Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 52
and materialism. Leary‘s optimistic if reckless IFIF movement burned out in strikingly
tragicomic fashion as a naïve victim of the very same sacramental drug it sought to glorify.
Reference
Stevens, Jay, 1988. Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream. New York: Harper and Row.
Endnotes
[i] Jay Stevens, 1988. Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream, p. 185.
[ii] IBID, p. 201.
[iii] IBID, p. 194.
[iv] IBID, p. 186.
Joe Szimhart
Our Father, who art in bed: A Naïve and Sentimental Dubliner in the Legion
of Christ
By J. Paul Lennon, J. Paul Lennon (and BookSurge Publishing), 2008. ISBN-10: 1-
4196-7662-8 ISBN-13: 978-1419676628 (paperback). $15. 400 pages.
Would you, as a loving parent, send your seventeen-year-old son to dedicate his life to a
highly manipulative organization controlled by a sexual predator? Of course, you would not.
And neither did the loving parents of John Paul Lennon, but… it did happen. What happened
was that a culturally motivated, naive young man from Ireland accepted the glowing
promise of Catholic recruiters to help form a new religious movement in Mexico in 1961.
Lennon felt drawn to the adventure with holy men who would guide and protect his journey.
What could be better? Despite lingering doubts about everything from his sexual expression
to the existence of God, Lennon signed on and served, eventually as an ordained priest, in
the Legion of Christ for twenty-three years. He formally left the ―congregation‖ in 1984. This
book answers the question, why?
The Legion was founded by a young Father Marcial Maciel in 1941. In many respects, the
Legion of Christ and its lay subsidiary Regnum Christi closely resembles Opus Dei, the
Catholic organization maligned in The Da Vinci Code. Both are controversial, conservative,
hierarchical Catholic groups formed ostensibly to provide members with rules for a saintly
life and a way to serve others. Both groups target wealthy donors and aggressively seek
favor from the Vatican. Indeed, Opus Dei‘s founder was canonized recently. The same
beatific fate may not befall Father Maciel, as long as strong evidence continues to appear
regarding his mismanagement of the Legion and his decades‘ long legacy of sexual abuse of
young men.
J. Paul Lennon‘s self-published autobiography is the second significant exposé in English of
the Legion and Fr. Maciel, the first being Vows of Silence (2004). There are many exposés
in Spanish. Lennon‘s story brings the Legion experience into intimate focus through the lens
of his life, his dreams, his sins, and his struggles. Lennon broke with the Legion after
confronting the leader publicly about mistreatment of relocated members. Lennon was also
fed up with the double standards regarding vows of poverty while the leaders basked in
favors and food from wealthy donors. Although Lennon never encountered sexual abuse
personally while a Legion member, he documents what he learned after he left the group.
Be prepared for specificity regarding Maciel‘s controversial behavior toward the end of the
book. (The title refers to Fr. Maciel‘s myriad illnesses that required frequent time-outs for
and materialism. Leary‘s optimistic if reckless IFIF movement burned out in strikingly
tragicomic fashion as a naïve victim of the very same sacramental drug it sought to glorify.
Reference
Stevens, Jay, 1988. Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream. New York: Harper and Row.
Endnotes
[i] Jay Stevens, 1988. Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream, p. 185.
[ii] IBID, p. 201.
[iii] IBID, p. 194.
[iv] IBID, p. 186.
Joe Szimhart
Our Father, who art in bed: A Naïve and Sentimental Dubliner in the Legion
of Christ
By J. Paul Lennon, J. Paul Lennon (and BookSurge Publishing), 2008. ISBN-10: 1-
4196-7662-8 ISBN-13: 978-1419676628 (paperback). $15. 400 pages.
Would you, as a loving parent, send your seventeen-year-old son to dedicate his life to a
highly manipulative organization controlled by a sexual predator? Of course, you would not.
And neither did the loving parents of John Paul Lennon, but… it did happen. What happened
was that a culturally motivated, naive young man from Ireland accepted the glowing
promise of Catholic recruiters to help form a new religious movement in Mexico in 1961.
Lennon felt drawn to the adventure with holy men who would guide and protect his journey.
What could be better? Despite lingering doubts about everything from his sexual expression
to the existence of God, Lennon signed on and served, eventually as an ordained priest, in
the Legion of Christ for twenty-three years. He formally left the ―congregation‖ in 1984. This
book answers the question, why?
The Legion was founded by a young Father Marcial Maciel in 1941. In many respects, the
Legion of Christ and its lay subsidiary Regnum Christi closely resembles Opus Dei, the
Catholic organization maligned in The Da Vinci Code. Both are controversial, conservative,
hierarchical Catholic groups formed ostensibly to provide members with rules for a saintly
life and a way to serve others. Both groups target wealthy donors and aggressively seek
favor from the Vatican. Indeed, Opus Dei‘s founder was canonized recently. The same
beatific fate may not befall Father Maciel, as long as strong evidence continues to appear
regarding his mismanagement of the Legion and his decades‘ long legacy of sexual abuse of
young men.
J. Paul Lennon‘s self-published autobiography is the second significant exposé in English of
the Legion and Fr. Maciel, the first being Vows of Silence (2004). There are many exposés
in Spanish. Lennon‘s story brings the Legion experience into intimate focus through the lens
of his life, his dreams, his sins, and his struggles. Lennon broke with the Legion after
confronting the leader publicly about mistreatment of relocated members. Lennon was also
fed up with the double standards regarding vows of poverty while the leaders basked in
favors and food from wealthy donors. Although Lennon never encountered sexual abuse
personally while a Legion member, he documents what he learned after he left the group.
Be prepared for specificity regarding Maciel‘s controversial behavior toward the end of the
book. (The title refers to Fr. Maciel‘s myriad illnesses that required frequent time-outs for
