Any and all opinions, experiences, and interactions with this order of priests are highly appreciated. Have your sons and daughters participated in ECYD? Conquest?
I know several friends who are members. One very holy Catholic couple has a son who is a Holy Priest in this order. He is very strong and devout. Knowing his parents, we had the immense honor of taking part in a privately offered Holy Mass in the home of a friend lately. He offered this as a Traditional Latin Mass out of respect for the homeowner who is also a relative of his. It was stunningly beautiful. He also blessed our kids. I also know a woman who is a lay consecrated woman in Regnum Christi. She was involved in a Catholic college for young adults which I attended after my conversion, that was about ten years ago. This lady is equally wonderful, and has a very devout faith and she is a strong missionary simply through her faith. My kids are too young to have participated in ECYD. I think the whole order has been purified after the affairs around its founder. It is a very holy order, as far as I can see.
Well, FP, since I have two sons in the Legionaries and have actively participated in the associated Regnum Christi Movement, I will jump in and comment. My family became involved in the RCM in 1994 for several reasons: it's formation model was excellent, providing local men's and women's teams for mutual support; avenues for outreach apostolates; spiritual direction was included. For 12 years this enabled my family to grow in our faith in a way that reflected the call of the Vatican II document on the Laity, Apostolicam Actuositatem. And, yes, we personally encountered Father Maciel at a national convention in St. Louis; he provided my family with a priestly blessing. Three of our sons, Benjamin, Patrick, and Christopher, considered the priesthood within the Order. Christopher discerned not to continue, though he did commit to two years in lay apostolate with youth via Conquest (he was a natural) before going to college at Ave Maria in Florida. My two daughters, Rachel and Therese, after high school, each committed to a year of lay ministry under the direction of the Consecrated Women in St. Louis and Rhode Island, respectively; then went to college. The horror of the scandal prompted the Vatican to seriously consider disbanding the Order, but Pope Benedict decided to carry out a reformation instead. In the reorganization which took almost 8 years to complete, the Legion pulled back from direct involvement in the Syracuse area, so Geralyn and I are no longer involved. Fr. Kermit remained my spiritual director up until 2018. I miss him. I will always honor Pope Benedict, who presented a model of rehabilitation, which the Church has generally ignored in dealing with other wayward priests around the world. Over 100 were either laicized, or dismissed from the order during that reformation; some decided to become diocesan priests. But the Legionaries have moved on and provide wonderful support to the Church, here in the States and elsewhere. Thanks be to God.
Thanks for both of your input. I had no experience with RC until last year and don't know anything about the founder or scandals. But I'm very impressed with this order. Yesterday we went to RC day and all the local RC priests participated in a special Mass. Mario, your son was the emcee and asked my son to do one of the prayers of the faithful. At the Mass there were some lay people who dedicated (aligned?) themselves to the Regnum Christi movement, which was very interesting to me and I'm trying to learn more about that. Our son has been doing Conquest and ECYD (I guess it's the 50th anniversary of the ECYD as well) for about a year now and just loves it. Yesterday was so impressive with the holiness of the priests and the order that I'm prompted to learn more about it, so that's why I asked. Thanks for the great info
