Good News from Madrid: World Youth Day

Friday, August 19, 2011

Good News from Madrid: World Youth Day

The controversies swirling about the Catholic Church all too easily obscure the hopeful signs we don't hear enough about.

World Youth Day is is a great worldwide encounter with the Pope which is celebrated every three years in a different country. This year it is being celebrated in Madrid from August 16th to 21st, 2011. The event is open to all young people who want to take part in a festive encounter with their contemporaries centered on Jesus Christ. I am heartened to see the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christ are active participants as they try to move past the scandal bequeathed to them by their deceased founder.

WYD organizers announced that a record number - 440,000 youth - signed up for the event. Among them are approximately 25,000 pilgrims from the U.S.

According to the Zenit new agency, the Pope will be hearing the confessions of several young people on Saturday morning, August 20 in the Jardines del Buen Retiro before celebrating a 10 a.m. Mass for seminarians. This is the first time that they’ve scheduled the Pope for the sacrament as part of the official itinerary.

The Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi members started a "Coffee House" in 2000 at the Rome World Youth Day during the Jubilee Year. Since then, it has been held at every World Youth Day, with 15,000 to 20,000 youth participating each time. This year, they have Priests, religious, and consecrated members from 17 different religious orders or movements who will be presenting their testimonies. In addition to 25 Catholic bands performing live music, there will be moments for prayer and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the attached chapel. Priests will be hearing confessions and offering spiritual direction round the clock. As an additional "background" support, cloistered nuns from 23 convents will be praying and offering up their own Eucharistic adoration for participants.

Regnum Christi, the lay movement of the Legionaries of Christ will have 2,600 youth from more than 20 countries participating in the 2011 World Youth Day celebration in Madrid. They will be accompanied by more than 200 Legionaries and a hundred consecrated women and men.

The concluding ceremony will be a Mass on Sunday morning at Cuatro Veintos Air Base. More than 1 million people are expected to attend. 745 bishops, 13,455 priests, and 4,585 seminarians are planning to be there. More than 60 U.S. Bishops will be participating in WYD Madrid.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...: So in other words, nothing has changed, and the LR/RC are still trolling for new victims.; August 19, 2011 at 2:44 PM
The Monk said...: Anonymous,

“The formative aspect of World Youth Day would be incomplete if we failed to remind young people that their faith remains incomplete unless they help others, unless they are generous, unless they try to do something about changing what they see is wrong,” said Yago de la Cierva, executive director of World Youth Day.

It seems to me that helping young people learn this lesson, while giving them the opportunity to see the Holy Father, attend the sacraments and meet hundreds of thousands of their international contemporaries has to be good.

To reduce such an extraordinary event to "nothing has changed" smacks of gross exaggeration. Maybe it's better to bring 2,600 committed youngsters to a truly "catholic" event than to spend time writing "negative" criticism.

I certainly have my concerns about the Legion and the "reform"... but I would remind you that the Pope still seems to want them to succeed. We've all made our points about what we think needs to change and we have our opinions on the pace of change....maybe a little attitude adjustment is in order. It's hard to fault LC/RC for their participation in World Youth Day.; August 19, 2011 at 3:47 PM
Anonymous said...: After seeing many young man experience hard core mental breakdowns through their contact with the LCs, I can´t see much good coming from their connecting with young people until they are completely fixed. One mental breakdown equals a lifetime of suffering and despair. I have personally met a breakdown survivor a few years later and he was a nervous wreck. They are direct results of LC "formation". I would love to be more "positive", but the way young people were used and thrown away involved criminal behavior. There are many LCs who should be sitting in jail and yet they are free to plunder souls and destroy lives. Once they are fixed (they are far from the goal), I would be happy to support them...regarding mental breakdowns they were having at least one per year on average at the Cheshire candidacy. There were more in the novitiate. As the Lord states, "it is better to place a millstone around your neck than to mislead one of these little ones..."; August 29, 2011 at 4:02 PM
Anonymous said...: I read this blog very infrequently; however, should read it more! Very entertaining... no matter what the author says, he really is an accomplished self-promoting, LC apologist .... very funny.; October 8, 2011 at 4:16 PM

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The story that inspired "Driving Straight on Crooked Lines"

“A long time ago, a Monk set out on his travels accompanied by his assistant, a Brother. Night was falling when the Monk told the Brother to go on ahead to find lodging. The Brother searched the deserted landscape until he found a humble shack, in the middle of nowhere. A poor family lived in the hovel. The mother, father and children were dressed in rags. The Brother asked if he and the Monk could spend the night in their dwelling. “You are most welcome to spend the night,” said the father of the family. They prepared a simple meal consisting of fresh milk, cheese and cream for the Brother and the Monk. The Brother felt moved by their poverty and even more by their simple generosity.

When they finished eating, the Monk asked them how they managed to survive in such a poor place, so far away from the nearest neighbors and town. The wife looked to her husband to answer. In a resigned tone of voice he told them how they managed to survive. ‘We have one cow. We sell her milk to our neighbors who do not live too far away. We hold back enough for our needs and to make some cheese and cream-that is what we eat.”

The next morning, the Brother and the Monk said their good-byes and set out to continue their journey. After the Monk and the Brother had walked a few miles, the Monk turned to the Brother and said, “Go back and push the cow off the cliff!” “Father,” the Brother replied, “they live off the cow. Without her, they will have nothing.” The Monk repeated his order “go back and kill the cow.”

With a heavy heart, the Brother returned to the hovel. He worried about the future of the family because he knew they depended on the cow to survive. His vow of obedience bound him to follow the orders of the wise Monk. He pushed the cow off the cliff.

Years later, the young Brother became a Monk. One day he found himself on the same road where he found lodging so many years ago. Driven by a sense of remorse he decided to visit the family. He rounded the curve in the road and to his surprise, he saw a splendid mansion, surrounded by landscaped gardens, in the place where the hovel used to be. The new house exuded a sense of prosperity and happiness. The Monk knocked on the door.

A well-dressed man answered. The Monk asked, “what ever became of the family who used to live here? Did they sell the property to you?” The man looked surprised and said he and his family had always lived on the property. The Monk told him how he had stayed in a hovel on the same spot, with his master the old Monk. ‘What happened to the family that lived here?” he asked.

The man invited the Monk to stay with him as his guest. While they ate, the host explained how the family’s fortune changed. “You know Father, we used to have a cow. She kept us alive. We didn't own anything else. One day she fell down the cliff and died. To survive, we had to start doing other things, develop skills we did not even know we had. We were forced to come up with new ways of doing things. It was the best thing that ever happened to us! We are now much better off than before.”

This is a blog of the memoirs of an Irishman - from Dublin - who is a former member of the Legion of Christ.

"Driving Straight on Crooked Lines: How an Irishman found his heart and nearly lost his mind" is available on Amazon.com and other outlets.

I look back at the events in the Legion that made me who I am today. It's a fun read with a serious message: positive change can come from adversity.

When I first heard the story of the Monk and the cow, my job - a job I truly loved - was eliminated at the multinational corporation which employed me. My cow was taken away from me, through no fault of my own. The person who told me the story was suggesting I could find new peace, happiness and financial well-being in my adversity, just as the family did when the Monk stole the cow.

A few years later, revelations about the double life of Fr. Marcial Maciel the Founder of the Legionaries of Christ, killed another cow in my life and in the lives of tens of thousands of people.

There is a Spanish saying: "God writes straight on crooked lines". "My Legionary Life" is about trying to not get lost in the crooked lines of our own - or others - making. It is about discovering the straight lines that reveal the true purpose for which we exist.

It is the the story of the first Irish Legionary of Christ to set foot in Mexico. It begins in Dublin, Ireland, passes through Spain, then Mexico, Italy, the U.S.A and Gabon, in Central West Africa.

When I am not writing, I make a living as an international managment consultant.

The Monk who Stole the Cow

Friday, August 19, 2011