The papal delegate for the Legion of Christ, Cardinal Velasio De
Paolis, is exhorting members of the order to embrace the will of God as
their renewal process moves forward.
In a letter dated Dec. 10, Cardinal De Paolis explained that the work
of revising the Legion's constitution “demands interior freedom and
discernment, so that we can follow the will of God. Our own ideas are
not what should prevail or what will ensure success,” he said.
This process entails “heeding the will of God, in the school of the
Church, in order to correctly re-read the history of the institute and
of each one’s vocation.” The cardinal said that in doing so, the “best
choices” will be made “according to God’s design.”
He then thanked those who have collaborated in the Legion's renewal
process and offered his gratitude to those who have worked to foster a
climate of “fraternity and trust, offering forgiveness, when necessary,
as children of God in imitation of their heavenly Father.”
He called the revision of the Legion’s constitution “a work of
extreme importance, which requires the active participation of all, each
according to his means and proper role.”
The commission charged with revising the constitution will be made up
of the papal delegate
and two advisers, Fr. Gianfranco Ghirlanda and
Fr. Agostino Montan, who are both experts in consecrated life.
Their results will be sent to the Vatican for approval.
“The Lord will enter into us to take possession of our lives to the
degree that we open the doors of our hearts to him,” he said.
“Thus the
Kingdom of Christ will be established in our hearts and in the life of
the Legion, and thus it will truly be the Legion of Christ,” he
concluded.
The religious congregation is trying to recover from revelations that
its founder, Fr. Marcel Maciel, sexually abused seminarians and
fathered several children.
The discovery led to questions—and an
apostolic visitation ordered by Pope Benedict—about whether the charism
and formation process of the order were affected by the founder.
Cardinal De Paolis was appointed July 9, 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI to oversee the renewal of the religious order.