VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The head of the consecrated women's branch of Regnum Christi, which is associated with the Legionaries of Christ, has resigned.
Malen Oriol, a Spanish member of Regnum Christi, had been offering to resign since October and did so again Jan. 24 during a meeting in Rome with Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, whom Pope Benedict XVI appointed in 2010 to oversee the reform of the Legionaries and Regnum Christi. The reform began after revelations that the order's founder, the late Mexican Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, had fathered children and sexually abused seminarians.
Legionaries Father Andreas Schoggl, the order's spokesman in Rome, told Catholic News Service Feb. 16 that Oriol originally was appointed to a six-year term in 2004, but stayed on past 2010 to avoid even more changes as the Legionaries and Regnum Christi tried to reform their organizations.
In a letter sent Feb. 12 to Regnum Christi's 800 consecrated women, Oriol said she needed "time, prayer and distance to find God's will for me."
Oriol also noted that "in recent years, there has been been a growing number of consecrated who have abandoned" the group either because they discerned another vocation for themselves or because of the "history and life of our founder," Father Maciel.
She did not say whether she personally would continue as a consecrated member of Regnum Christi, join a group of other former members in seeking to live their consecration under a local bishop or would leave consecrated life.
A statement on the U.S. website of Regnum Christi said the organization did not have details about the plans of a group wanting to serve under a bishop, "but we wish them all the best in their new endeavor and pray that they will be blessed with great success in their spiritual growth and service to the church. We are deeply grateful for all the years that they have lived as consecrated members of Regnum Christi."
Father Schoggl told CNS, "At the beginning of 2012, there were about 900 consecrated members in Regnum Christi: over 800 women and about 100 men. In comparison, at the end of 2008, there were 1,064 consecrated members, 956 women and 108 men."
About 200 members left between 2009 and 2011 and about 50 new members were consecrated in that period, resulting in the net loss of about 150 members, he said.
