Legion of Christ Owned Southern Catholic College Abruptly Closes Its Doors
Can you imagine the shock, the heartbreak, the utter outrage felt by the students? Can you even begin to fathom the thoughts running through the minds of the parents? The sudden closing of Southern Catholic College has set the Catholic blogosphere on fire! The manner of notification (by E-Mail from an absentee President?) does not help to quell the growing speculation. The students and the Faculty need our prayer.
The Apostolic Visitors Who Investigated the Legion of Christ.
PrintDAWSONVILLE, GA (Catholic Online) - Imagine you are a 20 year old College student at Southern Catholic College. Even though the school was only in its infancy, when it was purchased by the Legion of Christ your parents presumed it was going to be placed on solid financial ground. Maybe they were concerned that the Legion was under a cloud, being investigated by the Holy See because of the duplicity, deceit, and evil acts perpetrated by its founder. However, they were probably assured it would all somehow "work out".
It is Easter Week and you are still celebrating the Octave of the central mystery of the Christian faith and the source of our Hope. In fact, it is Spring Break and you have been enjoying a little rest and re-creation. You open your laptop computer Wednesday morning to check your E - Mail. You discover that you have this E- Mail from the President of your College:
From: Fr. Shawn Aaron
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 9:31 AM
To: All Faculty; All Staff; All Students
Subject: Urgent update about Southern Catholic College
Importance: High
I pray that you had a fruitful Holy Week and a very blessed Easter! Each of you has been in my prayers and sacrifices in an even more particular way during this time.
On Wednesday of Holy Week, March 31, Fr. Brian Higgins visited a benefactor to solicit financial help that would ensure the financial viability of Southern Catholic. I am extremely grateful to him for his effort -as I am grateful to the benefactor for even considering our petition for support. Unfortunately, it was not to be. This has proven to be the last in a series of efforts to procure financing that would allow us to at least complete the semester on May 13.
I deeply regret that I must inform you that, as of Thursday, April 15, Southern Catholic will close its doors for the semester. It pains me to even write this phrase. It also doubly distresses me that, not only must I communicate this difficult news; I am prevented from communicating it in person. The timing of the request of the benefactor on March 31 coupled with Spring Break has forced me to draft this note as opposed to telling you in person. Please forgive me for this.
There will be a general assembly for Faculty, Staff and Students on Monday, April 12, at 10AM. This way I can field the questions you will certainly have. We will also provide detailed information for Faculty, Staff and Students relevant to each group regarding specifics such as transcripts, grades, graduation, COBRA, unemployment, etc. All of this information will be provided on April 12.
For all students:
- NPEC has confirmed that our students will receive full credit for the entire semester even though we are required to close our doors on April 15.
- Students may stay on campus from April 11-15, in order to say goodbye to fellow students, collect your belongings, request pertinent information from Academic Affairs, Financial Affairs, and check-in and out with Student Affairs.
Words cannot express how profoundly sorrowful I am at this situation. Yet I also know that Our Lord has proven himself stronger than death and therefore stronger than our pain, weaknesses and circumstances. We must continually turn to him for strength.
As always, my door is open for those who wish to speak with me. Please know that my prayers are constantly with all of you. Please pray for me.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Shawn Aaron, LC
President
Can you imagine the shock, the heartbreak, the utter outrage felt by that student, by all of the students? Can you even begin to fathom the thoughts running through the minds of the parents? Of course, the sudden closing of Southern Catholic College has set the Catholic blogosphere on fire! The manner of notification (by E-Mail from an absentee President?) and the abrupt nature does not help to quell the growing speculation. The sheer human tragedy involving the lives of these dear students requires our prayer.
Some reports indicate that the faculty, many of whom abandoned other positions to be a part of what promised to be an important apostolic venture as the first Catholic residential College in Georgia, were informed on Wednesday they will only receive one more monthly paycheck. They also need our prayer.
As someone who has long been convinced that preparing the next generation of faithful, dynamically orthodox Catholic men and women for the work of the "New Evangelization" is the most important missionary task of our age, I have followed the efforts of Southern Catholic - as well as the other new or renewed Catholic Colleges - with great interest over the years. I hope to become a part of one of them in the future.
In 2002 Dr. ...
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I am a little disturbed that you did not publish my comment. as a parent of SCC, I felt that this is a serious omission. If you are not going to publish the comment I sent a few weeks ago, I would appreciate an explanation.
Thank you
As a student of Southern Catholic College, I appreciate your concern, but I also would like to ask that you please be respectful of our situation and of the way you speak of everyone involved. Here, we are like a family, and Fr. Shawn is like our father. Yes it was a shock to us, but he has been available at every moment to us and whatever we need. He is very close to us, especially right now, and we could never ask for a better president.
For all those who are attacking the Legion, please get your facts right. My school was going to close at the end of Spring 2009 due to financial reasons. The Legion stepped in believing that they could help us financially.
They have helped us in more ways than anyone outside of SCC could ever know. Spiritually and humanly. They are part of our family.
It is the night before our last day of school, and there is no anger on campus. No one is blaming anyone. We are a family. Please have respect.
Thank you and God Bless.
The fact that supporters of the Legion still dare to scream about a "smear" campaign speaks volumes about the corruption of this mega-cult. Like many other Catholic educators (I teach at a well-known orthodox university) I lost interest in the fortunes of SCC the moment they were sold to the LC. Couldn't that also be the reason some donors pulled their support? I know that one of the wealthiest orders in the hisory of the Chiurch could certainly have kept SCC open, had they really wished to. As one commenter noted, the LC is busy hiding its billions to shield itself from lawsuits. The LC and its lay supporters will never "get it." I pray that the order is suppressed, and their good priests find a home elsewhere.
Elizabeth: Neither Quenten Crisp nor anyone else can damage the reputation of the Legion now; Maciel and those who covered up his egregious sins for decades have already finished off any respect that organization ever had. Abject apologists for this outfit are only making things worse by pretending there is a "smear campaign" afoot. Wake up: his accusers are all lined up, his children, wives, and seminarians he molested, and they are legion, no pun intended. Many in the top ranks of the Legion evidently knew something was wrong but chose secrecy and a totally stupid 'obedience' over five-and-dime morality and common sense. What is even more shocking, some officials in the Vatican also had to know that there were serious allegations flying, serious and substantial in fact, and they chose to do nothing, perhaps influenced by bribes from Maciel and his criminal cohort.
What I sometimes wonder about is the extreme gullibility of right-wing Catholics when they are confronted with irrefutable proof of immorality in our ranks. I saw it again and again in the Boston homosexual scandals and now we are seeing with Catholics duped by the Legion. Some just never learn.
The way in which the founder of a religious congregation abused children meant to do God's will on earth is utterly shocking.It is beyond comprehension that how such a priest man continued in the church with the support of the Vatican.It looks as though God has abandoned the church with this and other disclosures made by people all over Europe and America.It is incumbent on the church to investigate whether there are cases of abuse or sexual misconduct in Asia and Africa.In this time crisis and threat to the church, let us ask the help of Mother Mary and St.Joseph.Let us believe that Christ the Lord will not abandon us.
For those who speak of the allegations of Father Maciel as if they are fact, where is your proof? There was no trial. Will anyone please pay attention to that?
Just because the media, and now all the territorial directors of the Legion have stated publically that Father Maciel committed numerous grave transgressions does not mean it is true! Where is the proof? No one is asking this question. THe condemning of a man where there has been no trial has come about from mob behaviour.
Will you not see?
Deacon Fournier,
I appreciate your attempt to remain mostly sympathetic to the student, faculty, and staff of Southern Catholic College at this sudden and painful point in their lives. As a senior at Southern Catholic College, I do have to address several of the points you made as being misinformed.
First of all, the e-mail addressed to the student, faculty, and staff was written not by an absentee president but by a president that was on campus almost constantly. Fr. Shawn made a point to visit with every student, faculty member, and staff member during lunch and dinner and addressing any problems that we might have. By the first week of classes last semester he knew the names of all faculty, staff, and students. He would also remain on campus after working all day to hear confession until 11:00 or 12:00 at night and then be back on campus to work the following day by 8 am (did I mention he lives an hour away?) He could also be found on friday nights playing basketball with students at a local gym. One day several weeks ago, Dawsonville received nearly 8 inches of snow. Several hours of Fr. Shawn's time that day was spent in a campus-wise snowball fight. The only reason why this news was conveyed to the students, faculty, and staff over an e-mail was because this happened to be Spring Break for us. With no other means to reach all of the students, faculty, and staff, an e-mail was used. So as to the first issue, our President was not an absentee President but a much loved and appreciated friend.
Second, though the Legion is under investigation for the faults and failures of its founder, the Legion entered into an agreement with the previous administration to financially assist the small school. Had the Legion not stepped in, the school would have closed last year. Before the agreement could occur, however, the Legion was required to request permission from Rome to participate in this venture. Because of the investigation the Legion was not allowed to use their own money but were allowed to bring with them benefactors. This means that the Legion did not purchase the school, they merely entered into an agreement to help the school financially. The benefactors assisted as much as they could, but because of the state of the economy and others fear of contributing to the "evil cult of the Legion", the financial contributions were not enough to keep the Southern Catholic from collapsing.
Three, yes it has become clear that the founder of the Legion, Marciel Maciel, had one, or several affairs, resulting in children. Yes, this occured when he was a priest and after the Legion had been founded. However, just because the founder let his human desires over-come his spiritual desires does not mean that God did not, and has not, used the meager works of Marciel Maciel to grow great fruits for the Church. Please do not condemn the individuals involved in the Legion and Regnum Christi as they are attempting to seek God's will the same as all others in the Church. The individuals in the Legion and Regnum Christi may have been misguided but that is not for others to judge since they are unaware how God might be working in their lives.
Finally, this point in time in all of the faculty, staff, and student's lives is a confusing and trying time. To see a private e-mail pasted all over the internet for unintended recipients is even harder to comprehend. This is a heartfelt plea when I ask everyone of you reading this to please keep us all in your prayers and to refrain from making judgements based on what the press is and will be saying. Unless you are in our positions you can not fully understand how this has greatly affected us all.
Again, Deacon Fournier I appreciate your heartfelt prayers and sympathies and appreciate you attempting to clarify the issue to the public.
Pax Christi,
As Parent of a SCC student, I ask for your prayers. Please dear Lord watch over us to see the path you have set before us! *sad*
Deacon Keith,
I believe that this article is not part of the supposed "smear" campaign against the Legion. Actually I have waited for an article from this site regarding the Legion crisis because I regard Catholic.org as a reliable and balanced Catholic news source. As a former member of the Legionaries of Christ I can attest to the way things are handled in the Legion. I was a member for four years.
Until years after my exit I did not realize the depth of the toxicity of the Congregation. I still wanted to be a part of the lay branch Regnum Christi while attending Franciscan University of Steubenville. However, every time I tried to become more involved anxiety would overwhelm me and I could not.
Eventually, I told my spiritual director, who was a Legionary at the time, that I felt I could not participate in Regnum Christi any longer. He supported me in that decision. I joined one of the many households on campus. Interestingly enough there were quite a few ex-Legionaries who joined the same household. We did not sit around and "poo, poo" the Legion. Actually any mention of the Legion hardly came up at all. We simply lived a happy and fruitful student life on campus.
The Regnum Christi however, was eventually expelled from the University Campus. It was a surprise to me at the time but there was probably a good reason for it. After I graduated in 2002, I kept in contact with a few of my household brothers. One of them was an ex-Legionary. It was at the time of the news of Fr. Maciel's double life that he and I spoke about our experiences at the Legion.
This household brother was in the Legion a few years longer than I. His own older brother was also part of the Legion and stayed in it longer than he did. His brother left later than he did and is now struggling with his faith as so many others who leave the Legion. It is supposed that brothers who leave the Legion will be strong in their faith. Well, that is not entirely true.
Many who leave it end up abandoning their faith or live tepidly. I don't know where you can discover the majority of these personal accounts. I know that the Regain website posted many of these. However, I did not frequent that site because it seemed filled with bitterness and I wanted to move on. But having joined facebook I have listed as friends other ex-Legionaries I knew. It is sad to see what has happened to the lives of some of them.
Why is that? Perhaps it is as some argue that there is no real efforts by the Legion to help persons reintegrate into society once they have left. That was very difficult. Perhaps it is because faith wasn't really developed in the degree to which one would think in that Congregation. It could be both. Whatever the reason, the facts are present everywhere. So many young men and women might I add, find themselves lost upon leaving.
Should we not acknowledge the personal accounts of so many or blow them off as if it is their fault or that they are angry at the Legion and Regnum Christi?
It's interesting to read how people write that the Legion is in the midst of a "smear campaign" and that some how they are experiencing a sort of "martyrdom" and that the Legion will some how thrive after this. I don't think that is an objective view point. By the way, that was the first reaction from many Legionaries when Fr. Maciel was sent to Cotija Mexico to live out his life in penance.
If you can get a hold of an archived issue of the National Catholic Register, you could read an article from the then chief editor Fr. Owen Kearns stating that their founder is carrying the cross of Christ and they must all "drink this chalice to the dregs".
Well, I am sure their our some Legionaries who are suffering immensely from this and I pray for them. One of them is my own brother! My family, particularly my sister, concerned with our Legionary brother's health, informed him of the goings on regarding the Maciel case. He had no clue of it.
He then went to his superiors, in Rome, to ask if this was the case. His community was told part of the double life of their founder but not much else. When he asked his superiors about what we told him they affirmed it. Now, I don't know if the community was told the rest of the information that my brother knew then or not. Why should anything be hidden at this point? Should it have been hidden at all? Sounds like the abuse cases our Holy Father is surrounded by now.
I just have to thank you Deacon Keith for bringing this up so that others like myself can now get the word out to help put a proper perspective on this ordeal. I don't think that I have all the knowledge of this situation but we can not pass off the experiences of those personally involved.
Please pray for my brother. Incidentally, he has pushed members his family away as a result of our "persecution" of the Legion.