What next for the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi?

In the London Telegraph, Damian Thompson wrote:

Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore, America’s oldest diocese, last week advised Catholics against joining the Legion or Regnum Christi. He said he was worried that the order “stifles the free will” of its priestly members and lay affiliates – not least, by encouraging the cult of Fr Maciel, a Mexican priest who abused seminarians and siphoned off money from the faithful to support his mistress and daughter.

According to the National Catholic Reporter, Archbishop O’Brien said:

“While it’s difficult to get ahold of official documents,” Archbishop O’Brien said, “it’s clear that from the first moment a person joins the Legion, efforts seem to be made to program each one and to gain full control of his behavior, of all information he receives, of his thinking and emotions.”

The archbishop said many members who leave the order suffer “deep psychological distress for dependency and need prolonged counseling akin to deprogramming.”

Cath News echoes the call for Vatican intervention because “the current Mexican leadership of the Legionaries is not up to the challenge of dissociating the organisation from the sexual and financial wrongdoings of the founder.”