Legionary Father Luis Garza was appointed director of the Legion of
Christ’s newly combined North American territory July 15.
He had served
as the congregation’s vicar general, No. 2 in the congregation’s
hierarchy under the general director and founder Father Marcial Maciel
from 1992-2005 and Father Alvaro Corcuera from 2005-2011.
Born in Monterrey, Mexico, Father Garza attended the Legion’s primary
and secondary schools in Mexico before earning an undergraduate degree
in engineering at Stanford University.
In Rome, he received licenciates
in theology and philosophy and a doctorate in canon law.
Father Garza will oversee the newly combined Atlanta and Thornwood,
N.Y., territories into one North American territory.
He remains a
consultor to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy; he was appointed
to that five-year position by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.
In his role with the once pre-eminent congregation that now faces
demands for radical reform in the wake of revelations that for decades
Father Maciel led a double life, Father Garza has managed the
considerable logistical and personnel challenges generated by the
scandal’s impact on the Legion and Regnum Christi.
Throughout the years since the scandal broke, Father Garza and other
members of the congregation have been accused of ignoring credible
allegations against the founder, while demonizing the victims who came
forward over the years.
In a July 19 interview with Register senior editor Joan Frawley
Desmond, Father Garza offers a startling portrait of his relationship
with Father Maciel.
The granting of this interview reflects Legionary
efforts to increase transparency but it will likely raise more questions
than it resolves.
For example, Father Garza says that he didn’t
question the founder’s innocence until almost the very end.
Also
troubling is Father Garza’s revelation that as yet, there has been no
investigation to determine who may have known about and thereby been at
minimum complicit with Father Maciel in his double life.
When, precisely, did you know about Father Marcial Maciel’s record of sexual abuse?
There had been accusations in the press since the 1990s. The Holy See
issued a communiqué in May 2006 that was more shocking. In fact, a
month before, the Holy See communicated to us that the founder was found
guilty of the charges against him. I didn’t believe that, I am sorry to
say.
In June 2006, there was the appearance of a lady with whom Father
[Maciel] had a child. At that time, I decided to do an investigation of
my own, and by September of that year, I was sure he had fathered a
child. Little by little, more evidence came in. By 2008, we had most of
the picture.
Some have called for your resignation. Have you offered it?
After the 2005 general chapter [assembly of all members of the
congregation], when Father Alvaro Corcuera took Father Maciel’s place, I
told him that I was thinking about resigning.
Given Father Maciel’s
issues, we decided it would be better for me to stay on. Again, in 2009,
I presented a letter of resignation to Father Alvaro, and he asked me
not to resign during the ongoing investigation and visitation.
When Cardinal [Velasio] De Paolis was appointed the papal delegate, I
offered to resign, but he asked me to stay on and help. I told him,
“I’m ready whenever you want me to leave my post.”
A month ago, the idea
about moving to the U.S. came up, and I agreed to go.
Shouldn’t you have known about Father Maciel’s crimes and double life? It’s hard to understand how you and other leaders completely missed or ignored the inevitable red flags.
What you cannot understand is that I never really dealt in a personal
manner with Father Maciel.
I just went in every two weeks to do my job —
to present issues to him.
Then I would leave.
I never knew where he
went.
He never allowed anyone to enter his life.
I didn’t even have his
cell phone number.
I was 40 years younger. He was the founder. He didn’t allow me to go
into his personal life.
He would tell those working more closely with
him, “Don’t tell anyone what you do with me.”
I visited the motherhouse of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, when Mother Teresa was still alive. She prayed with all the sisters in the chapel, and she would be the last to get up from her knees after Mass. That is normal behavior for a founder. Father Maciel’s behavior is not normal. Critics would call the inability to act on such puzzling behavior a form of blind faith.
After years and years of revering the founder, and the Holy See praising him, we accepted it.
What are some key changes in the Legion’s religious formation that are designed to transform the environment that enabled the founder’s behavior?
Liberty of conscience: the capacity to be healthily critical of what
you see and hear. The Holy See asked us to abolish the private vow of
not criticizing superiors. Members no longer go to confession with
superiors.
What are your most urgent priorities as the new director of the Legion’s U.S. territory?
My first priority is meeting and working with Legionaries and members
of Regnum Christi.
We need to rekindle enthusiasm so that we can serve
the Church in the task of the New Evangelization. They are our treasure.
I need to see how they are doing and help them develop their personal
holiness.
In the past, we were in a growing-and-developing period, moving into
new territories and countries.
We were enthusiastic, doing a lot of work
for the Church, and we were happy about it.
We were part of a big tide
of New Evangelization.
But now, following the revelations about our founder, we have come to
a new level of self-understanding and analysis, leading to a realistic
and humble understanding that sees our efforts not as the work of man,
but of God.
It’s good to grow, but our spirit needs to be different and more
focused on Christ. This period of reflection can be seen as a “low
point,” but it’s also a high point, because it will help purify our
efforts.
Given your long history in the Legion leadership, how do you plan to repair the order’s credibility — and your own — with the U.S. bishops?
Credibility is something you earn. I hope to beg their patience.
We
want to do things in a manner that will allow them to give us advice and
feedback to correct our ways.
New protocols have already been adopted.
Now, the papal delegate is
directing our efforts and the analysis of our institutional life.
Any
future problems that arise will be addressed with his assistance.
Why are there no Americans on the three international commissions dealing with the congregation?
I don’t know, to be very frank.
The members were picked by Cardinal
Velasio De Paolis, the papal delegate. Father [Anthony] Bannon is a
member of one commission, and while he was born in Ireland, he knows the
American mentality and created much of the development and growth in
the U.S.
The commission dealing with victims is composed of Mexicans and Spaniards because the victims were from those countries.
In Rome, at the Center for Higher Studies, our major seminary, two of
the three directors of the seminary are Americans, Father Joseph Burtka
and Father Timothy Mulcahey,
The general counsel of the Legion [an advisory board with additional
responsibility to set policy] is composed of four people from Spain,
Mexico, Ireland and America.
The cardinal appointed two more members of
the counsel from Spain.
What is the charism of the Legion of Christ?
We have a deep, Christ-centered spirituality, enthusiastic, directed
to families and youth.
We live a liturgy that is traditional and joyful.
We have a disciplined life — more like monks more than normal priests.
We have a deeply rooted community life.
That is all part of the
patrimony.
From an apostolic point of view: We are here in the Church today to
form lay apostles to put them at the service of the Church as real
apostles of the New Evangelization, with the goal of confronting secular
culture. We do education, youth and family activity, always with the
idea of promoting lay leadership.
We have dismantled everything to analyze it better and see if it’s
good and worthy as we move forward. In 2010, the Holy Father said we
need to rediscover how to put our work at the service of Christ. Most
Legionaries give a lot of value to this.
You once vowed, “If it turns out that anyone culpably
cooperated in [Father Maciel’s] misdeeds, we will act according to the
principles of Christian justice and charity, holding these people
responsible for their actions.”
Has anyone been held responsible? Are any investigations pending at this point?
The internal investigation — as far as establishing the actual
responsibility of individuals other than the founder — has not taken
place yet.
From the press, there have been generic accusations, but
there haven’t been formal accusations.
The papal delegate is still thinking about this.
He is a jurist and
canon lawyer, and from a legal point of view, he needs a credible
accusation to begin an investigation.
The cardinal may be waiting for a better time to do it.
We have
spoken with him about it, both personally and publicly — in meetings of
the general counsel.
If this is not clarified, the Legion’s credibility
will be at stake.