UNITED STATES
Non-Profit Quarterly
Written by Rick Cohen Created on Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Sometimes, the best-motivated bequests don’t go as intended, as evidenced by documents recently released about the fundraising of a Catholic organization called the Legion of Christ. A Rhode Island widow named Gabrielle Mee gave millions of dollars and bequeathed 90 percent of her estate to the Legion of Christ. She was so taken with the Legion and its founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, that she became a “consecrated woman” in the Legion’s lay wing.
When she made her donations, Mee probably never anticipated that Pope Benedict XVI would order an investigation of the Legion to reveal that Fr. Maciel sexually molested numerous seminarians and fathered children by two different women. Pope John Paul II had been a prominent supporter of Maciel, calling him “an efficacious guide to youth.” Even when he was known as Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict has initiated investigations of Maciel’s behavior and operations, though it took until 2006 before he retired Maciel to a life of penitence and prayer. It wasn’t until 2009 that the Legion acknowledged Maciel’s paternity in regards to at least one child.
Although Pope Benedict finally took action against the Legion, the Vatican had heard reports of Maciel’s sexual abuse for many years. Like U.S. dioceses dealing with abusive parish priests, the Vatican spent years protecting the religious institution of the Legion rather than calling Maciel and the Legion to account.
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