Vere: We need to keep in mind that no founder in the Church has been perfect, except Jesus Christ. And this is why it is important as members of Catholic organizations and as members of Catholic apostolates and groups, that we always maintain our connection to the Church, that we always turn to the Church when we are going through difficulty, and sometimes we have to say this is beyond our ability as a movement or organization to fix on our own. We need the Church's help here. By the Church I mean our pastors, our shepherds, the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI, as well as the local bishops who are pastors within the diocese. And I also mean Jesus Christ and his blessed mother, who give us the grace, and in whose name we carry on in the apostolates. There is no shame in asking for help from the Church and the wider Church community.
Q: Can the movement go on without a founder?
Vere: Without a founder, no. But being honest about the founder, and saying that the founder made mistakes and that maybe the founder did things for the wrong reasons, and maybe some of the things we did were wrong ... I think that type of openness and transparency will allow them to go on.
Obviously given the size and given the effect they've had on the Church, there is something good there, but that something good has also been clouded by this scandal as well as some of the practices.
Having worked on the tribunal [as a canon lawyer], one thing you learn is that where there is abuse -- especially sexual abuse -- it becomes a family secret and [the family] turns in on itself. It becomes sort of suspicious of the outside world, and you become paranoid that the secret is going to get out and what will people think.
To a certain extent you try to deny this is going on, then when it breaks people say "ha, ha, I told you so." There's also the effect of blaming the victim, [telling them they] didn't do enough. So then one becomes more inward because [of that]. So that's unfortunate.
What's needed here is transparency. And this is a criticism that I have made of the Legion and of Regnum Christi in the past, is that quite often they operate without the local Church's knowledge. There seems to be something secretive. Christ told us not to hide our light under a bushel. Christ told us to preach in the open. So I think what the Legion has to work on is openness, they have to work on transparency. They have to be honest about what has happened. And if they do that, with sincerity, I think, God will give them the grace to move on. And I think the Church has the resources to help the Legion and Regnum Christi to move on with this.
Christ talks about being the good physician. And we refer to the Pope as the Holy Father. And as any good parent or physician, you can't heal the problem if you don't know what it is and it's hard to know what it is if certain symptoms or ailments are being concealed. So that's what I think. I think absolutely the Legion can learn and grow and continue from this. But, they have to show that trust in the Church.
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Q: How should other members of the Church react to the news?
Vere: I think for the rest of us, it doesn't do well to play blame the victim. Catholicism is a big family, and like any family, our members sometimes will go through some rough patches and suffer some crises, and the rest of us have to be there for the family. We need to reach out and realize first that most rank-and-file members of Regnum Christi are sincere Catholics who are trying to live a Catholic life, and we need to be understanding of that. We also need to reach out to them and let them know we are praying for them. We also need to reach out to former members of the Legion and Regnum Christi who raised these concerns and ignored them, and we need to apologize to them too. In doing this, I think, we can all get beyond this and grow in holiness, and the Legion and Regnum Christi can return to being a vibrant part of the Catholic Church.
Q: What do you know about the charism of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi?