UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Brian Roewe | Aug. 28, 2014
The Legionaries of Christ have apologized for a reflection in a promotional booklet comparing the order’s serial abuser founder to Mary Magdalene.
“I personally and profoundly apologize for my reflections in the booklet, Magdala: God Really Loves Women, published this summer by the Magdala Center in Jerusalem, which is managed by the Legion of Christ,” Legionary Fr. Juan Solana, director of the Magdala Center, said in a statement Thursday.
On Tuesday, NCR reported that the booklet promoting the new $100 million center included a reflection by Solana on Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado — dismissed from ministry in 2006 by the Vatican after it was discovered he sexually abused seminarians and had fathered children — in which he compared the Legion founder to Mary Magdalene, the disciple of Jesus who was present at the cross where Jesus was crucified and the tomb after his resurrection.
“The priest speaks his heart,” wrote Solana in the booklet. “Marcial Maciel’s initials are also MM, just like Mary Magdalene. She had a problematic past before her deliverance, so there’s a parallel. Our world has double standards when it comes to morals. Some people have a formal, public display and then the real life they live behind the scenes.
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