The vicar general of the Legion of Christ is stepping down from his
post.
Instead, Fr Luis Garza will now take over the running of the
organization in North America.
“America and Canada are countries that I have always admired and I am
humbled to serve as territorial director of the united territory,” said
Fr. Garza in a statement issued to media July 15.
Only last month Fr. Garza told CNA
that he had no intention of stepping down from his post as vicar
general – essentially second-in-command of the Legion.
Instead, he
hinted that there may be a general turnover of the organization’s
leadership after their next General Chapter meeting.
Today’s news comes as the Vatican is reviewing both the purpose and
constitution of the Legion.
That process is being headed up by Italian
cleric, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis.
The cardinal was appointed as ‘Papal Delegate’ last year after a
Vatican investigation condemned the late founder of the congregation,
Fr. Marcial Maciel, as a being guilty of “serious and objectively
immoral behavior” as well as “real crimes.”
Fr. Maciel had sexually abused seminarians over many years and
fathered several children with different women. He died in 2008, aged
87. The Vatican report summed up his life as “devoid of scruples and of
genuine religious feeling.”
“We are working together to face the challenges for our communities
and our apostolates around the world, and with particular intensity in
the United States and Canada,” said Fr. Alvaro Corcuera, the general
director of the Legion.
“We must lay more solid foundations on which to build and re-launch our service to the Church in those countries.”
And so the Legion’s activities in North America that were previously
split into two territories – New York and Atlanta – will now merge into
one with Fr. Garza at the helm.
“In the consultation, various candidates were considered for the new
position. Although both of the current territorial directors have done
an extraordinary job, there was broad consensus in favor of Fr. Luis
Garza,” said Fr. Corcuera.
Fr. Garza is originally from Monterrey in Mexico. He joined the
Legion of Christ in 1978 and was ordained a priest in 1985.
He’s been
vicar general of the Legion since 1992.
His critics have suggested he
must have been aware of Fr. Maciel’s misdeeds, a charge Fr. Garza has
always denied.
He will take up his new post on August 1.