parishioners each week. In the places that I have visited where the Legion is offering its efforts, standards are not a mantra but a way to live. But I have not found that to be oppressive.

The WSJ (and the free paper) also covered charges concerning the founder of the order, Fr. Marcial Maciel. I have never met Fr. Maciel, although I know several of the first generation of priests in the order. I also have no personal knowledge of the charges that have been made against him. I do know that the charges seem to come up frequently and that each time they have been looked at carefully they have been dismissed. But regardless of their veracity, one should not underestimate the real contributions that this order has made to Mexico and to the wider Catholic community. I am consistently impressed with people who work in and around the order. They work very hard at trying to live their lives with some clear Christian order. The lay people value their children. Priests and lay also work hard on achievement. They make a conscientious commitment to being leaders in their community but also to serving the needs of those who do not have resources. Ethics and social commitment are a conscious part of the formation that they include in their educational programs.

Like most human organizations there are complex stories to tell about this order. But when I look at the contributions that individual priests and lay people make to their societies, I am impressed with the breadth and depth of their commitment to firm values and great implementation. I am not sure why the WSJ could not also get that message.