Render Unto Rome

by Jason Berry

  15. Shnayerson, “The Follieri Charade,” citing Hathaway interview with Harper’s Bazaar.

  16. John R. Emshwiller and Gabriel Kahn, “Presidential Connection: How Bill Clinton’s Aide Facilitated a Messy Deal,” Wall Street Journal, September 26, 2007.

  17. Feuerherd, “Catholic Real Estate Bonanza.”

  18. Various authors, “Blinded by Love,” People, July 14, 2008.

  19. Invoices are exhibits in Government’s Sentencing Memorandum, United States v. Raffaello Follieri.

  20. Information memo of fourteen counts, for plea agreement, accompanying letter of September 8, 2008, from Assistant U.S. Attorney Reed M. Brodsky and Raymond J. Lohier to Flora Edwards, Esq., attorney for the defendant, United States v. Raffaello Follieri.

  21. Sodano’s letter is included in exhibit list with the Government Sentencing Memorandum.

  22. Government Sentencing Memorandum, United States v. Raffaello Follieri, p. 19.

  23. Government Sentencing Memorandum, Deposition of FBI Agent Theodore Cacioppi, United States v. Raffaello Follieri. See also Emshwiller and Kahn, “Presidential Connection.”

  24. “ ‘Great Discoveries’ Awaiting in the Catacombs,” Zenit News Service, July 20, 2009. Carrù’s official title is Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology. Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi—president of the Pontifical Council for Culture—is the official quoted.

  CHAPTER 6: THE CASE OF THE MISSING MILLIONS

  1. Carolyn Y. Johnson, “A Vigil of Faith, Hope Endures,” Boston Globe, October 23, 2005.

  2. Jillian Fennimore, “New Hope for Parishioners; Ruling Expected,” Scituate Mariner, September 22, 2005.

  3. Suzanne Hurley, interview with the author, December 2008.

  4. Mary Williams Walsh, “Boston’s Catholic Archdiocese May Cut Priests’ Pensions,” New York Times, May 12, 2005.

  5. Michael Levenson, “Parishioners Seek Probe of Priests’ Pension Fund,” Boston Globe, May 22, 2005.

  6. Antonio M. Enrique, “Chancellor Clarifies Use of Clergy Collections,” The Pilot (Boston archdiocesan newspaper), June 10, 2005. The article calls the Benefit a “Fund” instead of a trust.

  7. Deposition of David W. Smith, Superior Court, C.A. no. 99-0371, Leary v. Geoghan et al., Commonwealth of Massachusetts, vol. 2, June 26, 2002.

  8. Maureen Orth, “Unholy Communion,” Vanity Fair, August 2002.

  9. Boston Archdiocesan Documents Showing the Involvement of Bishop Richard G. Lennon in Abuse Cases, www.bishopaccountability.org.

  10. Robin Washington and Tom Mashberg, “Lennon Tied to Priest Probe; Foster Case Memo Shows Bishop Was at Meeting,” Boston Herald, December 26, 2002.

  11. Michael Rezendes and Stephen Kurkjian, with Sacha Pfeiffer, “Lennon Gave Advice on Reassigned Priest,” Boston Globe, February 5, 2003.

  12. Boston Archdiocesan Documents Showing the Involvement of Bishop Richard G. Lennon, www.bishopaccountability.org.

  13. Richard G. Lennon, Letter to Clergy Fund Members, December 8, 2003.

  14. For a detailed account of Teague, see Bill Zajac, “He Remembers, He Tries to Forgive,” Springfield Sunday Republican (Springfield, MA), September 14, 2003.

  15. Sam Hemenway, “Diocese Settles Priest Abuse Case for $965,000,” Burlington Free Press, April 20, 2006.

  16. Kevin Cullen, “Priest Cites Cost for Speaking Out,” Boston Globe, March 23, 2002; editorial, “Church History Missing in Burlington Verdict,” The Observer (Springfield, MA), May 27, 2008.

  17. Stephanie Barr, “Accused Clergy Had Influential Posts,” Springfield Republican (Springfield, MA), March 1, 2004. See also the link to “Diocese of Springfield, MA” on www.bishopaccountability.org.

  18. Michael Paulson, “Resistance Widens to Parish Closings,” Boston Globe, May 8, 2005.

  19. Michael Paulson, “Vatican Stops Diocese in Taking Parish Assets,” Boston Globe, August 11, 2005.

  20. The Parish Reconfiguration Fund Oversight Committee’s Final Report, David Castaldi, chair, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, November 2007.

  21. Michael Paulson, “Church Tackles $46M Gap,” Boston Globe, April 20, 2006.

  22. Laura Crimaldi, “Photographer Snaps $1.8M off Eastie Church Deal,” Boston Herald, January 5, 2007; Laura Crimaldi, “Church Panel to Review Dubious Sale,” Boston Herald, January 10, 2007.

  23. Crimaldi, “Photographer Snaps $1.8M off Eastie Church Deal.”

  24. The Honorable Kevin M. Herlihy (Ret.), Sale of Saint Mary Star of the Sea Parish, East Boston: Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, October 2007.

  CHAPTER 7: FATHER MACIEL, LORD OF PROSPERITY

  1. The Márquez quote is from John Allen, Conclave (New York, 2004), p. 190. Leonardo Boff, Church Charism and Power: Liberation Theology and the Institutional Church (New York, 1986), p. 9.

  2. Boff, Church Charism and Power, p. 38.

  3. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Certain Aspects of the “Theology of Liberation,” www.vatican.va, August 6, 1984.

  4. Harvey Cox, The Silencing of Leonardo Boff: The Vatican and the Future of World Christianity (Oak Park, IL, 1988), p. 11.

  5. John L. Allen Jr., Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican Enforcer of the Faith (New York, 2000), p. 160.

  6. Maciel’s ordination footage appeared in Legion of Christ promotional videos that are no longer used for the order’s marketing. The footage is included in the documentary film Vows of Silence (2008), produced by Jason Berry. The film is based on the book written by Berry and Gerald Renner. See www.vowsofsilencefilm.com.

  7. Alfonso Torres Robles, La prodigiosa aventura de los Legionarios de Cristo (Madrid, 2001), p. 18.

  8. This priest and three others as background sources in the chapter were first quoted in my articles “Vatican Investigates Legion of Christ,” GlobalPost.com, July 21, 2009, and “How Fr. Maciel Built His Empire,” National Catholic Reporter, April 6, 2010.

  9. Angeles Conde and David J. P. Murray, The Legion of Christ: A History (North Haven, CT, 2004), p. 121.

  10. Peter Hebblethwaite, Paul VI: The First Modern Pope (New York/Mahwah, NJ, 1993), p. 147.

  11. For an intelligent overview of the prosperity gospel associated with certain Pentecostal groups in America, see Hanna Rosin, “Did Christianity Cause the Crash?” The Atlantic, December 2009. The religious anthropologist Elio Masferrer Kan uses the term in an explicit linkage with the Catholic Church in his treatment of Pope John Paul II’s 1999 trip to Mexico and the media furor that engulfed Mexico City’s Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera over commercial sales of papal insignias and the like by street vendors. See Es del César o es de Dios? Un modelo antropológico del camp religioso (Centro de Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias en Ciencias y Humanidades, UNAM de la UNAM Ciudad Universitaria, 04510, México D.F., 2007), p. 242.

  12. The most extensive account of Maciel’s fund-raising and the order’s early years is Torres Robles, La prodigiosa aventura de los Legionarios de Cristo.

  13. The constitution of the Legion of Christ circulated in Spanish within the order and Regnum Christi, the predominantly lay affiliate, for many years. It apparently underwent considerable revision under Maciel. The order reportedly made its first English translation in 1990, though former Legionaries oversaw another translation, which I have quoted here. In 2007 the Legion sued an organization of ex-members, ReGAIN—www.regainnetwork.org—in Alexandria, Virginia, alleging that it had no right to post the constitutions; see Daniela Deane, “Outspoken Ex-Priest Sued Over Documents,” Washington Post, September 6, 2007. The case settled out of court after ReGAIN withdrew the document from the website and halted its discussion board. The constitutions continue to circulate. See, for example, www.unitypublishing.com/NewReligiousMovements/Leagonaires2

  .html or www.unitypublishing.com/NewReligiousMovements/Constitution%20–%20LegionariesofChrist.htm.

  14. Envoy. As with much of Regnum Christi materials
, dating this work is a bit of a riddle. The 230-page softcover lists no publisher or ISBN; the preface on p. 7 lists no author but concludes “LC Rome, June 6, 1986, Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.” Maciel routinely dictated letters and a sort of oral history of his life and the Legion to selected Legionaries, as recounted in Jason Berry and Gerald Renner, Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II (New York, 2004), chaps. 8 and 13, and the citation that follows. On the founding of Regnum Christi, see Jack Keogh, Driving Straight on Crooked Lines: How an Irishman Found His Heart and Nearly Lost His Mind (IveaghodgePress.com, 2010), p. 236.

  15. The Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum has a complicated nomenclature and history. It is a university, just barely, which awards pontifical—meaning papally sanctioned—degrees. Regina Apostolorum has a master’s program, with a licentiate and a doctorate in philosophy and theology. It also has a department of bioethics. According to a scholar at another pontifical university in Rome, the RA has only a few terminal degrees that would be accepted in American universities. As an athenaeum it is one step above an institute of higher learning, one below a full-fledged university.

  16. Ed Housewright and Brooks Egerton, “Kos Jury Awards $119 Million,” Dallas Morning News, July 25, 1997. On the settlement particulars, see the 1998 Statement of Windle Turley, Attorney, & The Plaintiffs, at www.bishopaccountability.org. Bishop Charles Grahmann issued an apology by the Dallas diocese to Kos’s victims and agreed to a sex abuse risk audit. In 1999 the Vatican sent a coadjutor bishop, Joseph Galante, to take Grahmann’s place. But Grahmann refused to leave. A November 16, 2002, Dallas Morning News editorial called for Grahmann’s departure:

  His misjudgments have cost the diocese millions of dollars in payments to abuse victims and in legal fees, and they threaten to cost it still more. It has become apparent that many Catholics feel alienated from the church and are reacting by withholding financial contributions to it … Bishop Grahmann’s most recent misstep is his handling of an incident involving the rector of the cathedral, about which the Dallas Morning News reported on Monday. A 58-year-old man alleges that the rector sexually abused him 11 years ago. Bishop Grahmann allowed the rector to continue in ministry even though the rector acknowledged “inappropriate contact” with the man and resumed psychological counseling about “boundary issues,” according to a diocesan spokesman. He allowed him to continue even though a policy that he installed to prevent and to manage such scandals, and that he touts as a model, declares that sexual misconduct “will not be tolerated under any circumstances” and defines sexual misconduct as “any kind of sexual interaction between a celibate cleric and an adult, whether initiated by one or the other, and whether or not consensual.”

  But that’s not all. Bishop Grahmann allowed his representatives to publicly assign to the man impure motives for his accusation, thereby possibly discouraging other possible victims from coming forward. He did not ask lay and personnel review boards to review his handling of the matter. And he did not consult with co-adjutor Bishop Joseph Galante, who has criticized his handling of the matter.

  17. McDaid was not alone in his attitude about the sex education films. In 1988, when I interviewed people at St. Luke Institute, the films had stirred a minor controversy; the hospital director refused to let me view the films. The late Reverend Michael Peterson, M.D., the hospital founder, was emphatic about their benefits. So were staffers. See Jason Berry, Lead Us Not into Temptation (New York, 1992), p. 202.

  18. Richard Owen, “Archbishop of Vienna Accuses One of Pope’s Closest Aides of Abuse Cover-up,” Times (London), May 10, 2010.

  19. On the Groër scandal and Vatican response, see Berry and Renner, Vows of Silence, pp. 227–32.

  20. George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II (New York, 1999), p. 282.

  21. Conde and Murray, The Legion of Christ, p. 269.

  22. Torres Robles, La prodigiosa aventura de los Legionarios de Cristo, p. 60.

  23. Jose de Cordoba, “With Elite Backing, Catholic Order Has Pull in Mexico,” Wall Street Journal, January 23, 2006.

  24. Brian J. Lowney, “The Mystery in Rhode Island,” Rhode Island Catholic, July 30, 2009.

  25. Objection of Mary Lou Dauray to Motions to Quash, In Re: Estate of Gabrielle D. Mee, no. 20090029, Probate Court, the Town of Smithfield, State of Rhode Island, Providence, SC, July 31, 2009.

  26. Dave Altimari, “Will Has Heir of Secrecy: Legionaries of Christ,” Hartford Courant, June 28, 2009.

  27. Ibid.

  28. Estate of Gabrielle D. Mee (A/K/A Gabrielle Malvina Mee), no. 20090029, Probate Court, the Town of Smithfield, State of Rhode Island, Providence, SC, 2008.

  29. John L. Allen Jr., Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church (New York, 2007), pp. 6–7.

  30. Enrique Krauze, Mexico: Biography of Power: A History of Modern Mexico, 1810–1996 (New York, 1997), p. 663.

  31. Anthony DePalma, “As the Rules Change in Mexico, He’s a Quick Study,” New York Times, December 4, 1994.

  32. My first interview with Roberta Garza was in Houston in 2002, on background, with continuing conversations and interviews on research trips to Mexico City over the next eight years. In 2010 she agreed to speak on the record. See also Jason Berry, “How Fr. Maciel Built His Empire, Part 2,” National Catholic Reporter, April 12, 2010.

  33. Jose de Cordoba, “With Elite Backing, a Catholic Order Has Pull in Mexico.”

  34. “Fr. Luis Garza, LC, on the Choice for a Friendship,” International Resources Testimonies—Legionaries, part 17 in a series on life as a priest, no byline given, January 21, 2010, www.regnumchristi.org.

  35. Fernando M. González, La iglesia del silencio: De mártires y pederastas (Mexico City, 2009), p. 279. See also Alma Guillermoprieto, “The Mission of Father Maciel,” New York Review of Books, June 24, 2010.

  36. For background on Cotija and Maciel’s childhood, see Conde and Murray, The Legion of Christ: A History, pp. 14–15. The book is hardly authentic history; however, it reflects how the Legion presented itself as late as 2004. Juan Vaca, who filed the earliest allegations of abuse against Maciel, said that Maciel’s father viewed him as “a sissy boy.” Berry and Renner, Vows of Silence, profiles his victims. For a detailed biography, see Fernando M. González, Marcial Maciel: Los Legionarios de Cristo: testimonios y documentos inéditos (Mexico City, 2006).

  37. Julia Preston and Samuel Dillon, Opening Mexico: The Making of a Democracy (New York, 2004), p. 45.

  38. Carlos Fuentes, The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World (New York, 1992), p. 286.

  39. Preston and Dillon, Opening Mexico, p. 47.

  40. Pete Hamill, “The Casosola Archive,” in Mexico: The Revolution and Beyond; Photographs by Agustín Victor Casasola 1900–1940, ed. Pablo Ortiz Monasterio (New York, 2003), p. 18.

  41. Berry and Renner, Vows of Silence, p. 148.

  42. Michael J. Gonzalez, The Mexican Revolution: 1910–1940 (Albuquerque, NM, 2002), p. 211. Discussion on bishops in San Antonio is from Dr. Matthew Butler, University of Texas, Austin, telephone interview with the author, February 3, 2010.

  43. Jean Meyer, The Cristero Rebellion: The Mexican People Between Church and State, 1926–1929 (Cambridge, UK, 1976), p. 114.

  44. Ibid.

  45. González, La iglesia del silencio, pp. 53–55.

  46. Carlos Monsiváis, Mexican Postcards (New York, 2000), p. 132.

  47. Graham Greene, Another Mexico (New York, 1967), p. 105.

  48. Berry and Renner, Vows of Silence, p. 158.

  49. Barba teaches at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México in Mexico City.

  50. Torres Robles, La prodigiosa aventura de los Legionarios de Cristo, p. 20; González, Marcial Maciel, p. 126.

  51. Vows of Silence (2008), produced by Jason Berry. See www.vowsofsilencefilm.com.

  52. Gerald Renner and Jason Berry, “Head of Worldwide Catholic
Order Accused of History of Abuse,” Hartford Courant, February 23, 1997.

  53. Torres, Robles, La prodigiosa aventura de los Legionarios de Cristo, pp. 27–28.

  54. Berry and Renner, Vows of Silence, p. 1.

  55. Renner and Berry, “Head of Worldwide Catholic Order Accused of History of Abuse.”

  56. Jason Berry, “Vatican Investigates Legionaries of Christ,” GlobalPost.com, posted July 19, 2009.

  57. Editorial, “Can Synod Survive Vatican Manipulation?” National Catholic Reporter, November 7, 1997.

  58. On Neuhaus’s career, see Damon Linker, Theocons (New York, 2006).

  59. Richard John Neuhaus, Appointment in Rome: The Church in America Awakening (New York, 1999), pp. 2, 39.

  60. Ibid., p. 110.

  61. Berry and Renner, Vows of Silence, p. 214.

  62. Jonathan Kwitny, Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II (New York, 1997), p. 452.

  63. Former Legionary Jack Keogh, who toured the chapel with his mother, describes the frescoes in Driving Straight on Crooked Lines, p. 269.

  64. Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, in Conversation with Gian Franco Svidercoschi, A Life with Karol: My Forty-Year Friendship with the Man Who Became Pope (New York, 2008), p. 85.

  65. Jason Berry, “Money Paved the Way for Maciel’s Influence in the Vatican,” National Catholic Reporter, April 6, 2010.

  66. Ibid.

  67. Andrea Insunza and Javier Ortega, Legionarios de Cristo en Chile: Dios, dinero y poder (Santiago, Chile, 2008), p. 39.

  68. Ibid., p. 41.

  69. Mario Guarino, I mercanti del Vaticano (Milan, 2008), p. 253. Alessandro Sodano has since died.

  70. Laurie Goodstein, “Vatican Declined to Defrock U.S. Priest Who Abused Boys,” New York Times, March 24, 2010; “The Failed Papacy of Benedict XVI,” Spiegel Online International, April 6, 2010; Paddy Agnew, “Vatican Hits Back Again at Criticism over Child Sex Abuse,” Irish Times, April 8, 2010.

  71. Berry and Renner, Vows of Silence, p. 218.