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Legion no. 1 admits he knew of us priest's child pre-2005,announces review of sex abuse cases by 123wert sdfsf
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Legion no. 1 admits he knew of us priest's child pre-2005,announces review of sex abuse cases by 123WERT SDFSF
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| Article Posted: 09/09/2013 |
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Legion no. 1 admits he knew of us priest's child pre-2005,announces review of sex abuse cases |
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VATICAN CITY – The head of the embattled Legion of Christ religious orderadmitted Tuesday to covering up news that his most prominent priesthad fathered a child and announced a review of all past allegationsof sexual abuse against Legion priests amid a growing scandal atthe order. The Rev. Alvaro Corcuera wrote a letter to all Legion members inwhich he admitted he knew before he became superior in 2005 thatthe Rev. Thomas Williams, a well-known American televisionpersonality, author and moral theologian, had fathered a child. Hesaid he had heard rumors of the child even before then when he wasrector but took Williams' word they weren't true.
Corcuera acknowledged that even after he confirmed Williams'paternity, he did nothing to prevent him from teaching morality toseminarians or preaching about ethics on television, in his manyspeaking engagements or his 14 books, including "Knowing Right fromWrong: A Christian Guide to Conscience." Williams, for example, was the keynote speaker at aLegion-affiliated women's conference just last month in the U.S. Williams admitted last week he had fathered the child after TheAssociated Press confronted the Legion with the allegation. In anew statement Tuesday, Williams said he had resisted his superiors'encouragement to keep a low profile after the allegations wereknown to them. "I foolishly thought that I had left this sin in my past, and thatI could make up for some of the wrong I had done by doing thegreatest good possible with the gifts God has given me. This was anerror in judgment, and yet another thing I must ask yourforgiveness for," he wrote, according to the text obtained by theAP.
Williams has not identified the mother or said whether he wassupporting the child or in any way involved in the child's life.The Legion has said the child is being cared for. Revelations of Williams' child have further eroded the Legion'scredibility and compounded the scandal at the order, which in 2009admitted that its late founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel hadsexually abused his seminarians and fathered three children withtwo women. Maciel, who founded the Legion in 1941 in Mexico, diedin 2008. The scandal is particularly grave given that Maciel was held up asa model for the faithful by Pope John Paul II, who was impressed bythe orthodox order's ability to attract money and young men to thepriesthood.
Maciel's double life, and the well-known problems ofthe cult-like order, have cast a shadow over John Paul's legacysince the Vatican knew of Maciel's crimes as early as 1950 yet heenjoyed the highest Vatican praise and access until he was finallysanctioned by Rome in 2006. In 2010, the Vatican took over the Legion after determining thatthe order itself had been contaminated by Maciel's influence andneeded to be "purified." The Vatican cited problems of the Legion'sculture, in which silence reigned and authority was abused, asbeing in need of reform, as well as the need for its constitutionsto be rewritten and its charism, or essential spirit, to bedefined. Following an AP investigation, the Legion on May 11 admitted thatseven priests were under Vatican investigation for allegedlysexually abusing minors, an indication that Maciel's crimes werenot his alone. Corcuera provided an update Tuesday, saying two ofthose cases had been dismissed, leaving five abuse-related casesunder investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of theFaith.
Another two priests are being investigated for other sacramentalviolations, believed to involve using confession or spiritualdirection to have inappropriate sexual relations with women. In his letter Tuesday, Corcuera announced that the Legion was goingto review all past cases of allegations of sexual abuse to ensurethat they were handled properly. Victims of Legion priests andcritics of the order have said there are many more cases of abuserswhich have been well-known to the leadership but covered up fordecades. "Are there other cases waiting to be discovered, more scandalsready to attack your faith and trust? I can never say for sure,"Corcuera wrote. "I can, however, tell you that we are following thelead of Pope Benedict XVI in dealing with abuse and sexualmisconduct in the Legion." Corcuera's letter is unlikely to stem the outrage among the membersof the Legion's lay branch Regnum Christi, for whom Williams was amajor point of reference in the United States and a top publicdefender of Maciel when the allegations of his crimes were leveledyears ago.
One month ago, Williams was the keynote speaker at Regnum Christi'sApril 18-21 annual national women's convention in Greenville, RhodeIsland, where he spoke about his 2010 book on Jesus. He wasscheduled to be the keynote speaker at another Regnum Christiwomen's conference in Michigan in October. Corcuera said he actually knew of the allegations against Williamsbefore he became superior in 2005, but took Williams' word thatthey weren't true. After becoming superior in 2005, he said helearned for sure of the child's existence and asked Williams tostart withdrawing from his public work. But only in 2010 did helimit Williams' work as a priest.
Williams, however, continued to write books, speak at conventions,author articles and, most significantly, teach morality toseminarians at the Legion's university in Rome. He only stoppedteaching in February, abruptly, after a Spanish association ofvictims of the Legion forwarded the allegations against Williams tothe Vatican. ___ Follow Nicole Winfield at /nwinfield. I am Security & Protection writer, reports some information about anti static brush , wholesale handbag distributor.
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