Exiting LC Priest Makes Serious Accusations against Superiors

EXITING LEGIONARY PRIEST MAKES SERIOUS ACCUSATIONS ABOUT HIS DISMISSAL AND AGAINST HIS SUPERIORS’ ACTIONS.

(Editors: This message was emailed to a friend of Fr. Pérez who pasted it on Facebook. Without taking sides in this controversy, it is published as a testimony written by a priest who served the Catholic Church in the Legion of Christ for 38 years. Translated literally from the original Spanish by staff.  Clarifications for the wider or English speaking public have been added in parentheses.)

Mexico City, 25 September, 2012

To: Fr. Alvaro Corcuera, LC.

General Director of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ.

CC. Cardinal Velasio de Paolis, Apostolic Delegate

Cc Fr. Rodolfo Mayagoitia, LC, Provincial Superior

In accordance with ## 691 and 693 of Canon Law I am requesting my official release (indult) from the Congregation of the Legion of Christ.

I have spoken with Monsignor Raul Vera, Bishop of Saltillo, and he is willing to incardinate (accept) me into my native diocese.

AMONG THE SERIOUS REASONS PROMPTING ME TO LEAVE THE CONGREGATION ARE THE FOLLOWING:

My disappointment for the reform of the Congregation (order): the changes are cosmetic and do not modify the way authority is exercised; there continues to be a lack of dialog; the institution’s well-being continues to over-ride respect for basic human rights of the Children of God.

A classic example of this lack of respect was he decision taken by Bishop Pedro Pablo Elizondo Cárdenas, LC, who in agreement with Legion superiors, without any one of them discussing it with me, decided to expel me from the Prelature of Cancun-Chetumal (Quintana Roo state, Mexico). In this case, the bishop and the LC superiors involved, besides disdaining my apostolic work, have totally ignored the wishes of the parish faithful. Worse still, it is common knowledge that Bishop Elizondo acted in collusion with the mayor of Playa del Carmen town, Filiberto Martínez Méndez, who offered to reward the Prelature for my exile from Quintana Roo.

I also see no congruence between the Life of Christ and the life of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ who are so focused on money, power, and fame, something I described in the letter addressed on September 24th, 2012, to Mons. Pedro Pablo Elizondo Cárdenas, LC, bishop of the Cancun-Chetumal Prelature.

I want to declare categorically that Legion Bishop Pedro Pablo Elizondo Cárdenas and other Legionary priests have told many people that I am an alcoholic, am a neurotic, and need psychiatric help; they even say I used drugs to be able to carry out my apostolic duties in the torrid climate of Playa del Carmen. I have in my possession a medical certificate from psychiatrist Jorge Polanco Benois which testifies to my mental health. I also have the results of a drug and blood test from the Playa del Carmen Red Cross which testify to my good health.

I joined the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ in the summer of 1974. After 38 years I am requesting that on leaving the congregation my grandparents’ and mother’s home at Calle de Victoria 770 in downtown Saltillo, Coahuila State, be returned to me. I also hope that after such lengthy service of the Church in the Legion of Christ the superiors cover the cost of my medical insurance and other expenses of a person nearing his 60^th year.

For now that is all. In the hope that God writes straight on crooked lines, I place myself under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as I begin a new stage in my life at the service of my neighbor and the Holy Catholic Church.

Your servant in Christ Priest,

Pablo Pérez Guajardo.

I delivered a hard copy of this document to the Territorial (Provincial) Headquarters in Mexico City, both pages signed by me and sealed with my finger prints, being received by Brother Estanislao.  I do not possess a scanner. As soon as I have one I will scan the document with the signature and received stamp as proof that the hard copy and email versions are identical