Regnum Christi

[Sailahína]

What are your thoughts on the RC movement? Have you ever been in any of there clubs, camps, ect?
I have been going to a RC camp for 5 years and this year I'm not going. I have found some problems with them asking for money, making you feel like you HAVE to be a good zealous person to be in the clubs, and taking away a lot of family time.

No offense to anyone who may be in the movement here, but I just wanted to bring it up for discussion.

[ReinnieR]

Miriam might be able to respond to this. i'll e-mail this to her

Edited May 25, 2006 by ReinnieR

[ReinnieR]

[quote name='Dudette' post='707036' date='May 25 2005, 06:09 AM']
ok, you can post this on that thread:

I'm 16, I have been going to Regnum Christi camps since I was 10, I joined ECYD when I was 11 and have gone to their camps ever since. I was a PC in 2003-04 but I'm back home now.

You don't have to go to their camps and I do agree that they can get very expensive, but they just want you to go because a lot of girls that skip one year, will drift away and never come back. I was a counselor at the camps for 2 years and that's exactly what I saw. If you do happen not to go, just make sure you'll keep in touch with the Consecrated or Spiritual guide, that's really what they want. I remember last year I didn't want to go, it seemed like it was just becoming routine, even though I didn't have the money, God provided. I went, I was kinda bored, but God tought me a lot. Every day we had Mass, being able to say our night prayers and morning prayers in front of the Eucharist, just that made my whole camp worth while.

About the clubs, we have no clubs here, unfortunately but you know.. when you get to a certain age, you start to think you have no life other than going to the clubs and camps, talk to your Spiritual Guide about it, tell her what you think, it's alright to go one a week, once a week isn't much. Also, this year I'm not going to the camp, I just simply don't have money... but! I am going to go to the 8 day Spiritual Exercises in Rhode Island after Christmas, if I'm not going to camp, I need to go to something else to get me that Spiritual food that I need. If I didn't go to any, I would definitely have some type of break down.

If you have some type of "thing" against the movement, don't bring it to other people. Talk to the Consecrated about it because they are the ones who can really supply you your answers. They are right when it comes to that if you don't participate in certain things that you can't be a zealous person. Because they know that without those certain spiritual elements which you can increase/get while you're at a camp (retreat, etc.), it's impossible to be zealous.

Hope this helps a little, if you have more questions, just find my name and email me, my s/n on phatmass is Dudette but I'm kind of on a break from phatmass.

[/quote]

[scardella]

I know this is going to sound really negative, but it seems like some sort of secret society/commune sometimes. In all the parishes I've been to around here, I haven't heard much about Regnum Christi. My experience of it is that it seems to be like a fleeting deer...every once in a while you get to see it, but it's usually really elusive.

When I went to FUS, the RC group seemed very underground. I wouldn't hear anything about it, but I know there was a group there. Every once in a while I'd see them, and they weren't in a household. I eventually found out that they were RC. The few times I've seen it around here were the same. I just found out that two of my friends are doing a year volunteering for them, but I had no idea that they were even involved with it.

The whispered rumors I had heard @ FUS were that it was "the Catholic version of the Borg." Click here for a description if you don't know what the Borg is: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg[/url] They take over your life if you let it.

The thing is that I know they do all sorts of good things, and the Legionaries I've met have been pretty hardcore. It still throws me off, though, that they seem to operate underground. I've never heard any announcements at Mass anywhere regarding RC, nobody's ever invited me to their functions to check them out. (There was that odd silent discernment retreat that I wasn't told was silent or about discerning priesthood or who the Legionaries were, etc.)

[Kristen]

What does RC have for adults?

[amandaplus5]

Regnum Christi is under the Legionaries of Christ. Regnum christi is for adults, and ECYD is for youth (up until the age of 17).

There are a lot of misconceptions about Regnum Christi. Yes, they do ask for money, but how else are they going to pay for all of the amazing things that they do? I've found that they actually encourage family time instead of taking away from it. They have a lot of family oriented events and my Spiritual Director encourages me to set aside a lot of time for family.

As for it seeming "secret," that statement really confuses me because that hasn't been my experience with the Legionaries at all. Sure, they're not announcing every little thing at every event, but that's because they want to attract people with a serious spirituality. They're not in people's faces, but that doesn't mean that they're "underground."

[scardella]

[quote name='amandaplus5' post='990578' date='May 25 2006, 04:25 PM']
There are a lot of misconceptions about Regnum Christi. Yes, they do ask for money, but how else are they going to pay for all of the amazing things that they do? I've found that they actually encourage family time instead of taking away from it. They have a lot of family oriented events and my Spiritual Director encourages me to set aside a lot of time for family.[/quote]

Well, what do they do? I've never gotten a real understanding of that. I hear that they do all these things, but it seems like if you're not "in the loop" then you could go your whole life as a devout Catholic and never even hear of RC...I worked at a church parish for six months, and I heard nary a word about them in the whole time I was there. FYI, I'm not cut out for administrative work, which was what I was doing.

[quote]As for it seeming "secret," that statement really confuses me because that hasn't been my experience with the Legionaries at all. Sure, they're not announcing every little thing at every event, but that's because they want to attract people with a serious spirituality. They're not in people's faces, but that doesn't mean that they're "underground."
[/quote]

I'm just telling you my experience. I'm not trying to say that they're intentionally being secretive, but they seem to have very little in the way of publicity (see above). It's like they don't seem to have a "presence" in the same way that the Jesuits, the Franciscans, Dominicans, etc. do. We have Dominicans, Ursulines, Jesuits, Redemptorists, etc. running schools; we have Franciscan, Dominican, etc. parishes. RC and the Legionaries, it seems, winds up w/ "Who are they?" When I was at FUS, there was a group of them there, and it tended to function in similar ways to a household, but didn't have the same "we exist and are integrated with the school" character that the households did. I know for a fact that there are people in RC around here, but it's like RC people stick together away from other people.

I have met a few Legionaries, and they seemed really hardcore; very strict. They seemed to be structure-driven; almost seemed OCD.

I know I'm sounding REALLY negative about it all. It's just that something hasn't struck me right about then, but I'm sure if there was more visibility some of that might go away.

[Sailahína]

Well,
let me just say, of course they need money and I did give money I gave about $250 a year. But this year they are asking $400 and I JUST can't afford that, and I've been going to this camp for 5 years (since I was 10) and this year I was SO excited to be a counseler and I can't go 4 of my friends have dropped out also. They are loosing a lot of girls that way I think.

I also have had problems with my girls group (in the past, I'm not in one now) I made a lot of friends and we were having a lot of fun, until a RC leader just left and we had no one to lead so it pretty much came to a dead stop and I haven't talked to those god friends I've made since.

[nowak.chris]

[quote name='scardella' post='990425' date='May 25 2006, 01:33 PM']
When I went to FUS, the RC group seemed very underground. I wouldn't hear anything about it, but I know there was a group there. Every once in a while I'd see them, and they weren't in a household. I eventually found out that they were RC. The few times I've seen it around here were the same. I just found out that two of my friends are doing a year volunteering for them, but I had no idea that they were even involved with it.

The whispered rumors I had heard @ FUS were that it was "the Catholic version of the Borg." Click here for a description if you don't know what the Borg is: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg[/url] They take over your life if you let it.

The thing is that I know they do all sorts of good things, and the Legionaries I've met have been pretty . It still throws me off, though, that they seem to operate underground. I've never heard any announcements at Mass anywhere regarding RC, nobody's ever invited me to their functions to check them out. (There was that odd silent discernment retreat that I wasn't told was silent or about discerning priesthood or who the Legionaries were, etc.)
[/quote]

The group at FUS is sort-of underground, they (as of my last note) were not allowed to have any real presence on campus. The Legion and FUS had a run in involving spiritual direction, and things have been tense since. (Also at one point the Regnum Christi group had managed to get itself in the household budget, and was commanding a considerable portion). The RC group has since "disappeared", but whether that was the best policy?

If you are intrested in knowing more about the LC or RC, I'm sure you can contact them through their website, but (as with any religious community or organization) go in with your eyes wide open.

chris