The Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ is a Roman Catholic Religious order made up of priests, deacons and brothers in formation for the priesthood.
Marcial Maciel Degollado was a Mexican Catholic priest who founded the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement. He was general director of the Legion from 1941 to 2005. Throughout most of his career, he was respected within the church as "the greatest fundraiser of the modern Roman Catholic church" and as a prolific recruiter of new seminarians. Late in his life, Maciel was revealed to have been a longtime drug addict who sexually abused many boys and young men in his care. After his death, it came to light that he had also maintained sexual relationships with at least four women, one of whom was a minor at the time. He fathered as many as six children, two of whom he is alleged to have sexually abused.
The Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt is a Catholic Marian movement founded in Germany in 1914 by Fr Joseph Kentenich, who saw the movement as a means of spiritual renewal for the Catholic Church. The movement is named after the small locality of Schönstatt which is part of the town of Vallendar near Koblenz, in Germany.
The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, Latin: Institutum Christi Regis Summi Sacerdotis, abbreviated as ICRSS and ICKSP, is a society of apostolic life of pontifical right in communion with the Holy See of the Catholic Church. The institute has the stated goal of honouring God and the sanctification of priests in the service of the Catholic Church and souls. An integral part of the institute's charism is the use of the traditional liturgy, namely the Missal of John XXIII for Mass, the Breviary of John XXIII for the Divine Office, and the Rituale Romanum for other sacraments. The society has undertaken the restoration of a number of historic church buildings.
The lay apostolate is made up of laypersons, who are neither consecrated religious nor in Holy Orders, who exercise a ministry within the Catholic Church. Lay apostolate organizations operate under the general oversight of pastors and bishops, but need not be dependent upon them for direction.
The Christian Life Movement is a lay ecclesial movement, founded in 1985, in Peru. At that time, a number of initiatives from members of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae had already begun. Luis Fernando Figari, the Founder of the Sodalitium, conceived the idea of gathering those people and initiatives together in an ecclesiastic movement. The Christian Life Movement forms part of the Sodalit Family, which shares a common spirituality, called the Sodalit spirituality.
Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), or Sodalitium of Christian Life is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right. It was founded in Lima, Peru, by Luis Fernando Figari on 8 December 1971. It acquired its present canonical form when Pope John Paul II gave his Pontifical approval on 8 July 1997. The Sodalitium was the first male religious society in Peru to receive papal approval. By 1997, there were Sodalit communities in several countries.
A society of apostolic life is a group of men or women within the Catholic Church who have come together for a specific purpose and live fraternally. It is regarded as a form of consecrated life.
The Pauline Family refers to a number of institutes of consecrated life and an association of lay collaborators established between 1914 and 1959, which all share the same founder, Blessed James Alberione and the same spirituality. Their mission is to evangelize with the modern tools of communications.
Catholic spirituality includes the various ways in which Catholics live out their Baptismal promise through prayer and action. The primary prayer of all Catholics is the Eucharistic liturgy in which they celebrate and share their faith together, in accord with Jesus' instruction: "Do this in memory of me." The Catholic bishops at the Second Vatican Council decreed that "devotions should be so drawn up that they harmonize with the liturgical seasons, accord with the sacred liturgy, are in some fashion derived from it, and lead the people to it, since, in fact, the liturgy by its very nature far surpasses any of them." In accord with this, many additional forms of prayer have developed over the centuries as means of animating one's personal Christian life, at times in gatherings with others. Each of the religious orders and congregations of the Catholic church, as well as lay groupings, has specifics to its own spirituality – its way of approaching God in prayer to foster its way of living out the Gospel.
Álvaro Corcuera Martínez del Río LC was a Mexican Roman Catholic priest. He was the former General Director of the Catholic Order of the Legion of Christ, serving since January 2005. On October 15, 2012, he went on sabbatical until the convocation of a general chapter; he had an advanced incurable brain tumor, which was undiagnosed at the time.
The Directory of International Associations of the Faithful, published by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, lists the international associations of the faithful in the Catholic Church that have been granted official recognition. It gives the official name, acronym, date of establishment, history, identity, organization, membership, works, publications, and website of the communities and movements.
Vocational discernment is the process by which men and women in the Catholic Church discern, or recognize, their vocation in the church and the world. The vocations are the life of a layperson in the world, either married or single, the ordained life of bishops, priests, and deacons, and consecrated religious life.
The Movement of the Word of God, also called Work of God the Father, is a pastoral community of disciples, a lay ecclesial movement within the Roman Catholic Church.
Velasio de Paolis, C.S., JCD, STL, was an Italian member of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo (Scalabrinians) and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See and Pontifical Delegate for the religious institute of the Legionaries of Christ.
Marcial Maciel was the founding leader of the Legion of Christ, then based in Mexico, and its general director from 1941 to January 2005. Since the 1970s the prominent Mexican Roman Catholic priest had sexually abused at least 60 minors." and fathered six children by three women. Described as a charismatic leader and the "greatest fundraiser of the modern Roman Catholic church", he was successful in recruiting seminarians at a time of declining priestly vocations. Maciel was the "highest ranking priest ever disciplined because of sexual abuse allegations."
There are several controversies surrounding the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi, including its recruiting practices, perceived elitist theology, rampant sexual abuse by its founder and his confidants, and multi-million dollar offshore holdings in tax havens.
ECyD is an international Catholic youth organization affiliated with the movement Regnum Christi and in close contact with one of the branches of its federation, the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ. ECYD membership is open to youth ages 11 to 16.
Provida Mater Ecclesia was an apostolic constitution by Pope Pius XII, that recognized secular institutes as a new form of official consecration in the Catholic Church.
Sylvester Heereman van Zuydtwyck is the former Vicar General of the Catholic congregation, the Legion of Christ.
