CAN YOU SPOT A DESTRUCTIVE CULT?
Understanding cults and cult
methods
Legion of Christ as an
example
We have for many years labeled some organizations
like The Legionaries of Christ as cults and yet defended other organizations
like Opus Dei as good Catholic Movements.
Opus Dei has many enemies and there are many web sites slandering them a
destructive cult, and yet, I have looked deep into their methods and teachings
and find them to be open, loyal to the Church, and producing just what they
were founded to do ---- lay saints.
The
Legion, on the other hand, fails in every test of a destructive cult. Creating a cult with loyal members who give
up everything for the leader, including money, family, free work and even their
lives is very easy today. The methods
were developed by the Communists under Stalin using the Pavlov method. Then expanded by the Communist Koreans using
hypnotism. Then expanded again by the
CIA using subliminal messages, drugs,
temperature, sound, information control and mass manipulation.
To
prevent yourself from falling into a religious, political or social cult, you
must educate yourself in these methods.
We have shown some of them in the section on this web site called
"Remnants of Communism" where we show that the so-called
"sciences" of Psychology and Psychiatry are destructive in
themselves. We will offer more in the
future. Below is the best description
of cult methods we have ever read.
On Mental Reprogramming - Also
Known As Brainwashing
Richard Sutphen, a noted Hypnotist and author
of New Age topics, at a talk at the World Congress of Professional Hypnotists
Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, regarding brainwashing, stated Mr. Sutphen:
Although I've been interviewed about the subject on many local and
regional radio and TV talk shows, large-scale mass communication appears to be
blocked, since it could result in suspicion or investigation of the very media
presenting it or the sponsors that support the media. Some government
agencies do not want this information generally known. Nor do the Born-Again
Christian movement, cults, and many human-potential trainings.
Everything I
will relate only exposes the surface of the problem. I don't know how the
misuse of these techniques can be stopped. I don't think it is possible to
legislate against that which often cannot be detected; and if those who
legislate are using these techniques, there is little hope of affecting laws to
govern usage. I do know that the first step to initiate change is to generate
interest. In this case, that will probably only result from an underground
effort.
In talking about this subject, I am talking about my own
business. I know it, and I know how effective it can be. I produce hypnosis and
subliminal tapes and, in some of my seminars, I use conversion
tactics to assist participants to become independent and self-sufficient. But, anytime I use these techniques, I point
out that I am using them, and those attending have a choice to participate or
not. They also know what the desired result of participation will be.
So,
to begin, I want to state the most basic of all facts about brainwashing: Those
who have been brainwashed will usually passionately defend their manipulators,
claiming they have simply been "shown the light" . . . or have been
transformed in miraculous ways.
Of
course, there is truth in that statement and manifestation is typically
observed in cults, religious fanaticism within the mainstream of
established Churches, and psychologically induced
"Conversions".
(Psychological) CONVERSION is a
"nice" word for BRAINWASHING . . . and any study of brainwashing
has to begin with a study of Christian revivalism in eighteenth century
America. Apparently, Jonathan Edwards accidentally discovered the techniques
during a religious crusade in 1735 in Northampton, Massachusetts. By inducing
guilt and acute apprehension and by increasing the tension, the
"sinners" attending his revival meetings would break down and
completely submit.
Once a preacher, cult leader, manipulator
or authority figure creates the brain phase to wipe the brain-slate clean, his subjects
are wide open. New input, in the form of suggestion, can be substituted for
their previous ideas.
Charles J. Finney was another Christian
revivalist who used the same techniques four years later in mass religious conversions
in New York. The techniques are still being used today by Christian revivalists,
cults, human-potential trainings, some business rallies, and the United States
Armed Services . . . to name just a few.
Let me point out here that
I don't think most revivalist preachers realize or know they are using
brainwashing techniques. Edwards simply
stumbled upon a technique that really worked.
The Three Brain Phases
We have to
look to Pavlov, the Russian scientist, for a technical explanation. In the
early 1900s, his work with animals opened the door to further investigations with
humans. After the revolution in Russia, Lenin was quick to see the potential of
applying Pavlov's research to his own ends.
The way to achieve conversion are many and varied, but the usual
first step in religious or political brainwashing is to work on the emotions of
an individual or group until they reach an abnormal level of anger, fear,
excitement, or nervous tension.
The progressive result of this
mental condition is to impair judgment and increase suggestibility. The more
this condition can be maintained or intensified, the more it compounds. Once...
the first brain phase is reached, the complete mental takeover becomes easier. Existing
mental programming can be replaced with new patterns of thinking and behavior.
Other often-used physiological weapons to modify normal brain
functions are (severe) fasting, radical or high sugar diets, (severe)
physical discomforts, regulation of breathing, mantra chanting in meditation,
the (orchestrated) disclosure of awesome mysteries, special lighting and sound
effects, programmed response to incense, or intoxicating drugs.
The same results can be obtained in contemporary psychiatric
treatment by electric shock treatments and even by purposely lowering a
person's blood sugar level with insulin injections.
Before I talk about exactly how some
of the techniques are applied, I want to point out that hypnosis and
conversion
tactics are two distinctly different things--and that
conversion techniques are far more powerful. However, the two are often
mixed . . . with powerful results.
How Revivalist Preachers Work
If you'd
like to see a revivalist preacher at work, there are probably several in your
city. Go to the church or tent early and sit in the rear, about three-quarters
of the way back. Most likely repetitive music will be played while the people come
in for the service. A repetitive beat, ideally ranging from 45 to 72 beats per
minute (a rhythm close to the beat of the human heart), is very hypnotic and
can generate an eyes-open altered state of consciousness in a very high
percentage of people. And, once you are in an alpha state, you are at least 25
times as suggestible as you would be in full beta consciousness.
Watch the people waiting for the service to begin. Many will
exhibit external signs of trance--body relaxation and slightly dilated eyes.
Often, they begin swaying back and forth with their hands in the air while
sitting in their chairs. Next, the assistant pastor will probably come out. He
usually speaks with a pretty good "voice roll."
Voice
Roll Technique
A "voice roll" is a patterned, paced style used by
hypnotists when inducing a trance. It is also used by many lawyers, several
of whom are highly trained hypnotists, when they desire to entrench a point
firmly in the minds of the jurors. A voice roll can sound as if the speaker
were talking to the beat of a metronome or it may sound as though he were emphasizing
every word in a monotonous, patterned style. The words will usually be
delivered at the rate of 45 to 60 beats per minute, maximizing the
hypnotic effect.
Now the assistant pastor begins the
"build-up" process. He induces an altered state of consciousness
and/or begins to
generate the excitement and the expectations of the
audience.... And the result is the
audience's attention span is now totally focused upon the communication while
the environment becomes more exciting or tense.
Right about this time, when an eyes-open mass-induced alpha mental
state has been achieved, they will usually pass the collection plate or basket.
In the background, a 45-beat-per-minute voice roll from the assistant preacher
might exhort, "Give to God . . . Give to God . . . Give to God . . ."
And the audience does give....
Next,
the fire-and-brimstone preacher will come out. He induces fear and increases
the tension by talking about "the devil," "going to hell,"
or the forthcoming Armegeddon....
The techniques and staging will
vary from church to church. The use of hypnotic techniques by religions is sophisticated,
and professionals are assuring that they become even more effective....
Powerful sound and the proper use of lighting are of primary importance in
inducing an altered state of consciousness--I've (Mr. Sutphen) been using them
for years in my own seminars. However, my participants are fully aware of the
process and what they can expect as a result of their participation.
>
Six Conversion Techniques
Cults and human-potential organizations are always looking for new
converts. To attain them, they must also create a brain-phase. And they often
need to do it within a short space of time--a weekend, or maybe even a day. The
following are the six primary techniques used to generate the conversion.
First
[A] The meeting or training takes place in an area
where participants are cut off from the outside world. This may be any place: a
private home, a remote or rural setting...
[B] In human-potential
trainings, the controllers will give a lengthy talk about the importance of
"keeping agreements" in life...
The participants vow to themselves and their trainer that they will keep
their agreements. Anyone who does not will be intimidated into agreement or
forced to leave.
[C] The next step is to agree to complete
training, thus assuring a high percentage of
conversions for the organizations. They will USUALLY have to agree
not to take drugs, smoke, and sometimes not to eat . . . The real reason for
the agreements is to alter internal chemistry, which generates anxiety and
hopefully causes at least a slight malfunction of the nervous system, which in
turn increases the conversion potential.
[D]
Before the gathering is complete, the agreements will be used to ensure that
the new converts go out and find new participants. They are intimidated into
agreeing to do so before they leave. ... The new converts are zealots. In fact,
the inside term for merchandising the largest and most successful human-
potential training is, "sell it by zealot!"
At least a
million people are graduates and a good percentage have been left with a mental
activation button that assures their future loyalty and assistance if the guru
figure or organization calls. Think about the potential political (or
religious) implications of hundreds of thousands of zealots programmed to
campaign for their guru.
Be wary of an organization of this type
that offers follow-up sessions after the seminar. Follow-up sessions might be weekly
meetings or inexpensive seminars given on a regular basis which the
organization will attempt to talk you into taking--or any regularly scheduled
event used to maintain control. As the early Christian revivalists found,
long-term control is dependent upon a good follow-up system.
Second:
Let's look
at the second tip-off that indicates conversion tactics are being used. A
schedule is maintained that causes physical and mental fatigue. This is
primarily accomplished by long hours in which the participants are given no
opportunity for relaxation or reflection.
Third:
Techniques
used to increase the tension in the room or environment.
Four:
Uncertainty.
I could spend hours relating various techniques to increase tension and
generate uncertainty. Basically, the
participants are concerned about being "put on the spot" or
encountered by the trainers, guilt feelings are played upon,... So you can imagine the fear and tension this
situation generates within the participants...
They literally go into an alpha state, which automatically makes them
many times as suggestible as they normally are...
Fifth:
The fifth
clue that conversion tactics are being used is the introduction of jargon--new
terms that have meaning only to the "insiders" who participate.
Sixth:
The final
tip-off is that there is no humor in the communications . . . at least
until the participants are converted. Then, merry-making and humor are highly
desirable as symbols of the new joy the participants have supposedly
"found."
FINAL WARNINGS
Cult
gatherings or human-potential trainings are an ideal environment to observe
first-hand what is technically called the
"Stockholm Syndrome."
This is a situation in which those who are intimidated, controlled, or made to
suffer, begin to love, admire, and even sometimes sexually desire their
controllers or captors.
But let me inject a word of warning
here: If you think you can attend such gatherings and not be affected, you are
probably wrong. ... The only hope of attending such gatherings without being
affected is to... allow no positive or negative emotions to surface. Few
people are capable of such detachment.
Before
I go on, let's go back to the six tip-offs to conversion. I want to mention the
United States Government and military boot camp. The Marine Corps talks about
breaking men down before "rebuilding" them as new men--as marines!
Well, that is exactly what they do, the same way a cult breaks its people down
and rebuilds them as happy flower sellers on your local street corner...
Understanding the Decognition Process
[Psychologically breaking down an individual]
Once the
initial conversion is effected, cults, armed services, and similar groups
cannot have cynicism among their members. Members must respond to commands and
do as they are told, otherwise they are dangerous to the organizational control.
This is normally accomplished in a three step Decognition Process.
Step
One is ALERTNESS REDUCTION: The controllers cause the nervous system to
malfunction, making it difficult to distinguish between fantasy and reality.
Step Two is PROGRAMMED CONFUSION: You are mentally assaulted while
your alertness is being reduced as in Step One. ... During this phase of recognition,
reality and illusion often merge and perverted logic is likely to be accepted.
Step Three is THOUGHT STOPPING: Techniques are used to cause the
mind to go "flat."... It is important to be aware that when members
or participants are instructed to use "thought-stopping" techniques,
they are told that they will benefit by so doing: they will become "better
soldiers" or "find enlightenment."
Movements
of the Masses
Mass
Movements will usually have a charismatic leader. The followers want to convert
others to their way of living or impose a new way of life -- if necessary, by
legislating laws forcing others to their view ... This means enforcement by
guns or punishment, for that is the bottom line in law enforcement.
A
common hatred, an enemy, is essential to the success of a mass movement. ...
True Believers are mentally unbalanced or insecure people, or those without
hope or friends. People don't look for allies when they love, but they do
when they hate or become obsessed with a cause. And those who desire a new
life and a new order feel the old ways must be eliminated before the new order
can be built.
Subliminal Programming
Subliminals are hidden suggestions that
only your subconscious perceives. They can be audio, hidden behind music, or visual,
airbrushed into a picture, flashed on a screen so fast that you don't
consciously see them, or cleverly incorporated into a picture or design.
Most
audio subliminal reprogramming tapes offer verbal suggestions recorded at a low
volume. ...but this is not quite satisfactory... My attorney obtained copies of
the patents which I gave to some talented Hollywood sound engineers, asking
them to create a new technique. ...using this technique, there is no way to
...detect the subliminals. In other words, although the suggestions are being
heard by the subconscious mind, they cannot be monitored with even the most
sophisticated equipment.
If we were able to come up with this
technique as easily as we did, I can only imagine how sophisticated the
technology has become, with unlimited government or advertising funding.
The
big question about subliminals is: do they work? A 1984 article in the
technical newsletter, "Brain-Mind Bulletin," states that as much as
99 percent of our cognitive activity may be "non-conscious,"
according to the director of the Laboratory for Cognitive Psychophysiology at
the University of Illinois.
Mass Misuse
I have
personally experienced sitting in a Los Angeles auditorium with over ten thousand
people who were gathered to listen to a current charismatic figure. Twenty
minutes after entering the auditorium, I became aware that I was going in and
out of an altered state. Those accompanying me experienced the same thing... By
careful observation, what appeared to be spontaneous demonstrations were, in fact,
artful manipulations. The only way I could figure that the eyes-open trance had
been induced was that a 6- to 7-cycle-per- second vibration was being piped
into the room behind the air conditioner sound. That particular vibration generates
alpha, which would render the audience highly susceptible. Ten to 25 percent of
the population is capable of a somnambulistic level of altered states of
consciousness; for these people, the suggestions of the speaker, if non-threatening,
could potentially be accepted as "commands".
EXTRA LOW FREQUENCY WAVES
Now, let's carry this awareness a little farther. There are also
inaudible ELFs (extra-low frequency waves). These are electromagnetic in
nature. One of the primary uses of ELFs is to communicate with our submarines.
Dr. Andrija Puharich, a highly respected researcher, in an attempt to warn U.S.
officials about Russian use of ELFs, set up an experiment.
Volunteers
were wired so their brain waves could be measured on an EEG. They were sealed
in a metal room that could not be penetrated by a normal signal.
Puharich
then beamed ELF waves at the volunteers. ELFs go right through the earth and,
of course, right through metal walls. Those inside couldn't know if the signal
was or was not being sent. And Puharich watched the reactions on the technical
equipment: 30 percent of those inside the room were taken over by the ELF
signal in six to ten seconds.
Waves below 6 cycles per second caused
the subjects to become very emotionally upset, and even disrupted bodily
functions. At 8.2 cycles, they felt very high... an elevated feeling, as though
they had been in masterful meditation, learned over a period of years. Eleven
to 11.3 cycles induced waves of depressed agitation leading to riotous
behavior.
The Neurophone
Dr. Patrick Flanagan is a personal friend
of mine. In the early 1960s, as a teenager, Pat was listed as one of the top scientists
in the world by "Life" magazine. Among his many inventions was a
device he called the Neurophone--an electronic instrument that can successfully
program suggestions directly through contact with the skin. When he
attempted to patent the device, the government demanded that he prove it
worked. When he did, the National Security Agency confiscated the neurophone.
It took Pat two years of legal battle to get his invention back. (We are
leaving out the details of this very disturbing method of mind control.)
The
more we find out about how human beings work through today's highly advanced technological research, the more we learn to
control human beings. And what probably scares me the most is that the medium
for takeover is already in place! The television set in your living room
and bedroom (and the computer) are doing a lot more than just entertaining (and
serving) you.
Before I continue, let me point out something else
about an altered state of consciousness. When you go into an altered state, you
transfer into right brain, which results in the internal release of the body's
own opiates: enkephalins and Beta-endorphins, chemically almost identical to
opium. In other words, it feels good . . . and you want to come back for more.
Recent tests by researcher
Herbert Krugman showed that, while viewers were watching TV,... the viewers were in an altered state . . .
in trance more often than not. They were getting their Beta-endorphin
"fix."
The medium for takeover is here. By the
age of 16, children have spent 10,000 to 15,000 hours watching television--that
is more time than they spend in school! In the average home, the TV set is on
for six hours and 44 minutes per day--an increase of nine minutes from last
year and three times the average rate of increase during the 1970s.
It
obviously is not getting better . . . we are rapidly moving into an alpha-level
world--very possibly the Orwellian world -- placid, glassy-eyed, and responding
obediently to instructions.
A
research project by Jacob Jacoby, a Purdue University psychologist, found that
of 2,700 people tested, 90 percent misunderstood even such simple viewing fare
as commercials and "Barnaby Jones." Only minutes after watching, the
typical viewer missed 23 to 36 percent of the questions about what he or she
had seen. Of course they did--they were going in and out of trance! If you go
into a deep trance, you must be instructed to remember--otherwise you
automatically forget.
When you
start to combine subliminal messages behind the music, subliminal visuals
projected on the screen, hypnotically produced visual effects, sustained
musical beats at a trance-inducing pace . . . you have extremely effective
brainwashing. Every hour
that you spend watching the TV set you become more conditioned. And, in case you thought there was a law
against any of these things, guess again. There is not! There are a lot of
powerful people who obviously prefer things exactly the way they are. Maybe
they have plans for us.
The Legion of Christ as a cult-like
organization
Rev. Peter Cronin, Pastor St. Michael's RC Parish
Email to Pat Kenny, host of Ireland's
"The Pat Kenny Show"
"I
am a Catholic priest, the pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Church, a large
Catholic parish in Silver Spring MD, just outside Washington D.C. Last week I
was in Ireland for a wedding and heard some comments on your radio program
concerning the Legion of Christ. This got my attention as I spent a long period
of time in the order, from 1965 to 1985.
In 1965 at the tender age of 16 I finished the Leaving Certificate at Drimnagh
Castle and, with some 20 others, joined the Legionaries who were then at Belgard
Castle in Clondalkin.
The postulancy ran through the summer months after which we entered the
novitiate (two years) and then took our religious vows. I was sent to Salamanca
in Spain for a year to study the classics and Spanish and from there to Rome
for studies of philosophy. After three years in Rome I was assigned to the
Irish Institute, a Legionary school in Mexico, where I worked from 1971 to
1975. I then returned to Rome and studied theology for the next three years. In
1979 I was assigned to the novitiate in Connecticut where I continued working
at the novitiate until the summer of 1985 when I left the Legionaries of
Christ. I am now a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington.
The question at the center of the discussion I heard on your program seemed to
be whether the Legion was a religious order in the normal sense of the word or
a sect. In my own experience the order combines elements of both realities . It
is an extremely conservative order which has modeled the formation
program for its students on the early Jesuits and much of its apostolate is
copied from Opus Dei. It has a Constitution and Rules, specific apostolates and
activities such as other orders have.
At the same time the Legion uses many of the strategies and policies more characteristic
of sects or cults and in this it parts company with mainstream religious
congregations of the Church. Let me give some examples.
1. The order has the most high-powered
recruiting program known to the Catholic Church. Numbers of recruits are
important, seen as proof of the validity of the Legion and a way of impressing
authorities in the Church. However, the screening process is minimal, and there
is no true discernment of a vocation, of whether this way of life is good
or healthy for the given individual. The good – human, psychological or
spiritual – of the candidate is never a consideration. Everybody has a vocation
to the Legion until the Legion decides otherwise. Once the order gains access
to a young person, all its powers of persuasion and attraction are trained on
the unwitting target.
2. The Legion recruits many young
people, the younger the better, in their mid teens for the novitiate,
even earlier for their Vocation Centers. In these schools boys as young as 11
and 12 are influenced and guided toward a life in the Legion. These schools
exist at least in Mexico, Spain and the U.S. (Center Harbor New Hampshire). The
idea is to influence the person as early as possible, to “form” that person in
the spirit of the Legion so that no other influence can distort or stain his
vocation and ‘legionary personality”. He must be removed from any other
influence. The youthfulness and immaturity of the candidate make him vulnerable
to brainwashing.
3. Once in the order the person is subjected
to the most intensive “formation” program, i.e. brainwashing. The Legion’s
term for this is ‘formation’. Brainwashing is brought about by a
combination of different elements which influence and control the person with
great effectiveness: for example, ‘spiritual direction’ and ‘confession’. Canon
Law states that seminarians and religious should have complete freedom to
choose a confessor and spiritual director. In the Legion that is not the case,
there is no freedom at all: all Legionaries have spiritual direction and
confession with their Superiors, in the novitiate, through their years of
formation and even as priests. This is an aberration because it places the
person completely in the control of the superior. It means that that superior
who recommends or not a person for promotion to vows or orders or positions of
responsibility in the order has access to the internal conscience of the person
in question. Confession and spiritual direction are essentially tools in the
hands of the Legion to brainwash the individuals to stay in the Legion, to
convince them that they have a vocation from God to the Legion, to conform
totally with the Legion and the wishes of the superiors, and a way in which the
Legion gains total access to the conscience and mind of the person. Legionaries
are constantly exhorted to tell the superior/ spiritual director everything ,
to hold back nothing, to have no secrets. Other tools of ‘brainwashing’ are the
continuous series of conferences, talks, retreats, exhortations that the communities
constantly receive and which repeat and reinforce the essential message.
In all this, the basic message, the bottom line, is that the members
have a ‘Vocation’ to the Legion and this vocation is from God and they have
received this vocation from all eternity. It is God’s will that they are in the
Legion. If they are not faithful to their vocation they are endangering their
eternal salvation, they risk damnation and hell. This message is a constant
drumbeat throughout life in the Legion, perhaps the most consistent and
all-pervasive ritornello that is communicated and repeated in many different
ways.
4. From the moment he joins, a person
in the Legion of Christ is submitted to total control in everything he does,
everything he says, everything he thinks. The Legion refers to this as
‘integration’ and a Legionary must strive to achieve perfect integration of
behavior, of mind and of will. This means conformity with the will of the
Legion in everything. He must be transformed into the legionary personality and
to do this must lose his own personality. All forms and expressions of
‘individualism’ must be stamped out. this is stressed from the very
beginning. However, it is done in a subtle way, very gently at first, with
smile and good humor, barley noticeable to the victim.
5. When we joined the Legion we thought
it was a mainstream order like the Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits…We were
deceived in that many things were not disclosed to us until a later date. There
was always a shroud of secrecy – visits home, the apostolate of the Legion
(Regnum Christi…). The ground was constantly shifting and changing. It would
take years before we would get the full picture.
6. The person who joins the legion is
systematically separated and distanced from any other influence,
especially from family, culture, the wider church and society (‘the
world’). People outside the legion are referred to as ‘outsiders’, they are
viewed with the utmost distrust, communication with them is monitored and
usually discouraged (except when the Legion is trying to attract them for the
aims of the order. Legionaries are forbidden to communicate with outsiders and
must report on conversations and any dealings with people outside the order.
7. In the Legion of Christ the
individual has no privacy, either physical or psychological. He has no
space of his own as the superiors enter his room without knocking, go through
his room, personal effects and belongings when he is not there (and this
without his knowledge). He has no time to himself as every waking moment is
scheduled and intensely regimented. Members are encouraged to spy on and report
on other members in a continuous way: “we must help brother John and what
better way that to keep the superiors informed as they , more than anybody
else, can help him…” There are rules (literally thousands of them) which direct
and control every action and movement of his life (eating, drinking, walking,
speaking….)
8. The secrecy of the order towards the
outside world is another sect-like trait: in the order this is referred to as
‘prudence’ or ‘discretion’ or ‘spirit of reserve’. Outsiders are seen as a
threat; the members are actually forbidden to communicate with anybody
outside the community without permission from the superior, and this includes
family members. No information about the order – its practices, rules,
customs, schedules, plans, constitutions, rulebooks – can be given to the
outside. Try asking them for a copy of the Constitution, for their rulebooks,
the complete edition of the letters of Fr. Maciel the manual of Regnum Christi,
the Chapter document…..
9. There is total control of
communications from the outside world and the with the outside: all letters
to and from the outside, including those of parents and family, are opened and
read by the superiors. This is true for novices, religious, at all stages of
formation, and priests. All newspapers, magazines and books are read and
censored by the Superiors. There is no possibility of having a confessor, spiritual
director or advisor outside the order. This is forbidden.
10. The control of communication with
the outside world is also exercised within the order and between members.
Nobody can ever confide in another member in any way within the order, especially
if he has a problem of any sort. He must discuss it with the superior and only
the superior. There is a constant supervision, vigilance of the superior at all
times. NO friendship is allowed between members.
11. Within the order there is a total
lack of dialogue, discussion, disagreement or dissent within the order. There
is no room for any disagreement with the Legion. The member has to accept
everything the order says without question. The motivation – every rule, every
order, every idea of the Legion id divinely ordained, directly inspired by God
and, therefore, unquestionable. The moment one questions a policy, a rule, a
decision that person is punished and maybe even banished, sent to some out of
the way place (like the missions in Quintana Roo, Mexico) where he can have no
influence on others.
12. Another sect-like trait of the
order is the difficulty involved with leaving. It is extremely difficult
to get out as one is constantly guided, encouraged to stay with all sorts of
arguments, and one is especially saddled with a guilt complex: “you are
betraying your vocation, you have a responsibility toward the souls who will be
lost because of this move…” When one takes the decision to leave, he is
carefully isolated from the other members of the order, by being transferred to
some other house, or a campaign of rumor is spread among the other members –
“be careful with Fr. Peter, he has problems….” This experience is common to all
who have left: the sense of isolation and loneliness with which one leaves the
Legion of Christ is terrible.
13. Once you leave the Legion you will
never hear from the order again. I spent twenty years in the Legion. since the
day I left I have never heard from the order, have never received a letter, a
phone call, much less an invitation to visit, or a visit from them (even though
for 11 years I have lived within a few miles of their center outside
Washington). I received absolutely no assistance or support to relocate to
another diocese, no help toward continuing in the priesthood, absolutely no
interest in me as a person nor as a priest. For twenty years the Legion had
been my ‘life’, my ‘family’, my ‘world’, but from the moment I stepped out
their door on July 27 1985 I never again heard from them. I came to this
diocese directly against their wishes and getting the necessary documents to
incardinate officially here was very difficult. Leaving the order is the only
way one can disagree with the Legion and the Legion takes it as an insult or a
rejection.
This started out as a brief email message but once I started the floodgates
opened. I have taken a long time to get my life together but now feel that I
have the Legion of Christ out of my system, it is a thing of the past. About
five years ago I started a “Network” of former member of the order which has
grown to thirty – some priests, former priests and others who spent a few years
in the order as students. There is a similar network in Spain. We
communicate a couple of times each year, many of us get together here or in
Ireland and are able to share experiences, stories, even ‘funny incidents’ (to
steal a Paddy Crosby phrase!) A movie could be made of some of the escape
routes and strategies and the survival stories. I often refer to my former
parish in Bethesda MD as our ‘underground railroad’ as the former pastor (Msgr.
James Reddy, an Irishman now deceased) was most welcoming and supportive to
several priests as they were leaving the Legion and transitioning to a new
life). Many people were deep hurt in the process of leaving the Legion and take
years to recover. From me leaving the Legion was my ‘exodus’, the liberation in
which I experienced strength and presence of the Holy Spirit. Happily, our
Network has been able to help others who are leaving or who had just
left."