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[gdlr_column size=”1/1″]Seeking the truth: “It is extremely important for me to be honest, open and transparent”.”Fr. John Connor, L.C., has had your first interview after being elected general manager of the Legionaries of Christ. It has been in the COPE Network, in the program El Espejo, directed and presented by José Luis Restán.
When asked by José Luis Restán about how Fr. John Connor, L.C., lived these years of renewal and purification, he said that when he found out about the Founder's double life he was reading about Divine Mercy. He felt “liberated from rancor,” but also aware “of the -great harm he had done” and “called to seek the truth so that we Legionaries can live in truth,” he confessed. “It is extremely important for me to be honest, open and transparent,” he said. “And it is that we have lived a miracle, the truth, because we could have been dissolved,” he has pointed out. “And God, in his Providence, has allowed that.” Fr. John explained that he feels called “to the mission of helping in the conversion and renewal to which God has called us.”.
“Missionary spirit, which we love, and a strong and central experience of the living Christ.”
About the charisma, he says “we are part of a spiritual family, the Regnum Christi, and together with the vocations of Regnum Christi we have 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 the people, revealing the love of his heart, forming them as apostles and sending them together with others in this great work of evangelization,” he said. “It is a great missionary spirit that we love,” he said, “and with a strong and central experience with Jesus Christ, the living Christ, and forming apostles.”.
Victims: “We have done damage, there is a wound, and we want to heal it”.”
He has also been asked about the chapter documents “Conversion and Repair” and “Protect and Heal.“. “The first is addressed to the victims and their families,” he said, “to ask their forgiveness, because we have done damage, there is a wound, and we want to heal it, and it is up to us to do everything possible to help all these people”. Fr. John Connor referred to the experience during the Chapter of listening to victims of abuse in first person, which was “extremely shocking” and “opened our eyes not only to the hurt and suffering of these people but also to our own history.
“We don't want to leave things as they are!”: A culture change that comes from conversion
Looking to the future, José Luis Restán asked him how the Legionaries, consecrated lay people and the laity are coming out of this stage: “Our spirit is one of hope in God and his mercy”, explained the new Director General of the Legionaries of Christ, “and of a desire for change, a change of culture that comes from our conversion”. Recalling the Evangelii Gaudium, He exclaimed: “We do not want to leave things as they are, it cannot be. ”God, Christ, calls us to more and better“. ”With his grace and from a deep gratitude, because he has allowed us to exist, it is up to us to ask God to grant us a change of heart and mind“. At the same time ”we feel a deep call to help the Church, to form apostles to transform society with the Gospel, to preach it, with the love of Christ and the grace He gives us“, concluded Fr. John Connor, L.C.
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