WHERE CAN WE GET MORE DETAILS? Or CAN WE GET MORE DETAILS?

Wow, that’s to bad. My sister was part of the very first graduating class. She did have a rough experience there, though, as the school faced a lot of problems in the early years. Still, I kept hoping that they would change around.

Hopefully that crazy Ave Maria College in FL will be next.

Dear David,

I’m highly offended by your comment. How dare you HOPE that these institutions offering a high-quality CATHOLIC education to young adults close? Would you prefer that we all be educated at state schools staffed by atheists, nihilists, heretics, and apostates? Would you prefer that we join the thousands of college students who have lost their faith in college because it was attacked and derided on secular campuses?

Rather, you should pray for everyone involved at ANY Catholic university and hope for their survival and continuing ministry to our college population. Shame on you for your uncharitable and unChristian attitude.

Calling it a Catholic school doesn’t automatically make it OK. The snowball of evidence against these loony Legionaries of Christ is getting bigger every day. The quicker they (and their affiliate organizations like this college of yours) are eradicated from the church, the better for all of us who are truly concerned about the future of our church. They are such a source of embarrassment.

David, the Legionaries have nothing to do with Ave Maria.

And yes, the sinners of the Church are an embarrassment. But we pray for them anyway. Since, after all, WE ARE THEM. All of us are sinners and all in need of the great mercy of God.

Save your judgments and criticisms and offer up the embarrassment of your brothers and sisters in Christ for their salvation.

David, Ave Maria is a fantastic school. What, may I ask, are your criteria for a good Catholic School?  Faithfulness to the Magisterium is obviously not one of them.

To David,

I’m very offended about your comment, I am a current student at Southern Catholic and I love that school more than anything, I’ve been there for 3 years and would not trade the time God gave me there. And thanks to the LC’s they kept us open for one more year. No, I do not like the LC’s and RC’s but it is the order not the “people” who belong to it. It took me a while to understand that, but God showed me that its the order not the people. I am a very charismatic person and you may be a traditionalist but we are all under the UNIVERSAL church of God. One TRUE CATHOLIC FAITH UNDER THE HOLY FATHER!!!
I would not trade going to that school for anything and I would bet EVERY student RC or not would say the same. Fr. Shawn has been the biggest blessing to SCC. God has a plan for that school and it is not over yet. This year has been the biggest struggle for any student there, first by losing one of our own who would of graduate this year and now the school closing. But we are the closest college CATHOLIC family anyone will ever meet and I’m proud to be apart of that.

God Bless.
Pray that more people are open like the youth of today to say YES to God and not question what He is calling us each to.

P.S your right that by having the word Catholic in the title does not make it a Catholic School. But SCC LIVED CATHOLIC day to day, hour by hour, minute by minute. Gods fruits were and will forever be at SCC

This is very devastating news. The school has been through so much and to see it close is heart breaking, but it must somehow be a part of God’s greater plan for everyone who has had the honor of attending SCC. I will always keep a part of that school with me and I will never forget how my experience there changed my life forever. We all need to pray that this type of disappointment does not happen to any other Catholic school, no matter what our opinion may be of it. No person and no place is perfect, but God is definitely present wherever there are even 2 or more gathered in his name.

God Bless all of SCC and those affected by the loss of it.

How sad that the college is shutting down even before the semester ends. I sure hope that students will receive full credit for the semester since they probably paid full tuition :(

To the current student,
I would not blame LC strictly for the closing of the school, but I do believe they played a major role.  In the early stages of SCC, the Legion did not have too much influence in the Atlanta area, but their influence grew very quickly and more and more LC/RC affiliated students began to attend SCC. 
As LC influences grew, some anti LC donors told the board of trustees that if ANYONE of any LC/RC affiliation was hired, they would withdraw their support. (These were a number of major donors.)  But in time, the Legion power grew in the Atlanta area.  The Legion knows how to make money. 
Big money was beginning to go more toward LC/RC and less toward SCC.  This obviously caused a great divide in the supporters of SCC.  Soon, the situation spun out of control, obviously not only due to this divide, but also to economic crisis, and SCC was in major financial trouble. Who had the money? The Legion did! So, the school was pretty much handed over.
From what I understand, the Legion’s funds are frozen due to the investigation by the Vatican.  The money just stopped coming. 

It’s so sad.

David P. has proven himself so misinformed about Ave Maria and so lazy about checking facts, that I pray he will spare us further comment.

What’s up with Southern Catholic starting a semester without the funds in hand to finish it?  Don’t colleges have some kind of fiduciary responsibity when students invest their time/money with them?

Amen.

Please pray for all of us, as a student of Southern Catholic College my heart is broken and so are my dreams, I don’t know where to start, or where to go, and most of my fellow peers are in the same situation. Please pray that God gives us a solution for this challange.

Can we make donations and help?  Where can we send the donations?  Help us help the school.

Davis P.  If you want to dump on catholic colleges don’t do it my boy.  If you have trouble with Catholic Colleges let me know and I am sure you and personally can resolve this matter.  The forum is open.

David P. you should have a care about how you judge these schools.Instead of offering a critical spirit you should pray.

To Poptoy:

If you really want to help and raise money for the school that would be amazing. Its going to take true faith of many Catholics to keep our school open. Though even if money is raise it still may not save us from closing this semester, but it may help us to be able to open our doors next semester. I would call the school or get in direct contact with Fr. Shawn Aaron school President or Fr. Brain Higgans our past chaplin. Both have made last ditch efforts to save our school. And this is where students saw the unity under God working between these two priest.

God Bless and thank you for even saying you would like to help.

SCC is a very beautiful, spirit-filled place of peace.  Visited there in February, and was impressed by the students, faculty and facilities. This must be such a crushing blow to the students, faculty and staff. My prayers are with you all.  This is a sad turn of events, but as the current student mentioned above, God has a plan for them and the school.  Keep looking to Him and answering yes.  God Bless you all.

Thank you to all holy priests who have given their lives in education to bring souls closer to Christ. Thank you Fr. Aaron, you are a gift to a world of youth lost without Christ. Do not lose heart.
To all you media-influenced people who call evil good and good evil…
Do you deem all fathers evil because there are a few who abuse their children? Even Christ had his Judases and his hateful accusers.

To call any sinner an embarrasment to the church is - well, the pot calling the kettle black…as we ALL have sinned and fall (way) short of the glory of God and Savior.  I pray this school is able to get back on its feet, and that the Legionnaires might rise from the ashes of Maciel and grow and continue to bring forth the kingdom of God.  NO, I am not in R.C. - but am Catholic and pray for all of us, even within our own church to find some unity.

Through the Mercy of Christ!

Dear current SCC students,
                  There is a great Catholic College just 4 hours northeast of Southern Catholic.  It is Belmont Abbey College.  They are willing to offer some great transfer packages to SCC students.  It is a great place.  I transferred there 3 years ago.  They gave me a great package, and I have really enjoyed my time here.  There is no application fee.  www.belmontabbeycollege.edu

The closing of SCC should come as no surprise to those who know the work of John Tracy Ellis from the 1950’s. His critique of higher Catholic education then is just as valid today. He remarked how there were too many small, economically unviable, institutions. There was a dilution of teaching talent spread over too many colleges. The desire to support a limited worldview or “ghetto culture” resulted in a lowering of standards and a failure to engage the wider world. This is happening again with the proliferation of these small, limited institutions.

It’s sad that this fine institution is not able to survive.  Fortunately, there are other good Catholic colleges around.  Just today, I read a note from the Cardinal Newman Society about Holy Spirit College in Atlanta, which is expanding, and might be able to take up some of the slack from SCC’s departure.

I can’t fathom why SCC administrators thought that an alliance with the Legion would do anything but drag the school down, when the Legion is itself in crisis.

For SCC students looking for a new school. JP Catholic will take your credits.
For more information, see the link below:
http://www.jpcatholic.com/southerncatholic.php

I’m sorry but I smell a rat.  Just as the Holy Spirit Prep School in Atlanta that is run by LC/RC decides to start a college, Southern Catholic College which is an hour north of Atlanta and recently taken over by LC/RC is going to shut down?

Did LC/RC feel that Southern Catholic College would draw from their Metro Atlanta plans too much that they are going to shut it down?

Wasn’t there a rather “hostile takeover” of Holy Spirit Prep School by LC/RC?

SCC committed institutional suicide by affiliating itself with the Legionaries.  I am a faculty member at an orthodox Catholic university, and I would NEVER send my own children to any institution under the control of that misguided cult.  And I would say the same thing for the current leadership at Ave Maria (whom I know VERY well, I would add).  AMU has a chance to straighten out someday, but it shows no signs of it so far.  I know many of the faculty members teaching there, and they are very good Catholics, but also share my view of the characters running the place.

I think AMU is just people with good intentions that don’t know how to do things correctly due to lack of experience.  And as you say, it can straighten out over time.

The fact that the Legionaries have just started a new college at Holy Spirit in metro Atlanta and then go in and shut down the only other competition in the whole state is horrible.  Southern Catholic was the first Catholic college EVER in GA.  Certainly it is too soon to start a second one at Holy Spirit.  Unless of course you eliminate one which I hate to say but makes perfect sense for the LC/RC to take over SCC and then shut it down, thus paving the way for Holy Spirit to be the survivor of the two.

Leave David alone.  There is alot of veracity in what he says.  The Legion of Christ is a cult.  They operate in a secretive vindictive way.  They try to attract young people and force them to disassociate themselves from their families, their friends, and their home parishes.  I have personally known of at least three families that have had to rescue their children from the clutches of the Legion of Christ in the middle of the night and their so called schools of higher learning.  Archbishop Donoghue made a terrible mistake when he invited the Legion of Christ to come into the Archdiocese of Atlanta and this was AGAINST the advice and counsel of his priest’s advisory board.  The Legion should be and hopefully will soon be disbanded, their schools closed, and their priests forced to undergo a spiritual retraining as either diocesan priests or as priests in new religious orders.

I say “hooray” that the Legion of Christ will no longer be able to harm fresh, impressionable minds in Atlanta.
Christ has won a victory here over the works of the Devil started by Maciel and his minions.

There may have been certain top people at LC who knew and covered up for Maciel, but that in no way should smear the hundreds of dedicated and holy men in the rest of the order!  Shame on those who judge them all.

To all the students at Southern Catholic College….I STRONGLY encourage you all to please check out Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina.  Their abbey church is actually an official “basilica” and the campus is GORGEOUS! The Catholic identity is VERY solid there and you will not find a better Catholic president anywhere else in the country! Dr. Bill (the president) has brought so much life and “Catholicity” to Belmont Abbey College…it’s so inspiring!  The Benedictine monks there are also VERY awesome!  Abbot Placid is a good and holy man…and I can’t say enough good things about the monks there.  Take care, be not afraid and TRANSFER to Belmont Abbey College! God bless you all!

Texana - nobody judged each and every priest in the LC.  But statements have been made about the Order.  The fact is that the LC are banned from 9 different dioceses in the US.  You can say that there are some liberal dioceses in that group of 9 but by reading above you can see that they have just as many critics in the traditional camps.  How is it that they shut down one college an hour north of Atlanta while expanding a college right in Atlanta?

It is a blessing from our Lord that the LC is finally being investigated.  We should all be grateful.

Marty,

Holy Spirit College is at most loosely affiliated with the Legion.  The Chairman of the Board at the College is Msgr. Dillon, the pastor of Holy Spirit Catholic Church.  The Preparatory school, located on the same campus, has a Legion priest as chaplain and has consecrated women who help out, but have a rather minimal Legion presence.

In addition, Holy Spirit is one of, if not the, wealthiest parish in Atlanta.  Southern Catholic was actually planning (and may yet) to hold graduation ceremonies at Holy Spirit in May.

Fr. Aaron was very interested and in some ways pursued cooperative relationships with not only Holy Spirit parish, but also the College.  Unfortunately, financial circumstances for Southern Catholic have hampered every move that Father could even think about attempting in his brief tenure as president.

Blaming the Legion for the school’s failure is a statement made out of ignorance.  The ship was quite nearly sunk before the Legion got on board—which I realize is something of which many are unaware—and it is only because of them that we were able to stay open this long, enabling my class to graduate and others to transfer with full credits for the year.  I am grateful for their efforts and particularly for the leadership of Fr. Aaron.

Pax Domini,
Brian Kemple
Class President, 2010
Southern Catholic College

Dear all, this thread isn’t about attacking the Legionaries of Christ. Please confine your remarks to the topic. There has been some latitude allowed in the comboxes because of the college’s association with the congregation, and its disgraced founder. Please rein in your comments.

Brian Kemple - what % of teachers at Holy Spirit are members of Regnum Christi?  How many of them came from Pinecrest, the other LC school in Atlanta?  That is not what I would call a “minimal prescence”.  And no matter what amount of presence the LC have there, are you saying they don’t want to expand their presence there even more?

Thomas Wehner - this is not about attacking the LC, this is about asking legitimate questions.  I think it is fair game to ask why they close down one school while expanding another.  At the least there seems to be a conflict of interest.

I have a family member who is a VERY highly placed religious in the Diocese of Atlanta.  (I wish I could be more specific, but I cannot.) I know for a fact that the LC is a growing influence in the diocese, and at the worst possible moment.  It was very stupid of the SCC Board to think they could retain the confidence of benefactors after inviting the LC take-over.  This order is a cancer and must be suppressed. The good priests in the order (and yes, I know there are many) must find another home.  I repeat, the LC is a religious cult, pure and simple.  It destroys families, and now we see, colleges as well.

pointing fingers at the LCs is out of ignorance, It was not a secret before the alleged “LC takeover” that the college was in a dire finnancial crisis.

Making statements like “the LC is a religious cult, pure and simple” is foolish and uninformed. Would a cult allow people to make such statements and keep them on a website? I’ll give the benifit of the doubt that perhaps you don’t know that the NCRegister is owned by LC. Any self-respecting “cult, pure and simple” would, at the very least, strictly monitor comments and remove any negative ones. I don’t see that happening here.

There may be problems with LC/RC, that is fine to discuss, but making inflamatory statements is not helpful in any way, especially ones that serve only to taint the issue at hand.

Your comments about the LC\RC show your ignorance about them. Why don´t you get to know them before you give credit to all the rumors you hear.

I know a great deal about the LC, and have met many families who have had to take drastic measures to rescue their children from their clutches.  I know ex-seminarians who had to develop secret methods for communicating with each other because of the oppressive environment of their LC seminary. I know the coercive techniques used by the LC to wrest fortunes from the elderly, disinheriting their children. I stand by my comments.  Isolation, mind-control, breaking family bonds, making seminarians feel powerless to leave: the LC/RC is a CLASSIC EXAMPLE of a religious cult and should be dissolved.  They are no doubt sensitive to the accusation now, with their empire under siege, and are taking care to appear charitable – hence the “tolerant” approach of the NCRegister – but this changes nothing.  You couldn’t “reform” the LC any more than you could reform the Moonies. Find a good home for the good priests in the order, and close this embarrassing, shameful chapter in the history of the Church.

To anonymous: Shut up, and wait for the Vatican’s decisions! What the Pope says, the legionaries will do. They have only one Goal: that Christ may be more known and better loved.
Pray for them!

To Anonymous:
Wow you are great! I think that you could work for the NYT: have you sent your résumé? I think you forgot things like, they force the seminarians to do bodily even bloody penance oh and the brain washing sessions which they turn them into mindless monsters and that they really have as their goal to take over the Catholic Church and turn it into a new world power, a fourth Reich, for this reason they have not only millions but billions of dollars stored up so that they can buy arms and weapons….You´re exactly right, now,  they are allowing tolerance only to see who their enemies are within\out of the church (that is why you have to put your email here) so that afterwards you they can accident you…… Really you are a joke just feeding off of hurt feelings and misunderstanding. It is interesting that you said that you never have been to a LC\RC center, but only that you know a lot of people who were Exseminarians or were Ex minor seminarians (that is the word you don´t even know). and bla bla bla… Serious though you should try out for the NYT.

@ anonymous: I doubt your statemtent “I know a great deal about the LC”
I have a relative in the LC and from what you write, seems like you know very lttle.

“coercive techniques used by the LC to wrest fortunes from the elderly, disinheriting their children” Like what type of torture?

“They are no doubt sensitive to the accusation now, with their empire under siege, and are taking care to appear charitable…” what empire? and as for you knowing a great deal about the LC, seems like you know little about their charity. Perhaps you want to actually meet them before you start saying things like that.

Sure, might have been a mistake for them to take the SCC, but that’s up to them. At least they have the humility to say that they can’t go any more in debt. Holy Spirit is not one of their schools by the way and the decision to open up a college isn’t up to them.

There are plenty of links out there on the internet that discuss these claims.  NCR is blocking me from posting any here.

I’ve been with the Legion for 13 years now: first as an apostolic, for six years, and then as a brother. If God wants, I will be ordained in December 2016. My formation has brought me in at least 15 different legionary houses and seminaries. I personally know over 600 priests and brothers, and at least 200 lay members of the Regnum Christi Movement. All these numbers in 8 different countries. As well, I know a good number of employees of the Legion… working in the different legionary houses as cook, in maintenance, garden, laundry, etc…
My personal experience has always been positive, thanks be to God.

I didn’t jump in the Legion “blindly”... if I’m still here it is after a long and still on going discernement. In no way I’m being pressured by the Legion. It is out of free will.
Let’s repeat, talking about the Legion, what was said at the beginning of the History of the Church: if it comes from men, it will die. But if it comes from God, it will live.

Out of my own experience, being just like you, trying to discern God’s misterious way of working through the Legion, and His will for me, I can tell you that 3 things have brought me peace, and increased in my heart the conviction that the Legion comes from God:
1-  The unconditional faithfulness to the Holy Father and the Magisterium that the Legion lives.
2-  The faithfulness and radicality in loving Christ and in living the Gospel.
3-  The fruits that I have seen of these 2 points in THE LAY PEOPLE members of Regnum Christi, their love for the Christ, the Church, their commitment in their own parishes, their example of living their family life, etc…

I’m sorry that some of you don’t have a positive experience of the Legion. Remember that part of the material that the Church is made off are sinners, me as first, and this is valid also for the Legion as an order. If we have done something wrong and you have been experimenting it in a personal way, please, forgive us and help us not to do it again! Maybe our Lord wants to use you as an instrument to bring His Legionaries closer to His will! I’m sure that we can count with your prayers and I sincerely thank you for this.

This is not a blog about the Legion, but about the SCC. Sorry for going out of the subject, be sure of my prayers and I wish to all of you happy Easter!
PS: Sorry if my english is not perfect, it is not my first language… I promise to keep studying it hard!

I don’t understand why the Legion took on SCC at such a difficult time in their own history. It may have been altruistic, but it was ill-timed.

When the Legion took over SCC, it was a well-known fact that SCC was in financial trouble. Therefore, the Legion should have had a long-range plan to overcome the financial trouble. Without a longterm commitment, they did no service to the students and facuty of SCC. Did they have a plan? Did they infuse any money into the situation? If not, they have misled the students and faculty of SCC.

The Legion has a purported wealth of billions of euros. With that sort of financial empire, it frankly eludes me that they could not summon up the budget for one more month at SCC. Where is the commitment?

I have seen no evidence to support a claim that the Vatican has frozen their financial assets.

I too believe there are good priests in the Legion; Fr Shawn Aaron is definitely one of them. I have prayed long and hard for over a year for a positive outcome to this scandalous mess afflicting our Church.

I really hope the Legion, the students and faculty of SCC will come up with a better response to the school closure than more platitudes about the beautiful environment at SCC, or gratitude for the experience. The Legion needs to step up and explain themselves, and apologize for the upheaval in the lives of these young people.

God’s will be done.

I’ve been in the Legion of Christ for 16 years now. Have I ever been forced to do bloody physical penance? No. I’ve never been asked to do any penance at all. Have I had to develop secret methods for communicating with other seminarians? No. I use email or I talk to them, just like you do with your friends. Do Legionaries use coercive techniques to wrest fortunes from the elderly? If you call begging for money to put food on the table “coercive techniques”, then ok, but St Francis begged for alms too. I don’t see anything wrong with that. If you expect us to stop begging for money, then what do you want us to do, starve? Have I been subjected to isolation? What do you mean by that? The worst I remember was – oh yeah- that time I spent in eucharistic adoration every day by myself. Enjoyed every second.  Still do. Mind-control? So you think they come into our rooms and perform experiments on us at night? If you backed your accusations up with any examples, I’d be happy to respond, but please don’t just pull things out of the air. Breaking family bonds? Ask my parents.  My vocation has played a large part in keeping my family together. Have I been made to feel powerless to leave? No. I could walk away right now if I wanted. (although I would have to check with Pope Benedict first) Is the Legion of Christ a religious cult? How do you define “religious cult”? Group of men who are doing their humble best to serve God, the Church, and others? In then end, things are very simple for us Legionaries. We will do whatever the Pope tells us to do.  No questions asked. No hesitation. If you have a problem with the Pope, then sorry, I can’t help you, but I can and I will pray for you.

Is it possible for the LC defenders here to comment on the topic at hand, which is the closing of SCC? I would certainly be encouraged to see the LCs, any LC, freely offer criticism of the move. My points on the matter are above; but I’ll restate.
1. why step in and “buy” (not sure if any actual $$s went into the venture) SCC as an AV was beginning and the future of the congregation was uncertain;
2. did the Legion not commit to a plan to carry the school to a state of financial viability? If not, why not?
3. Does the Legion have billions in financial assets or not? There seems to be 3 stories related to their finances - they’re broke, they’re rich, and they’re rich but the Vatican has “frozen” their assets. Which is it?

4. Is Fr Shawn Aaron going to be the one left facing the shell-shocked students and faculty? I think the Legion has placed him in a terrible position, a President with no power and no budget. It’s not his fault, but he has to face the upset mob and somehow dig deep to come up with vague assurances of God’s big plans for them. I hope for his sake this will be the last time he stands by and watches the Legion play games with people’s lives. Poor man.

I am sorry if this sounds judgmental to you LCs who have weighed in here. I don’t doubt you are wonderful committed and holy men. But your superiors are making some monumentally bad decisions these days, and these are unfairly reflected on the entire congregation. I hope you’re giving them some honest feedback, about this situation with SCC and other matters of late. God bless.

Christi M - You have made some excellent posts.  If the LC defenders want others to stick to the topic at hand, they themselves have to stick to the topic at hand.  Please answer the $64,000 question:  Why did the LC get into SCC?  If SCC was already a sinking ship, why get on board in the first place if you have no intentions of infusing money and saving the school?  I also know full well that the LC had a hostile takeover of what was then the “Donnellan School” and became Holy Spirit.  So the claims that they have nothing or little to do with Holy Spirit are completely false.  The LC have a bad track record in Atlanta and this is only raising more questions to another academic institution that seems they should have never entered.

Legion of Christ seminarian said: “In then end, things are very simple for us Legionaries. We will do whatever the Pope tells us to do.  No questions asked. No hesitation.”

Does that include the Pope’s suppression of the so-called “vow of charity”? What about the 2006 communique in which Pope Benedict clearly distinguished between the Legion and the founder? Why did the Legion continue to publicly promote the myth of Maciel as persecuted saint, when it was clear that he had earned the displeasure of His Holiness?

And what about Pope John Paul II’s teaching, promulgated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2487), that the unjust harming of another’s reputation (several apologists of Maciel assured us that Maciel’s accusers, Jason Berry, et al, were lying and/or enemies of the Church) entails “the duty of reparation”. This is clear papal teaching, rooted in the Church’s clear moral tradition. So why did it take over a year for LC/RC to finally apologize to the seminarians who were victims of abuse? Fourteen months seems more than a little hesitant to carry out one’s moral obligation as clearly taught by the Pope.

Again, this is not to point fingers. However, actions speak louder than words.

The young seminarian’s comments are pathetic and typical of the LC. Mind control? Yes, when seminarians are encouraged to “beg for food” like St. Francis, while the order is awash in billions, I do indeed call that mind control. Broken families? Yes, I have personal knowledge of six families who had to take drastic measures to extricate their young men from the LC. I could go on, but what is the point? You see, it’s all some vast conspiracy of slander against the saintly, Christ-like Maciel, orchestrated by the many false pseudo-wives, children, molested seminarians, defrauded inheritors, liars all who work for the New York Times!!!

Today’s new social media (web forums, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) i.e. the new printing press, brings with it the good and the bad. And because you, the user,  are not held responsible for whom or what you say or accuse, it is entirely too easy to launch anonymous attacks on just about anything including religion without accountability. Because of the pure anonymity of the user the walls of common decency, proper behavior, respect, good form, showing love towards our neighbors have given way to, well, simply put, opinion.  Opinion that in falsehood, offends the truth and gravely compromises reputation. The very definition of opinion is a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty. It is an emotional notion or impression that falls short of knowledge. It is easily based on gossip, fear and hearsay. Yet, it is overwhelming our society and intellect, and taking a front seat in support of rash judgment. In the Catechism it states “To avoid rash judgment everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words and deeds in a favorable way” (2478). Rash judgment can lead to grave injury. This is something we should all want to avoid ‘like the plague’. Know that the truth does not lie somewhere in between two opposing, subjective opinions. Truth is objective. Truth is difficult to discern but through proper exegesis (critical analysis), examination, experience, and qualified resources it can be found. In the case of Southern Catholic College, do not let truth be what you want it to be. Take the time to let the events unfold and do the hard work to find and understand the facts before forming ‘opinion’ or condemnation. Pray for wisdom. Know you will be held accountable if not publicly, in private, for any falsehoods you propagate. Be charitable in this time of uncertainty, especially for the students who must discern their future and for the good priests that have dedicated their lives for our Church. If you will take note, most every statement made on the closing of SCC says nothing of the quality of the religious education and formation in faith these students have received. Based on this author’s experience, the faithful transmission of the Deposit of Faith, Sacred Scripture and Tradition, faithfulness to the teachings of the Magisterium, Father’s of the Church, Pope’s John Paul II and Benedict XVI are unwavering in the Legionaries of Christ. Thy Kingdom Come!

Amen!

@ Anonymous
Are you part of the Group that works for the New York Times? Why can´t you get some new ideas? (Please go on I would love to hear more) Have you even met a legionary or are you the type that meet them via blogs, and ex seminarians who were rescued by their families from the five headed monsters of the Legion of Christ, in the middle of the night (may I ask what they told the security guard?)? I think you forgot some things about LC… Like they have a vow of poverty and drive fancy cars and go on expensive vacations. They all need physiological counseling because they must be crazy if they are in the LC. Oh and don´t forget how they never turn on the heat in the winter and force their seminarians to do strenuous exercise to enforce mindless obedience while the upper echelons live in luxury spending the billions if not trillions of dollars. (Dang they could pay for the US health care bill). Please be fair meet a LC or visit one of their seminaries, they are not the phantasms you have created. I am waiting to hear from you.

Gee, I keep trying to draw the comments back to the business at hand, which is the closing of SCC. I am frankly quite frustrated as I seek to find truth, and the comments turn into “quit judging”. IMO, this is the ideal place to ask questions and express opinions. I asked questions in 2 posts above, related to SCC. Are they judgmental questions? All I ask is that, if I’m on the worng trakc with my questions, please, inform me. This is called healthy discourse. To repeat myself:

1. why step in and “buy” (not sure if any actual $$s went into the venture) SCC as an AV was beginning and the future of the congregation was uncertain;
2. did the Legion commit to a plan to carry the school to a state of financial viability? If not, why not?
3. Does the Legion have billions in financial assets or not? There seems to be 3 stories related to their finances - they’re broke, they’re rich, and they’re rich but the Vatican has “frozen” their assets. Which is it?

4. Is Fr Shawn Aaron going to be the one left facing the shell-shocked students and faculty? I think the Legion has placed him in a terrible position, a President with no power and no budget.

I’m not sure what one has to do to get answers without being accused of attacking. I have spent plenty of time and money on LC/RC ventures, I think it’s fair for me to ask valid questions.

Peace.

@Christi M.
I don’t know. Just went to http://www.southerncatholic.org/ and there wasn’t anything there. From what I understand, they didn’t buy SCC but were given it to avoid it closing down. At least they got it buy for another year. I’m not sure if it closed down for good or just while they look for more funds. I hope they (the college and the LC) find it.
The only sure answer will be if Fr Shawn Aaron or someone official makes a statement.
From what I know, the Legion doesn’t have billions. Actually they survive mostly from the donations they receive. From what my relative told me, in his seminary in CT, there were weeks when there wasn’t money to spare and they scraped by.

I was very interested in what Brian Kemple wrote: “Unfortunately, financial circumstances for Southern Catholic have hampered every move that Father could even think about attempting in his brief tenure as president.Blaming the Legion for the school’s failure is a statement made out of ignorance.  The ship was quite nearly sunk before the Legion got on board and it is only because of them that we were able to stay open this long, enabling my class to graduate and others to transfer with full credits for the year.  I am grateful for their efforts and particularly for the leadership of Fr. Aaron.”

I guess that the Legion thought that it could maintain the school but with all that has happened, not forgetting the economic recession, it would have made it much more difficult and at the end why lose millions of dollars out of money when there can’t be found sufficient donors for the school (not the order) willing to help out.

Oops, got deleted a part in the last paragraph - “why lose millions of dollars out of the LC pocket when there aren’t benefactors…

By the way, to all - can we avoid all the charged words when that wouldn’t be that the LCs I know would respond to this - let’s seek the truth. By the way Pete, they did apologize early on. The vow of charity is suppressed - they asked a little bit of time to implement it. Peace.

@Christi M:
I am frankly quite frustrated as I seek to find truth, and the comments turn into “quit judging”. IMO, this is the ideal place to ask questions and express opinions.
I guess you could label me an LC defender, since I was a Legionary for over 10 years and my leaving the Legion had nothing to do with the current situation at hand and everything to do with the vocation that God has called me to. I’ll try to help you out with what I know. You seem to be upset about being labeled a judge. I won’t go so far as to call you that, but there are a lot of things that have to be taken into consideration here and your opinion regarding the “bad decisions” of the superiors can easily be considered harsh. The LC brothers who have been brave enough to write what is in their hearts here (I say brave enough because it seems like any effort they make to do this gets shot down by comments like Anonymous’s that label it as typical brainwash).
First of all, I doubt that any of these brothers know the exact circumstances around the taking over of SCC by the LC except what you and I have read here and by what anyone has been able to read. I for one was very happy to hear about the turnover since I have known several Legionary schools and universities in the countries where I’ve been and I was hoping to have SCC become a great Catholic university in the US. I doubt that the Legionary superiors who made these decisions planned on this happening at all. The Legion has so few men relatively speaking to be able to man everything that they already run to take on a university that already was in financial crisis.
Any of the particular questions that you have about the plans for SCC is not going to be answered unless you personally ask Fr Shawn Aaron about it. I also want to know exactly what happened since it is not normal for a Legionary school to close. I imagine that with time, the answers to your questions will come about but right now is a little too soon to judge.
About the financial situation of the Legion, while it may be true that the Legion fundraises quite a bit, they need every penny they can get. Just take a brief look at the number of schools, centers, and seminaries that the Legion has to get an idea of the amount of money that they need. The seminary in Rome has over 400 seminarians if I’m not mistaken. If you still have doubts, just wait until the Visitation report is made public. The economic situation was one of the things that the Vatican has looked into.
I seriously doubt that Fr Shawn will be left alone to defend what has happened. I personally know many of the Legionary superiors including Fr Alvaro and am certain that he will not be left alone. My personal experience tells me that it’s not like that at all. I repeat, not at all.
This probably has not helped, but I thought that it was about time someone tries to answer your questions. Peace be with you!

P.S. Ted might like to know that Southern Catholic’s webpage does have some answers. Check the news section where the document from Bishop Gregory is attached as a PDF.

Sorry, I meant to write above:

The LC brothers who have been brave enough to write what is in their hearts here (I say brave enough because it seems like any effort they make to do this gets shot down by comments like Anonymous’s that label it as typical brainwash) are not the ones who were present at the council meetings to takeover SCC. They are most likely just as sad to see their school close down as you are.

It is my understanding that the Legion infused the school with cash to try to keep it open….it just wasn’t enough.  For those of you who believe the LC is a cult….do you believe everything you read?  The founder did some horrible things, no question about it…but if your father did those things, would that make you a bad person?  Wait and see what happens when the visitation is complete - I’m confident that the LC and RC will still be here, maybe changed for the better, but still here serving God.

To Anonymous. It is a bad thing when the wise man is silent. It is even worse when the fool opens his mouth. Sincerely, Demosthenes

Thanks, Lime, for the good report.

Terri, thanks for the quite simple reasoning there.  Additionally, the fact of the Legion’s approval by the Church (and the Vicar of Christ) place means something: the charism of the Legion is from God. The founder is not the originator nor final word on any charism.  This was reiterated in the communique that communicated Fr Maciel’s punishment to retire from all public ministry.

Thank Lime for the good summary there!  I learned a lot in not a lot of space.  Good job!
Also, regarding the Fr Maciel saint line, I don’t see so much of a contradiction.  Think about it:  if what the Legionaries and RC members knew was the good public image of Fr Maciel, and not his well-hidden private scandal, what else is available to think of him (until the whole thing really blew open publically)?
Another thing: the Holy See did not open what they discovered word for word for the public out of discretion, and public means everyone, save those major superiors who obviously would be explained the reasoning behind the Holy See’s decision on Fr Maciel.

On a note on the use of “major superiors”, it means effectively the general superiors, not just any superiors (just in case there’s any confusion).

Regarding Anonomous, I think if the Legion were billionaires, SCC would received more financial backing.  They are a religious congregation, not Microsoft!
Also, Terri, Michael and Mac have good points on the other question that surfaced here in the blog.  LCs and RCs can’t be to blame for Fr Maciel’s private scandal.  As well, why would LCs and RCs expect less of their founder than other founders: St. Francis, St. Dominic, Bl. Mother Teresa?
Being called to transmit the charism generally comes with a special holiness, as those saints show.  Fr Maciel transmitted the charism as the Church’s approval of it shows, but unfortunately he had problems in the moral sphere.  As Terri said, don’t blame the LCs and RCs for that second part!

To Terri B - the Legion did not infuse cash, according to Fr Shawn Aaron.

“Father Aaron said that when the Legionaries of Christ came in last summer “they said they could not support the school.” The religious order provided a chaplain and was willing to help raise funds for Southern Catholic. “
http://www.catholicreview.org/subpages/storyworldnew-new.aspx?action=7961

Thanks Lime for your efforts to respond to my questions.

In the article linked above, Fr Shawn Aaron is quoted (I think) as saying they’re trying to find 6 million dollars by June, to stay open. That seems like a lot of money! Especially for such a small school (only 170 students?) I know they hope to grow, but that seems like an extravagant use of money for so few students.

I have seen the grounds at SCC, it is beautiful there. Couldn’t they move to a smaller and presumably less expensive location? That land has got to be worth a fortune. Sure, it would be nice to live there and go to school, but if the main thrust of the school is its Catholic environment, they can achieve that on cheaper land.

I assume the land is owned primarily by the bank?

blablablabla, this discussion is about SCC or LC? I’ll not spend more time with this stupid discussion.

Have faith and pray.  In God, all things are possible if you ASK.

You know some of you are right it is sad that a school like scc is closing and all this of how god has other plans for the school and the students but something that others do not know is that half of the school there smoked weed and drank every weekend. I know of alteast 2 students studying to become priest also partook in these activities. So i believe god shut this institution down for fear of what would become of scc and i do know scc found out about these little shindigs but i bet they never said anything.

Wow I must say I am not amazed that you all stooped to such bickering on such a foolish topic. If you want to know what is wrong with things it is that none of you can preform the very things that you spout every bleeding day. You spout temperance and jump at the first insult. You say that you encourage piety yet you are so spiteful that you end up biting your own noses. You are also completely pathetic in that you wont even list things under your own names. Where is your courage? 

There that said let me push this little blog in a new direction: Does any one know anything about the accreditation of the college and what those whom have degrees or credits from the college can do with them? Also does any one know who the new contact for the loans are now? If any one knows I would love to find out.

Posted by Christopher Milliser First class graduate Southern Catholic College 2009

My son attended the first year of the first class at Southern Catholic.  It was not a good experience,he did not have any classes that transfered to his four year college due to the school not being accredited—it was a total waste of time and money.  Now he is being harrassed by an agency that took over collections for student loans since the closing of the school.  They tacked $2,000 on to the original loan amount (which he had already paid down to less than $4,000)and call monthly asking for a payment. Why do we have to pay $2,000 more than originally owed the school?  We can’t even contact someone regarding forgiving the loan or working regarding paying off the orginal balance. And where is that money going? Is anyone else out there dealing with this Collection agency and/ or on going effects of financing through the school?

Terry, I just read your comment from March.  I want to know what the students from the Innaugural Class are suppose to do with a worthless piece of paper (Degree) that bears no worth in the job market.  After four years of “toughing it out” and staying with the hope of making SCC a reality, we are now left with paying tuition for a degree that is not recognized by the College Board.  And yes, the tuition is being collected by an agency that leaves us hung out here with nothing to show for our money.

wHAT HAPPENED to the Catholic Mission??? This was the opportunity for the Archdiocese of Atlanta to raise the bar… Archbishop Gregory was on the board of directors and knew first hand the needs of the college.  They involved the Legionaires of Christ who can’t raise funding because of their affiliation with an adulturous and child molesting FOUNDER in Mexico.  Many jobs were lost—Millions of donors funds were waisted and dreams were crushed…
Thank God for President Obama…  we have $330 a week to pay our $2500 week bills with. Thank God for Bishop Gregory who ate steaks at our dinners but never required the Archdiocese of Atlanta to pass a special collection at all 100 churches or even made other Georgian Catholics aware of the college existence.  There were Parishes less than 30 miles away that never heard of the college.  The college got more support from the Archdiocese of Savahanna,  Shame—-Shame===Shame on the Catholic Church and all in Authority.  They have $50 million settlement for the children abused in Alaska 30 years ago and NOTHING for an institution that is trying to produce “Moral and Ethical Leaders.”
  I am proud to be menber of the Episcopal Church. A church that weekly prays to be recognized as a “Catholic”—-Universal Church.