Seeking the truth: “It is extremely important for me to be honest, open, transparent”
In response to José Luis Restán’s question about how Father John Connor, L.C., has experienced these years of renewal and purification, he recounted that when he learned about the founder’s double life, he was reading about Divine Mercy. He felt “liberated from resentment,” but also aware “of the great damage that had been done” and “called to seek the truth so that the legionaries can live in the truth,” he confessed. “It is extremely important for me to be honest, open, transparent,” he said. “And we have lived a miracle, the truth, because we could have been dissolved,” he pointed out. “And God, in His Providence, has allowed that.” Father John explained that he feels called “to the mission of helping in the conversion and renewal to which God has called us.”
“Missions spirit, which we love, and a strong and central experience of the living Christ”
Regarding the charism, he says “we are part of a spiritual family, the Regnum Christi, and together with the vocations of Regnum Christi, we share a common charism, mission, and spirituality,” he said. And from the charism, what they seek is “to imitate Christ, the apostle of the Kingdom, who goes out to meet people, revealing the love of His heart, forming them as apostles, and sending them out with others in this great work of evangelization,” he commented. “It’s a great missionary spirit that we love,” he affirmed, “and a strong and central experience with Jesus Christ, the living Christ, forming apostles.”
Victims: “We have caused harm, there is a wound, and we want to heal it”
He was also asked about the capitular documents “Conversion and Reparation” and “Protect and Heal“. “The first is addressed to victims and their families,” he clarified, “to ask for forgiveness because we have caused harm, there is a wound, and we want to heal it, and it is our duty to do everything possible to help all those people.” Father John Connor recounted that the experience during the Chapter of listening to abuse victims firsthand was “extremely impactful” and “opened our eyes not only to the harm and suffering of those people but also to our history.”
“We don’t want to leave things as they are!”: A cultural change that comes from conversion
Looking to the future, José Luis Restán asked how the legionaries, the consecrated laity, and the lay faithful will emerge from this stage: “Our outlook is one of hope in God and His mercy,” explained the new general director of the Legionaries of Christ, “and a desire for change, a cultural change that comes from our conversion.” Remembering Evangelii Gaudium, he exclaimed: “We don’t want to leave things as they are, that can’t be.” “God, Christ, calls us to more and better.” “With His grace and from deep gratitude, because He has allowed us to exist, we must ask God to grant us a change of heart and mind.” At the same time, “we feel a profound calling to help the Church, to form apostles to transform society with the Gospel, to preach it, with love for Christ and the grace He gives us,” he concluded Father John Connor, L.C.
