July 12, 2024

Francisco Gámez, married with four children, is a Venezuelan lawyer who also lived in Canada for the past decade before recently returning home to Caracas. In this interview, he sums up for us the recent history of Regnum Christi with his experience of being a member of the general government for eleven years, from the initial moment of confusion, mistrust, and pain in the wake of the founder’s double life. As a direct witness of the renewal process, he has now seen how Regnum Christi “opened its new sails after the storm and placed itself at its captain’s disposal to navigate where he would indicate, with the winds he would provide.”

In this interview conducted by the Regnum Christi Office of Communications for the Territory of Columbia and Venezuela, this lay member of Regnum Christi and ECYD member from a young age shares his experience of searching for a canonical configuration that would encompass the four vocations, of discerning the lay member’s role, and of the challenge to make this new structure work. This final step was taken in the first General Convention that was celebrated in Rome this year. “Regnum Christi has the responsibility to tell its story. We should be visible and humble witnesses to God’s mercy and to how, in communion with the Church and under her guidance, it is possible to experience the grace of God, who makes all things new,” Francisco explained. Regnum Christi’s website for Colombia and Venezuela interviewed him at the end of his collaboration in the General Directive College, after eleven years.

Since the gathering of lay members with the Pontifical Delegate in 2013, you have been accompanying the renewal process of Regnum Christi by collaborating with the general government. Tell us about the path you have travelled and how you have lived it as a layperson.

As we know, beginning in 2009, Regnum Christi passed through a deep institutional crisis when the founder’s double life was discovered. This crisis resulted in the Holy See’s intervention in the Legionaries. Between 2010 and 2013, the Pontifical Delegate got to know the global reality of Regnum Christi and guided its destiny.

My participation began in 2013, and since then, eleven straight years full of many experiences have passed. I would divide this period into three phases. The first was 2013-2014, in which I participated in the gathering of 38 laypeople with the Delegate, and then in following meetings as a member of the elected commission of four lay members_— José Antonio Lebrija, Kerrie Rivard, Lucia Hauser, and myself—, as well as a guest at the General Assembly of the Lay Consecrated Men and the General Chapter of the Legionaries.

I would say this first phase was one of knowledge. During those months, I lived through the pain of uncertainty, the lack of points of reference, and distrust. At the same time, however, I experienced the strength of God’s hand that sustains you while you walk through the valley of the shadow of death. The ship named Regnum Christi was sailing through storms. It had serious damage to its structure, and its crew was shaken; some abandoned ship, and others mistrusted each other.

The second phase, 2014-2019, was the one in which I participated as the only lay member who was part of the General Directive Committee. The task of the Directive Committee was double: to govern Regnum Christi and to find a canonical configuration that would encompass the four vocations that comprise it, after designing and executing a discernment process so that the lay members could define their identity and mission in Regnum Christi. And so, as we carried out the ordinary government, from 2014 to 2016 we worked on the identity of the lay members and then on the canonical configuration of Regnum Christi, which was finished in 2019. It was a very grueling, complicated, and challenging process, but as we lived it with God and his Church, we could feel his help and his mercy.

In this phase, the discernment process of Regnum Christi included the participation of more than 10,000 lay members throughout the world. The ship, sailing close to the shore, needed to be repaired and reconfigured, and the crew had to agree on new ways of working collaboratively, to rebuild mutual trust, and to create new synergy and enthusiasm.

Finally, there is the third phase, 2019-2024, during which I was one of the two laypeople who assisted the General Directive College. In this period, some years of which included  the pandemic, we had the task of governing and bringing to life the Statutes, the Regulations, and the Rule of Life of the Lay Faithful Associated to the Regnum Christi Federation, by creating organs of government, the secondary rules of operation, and administration—configuring and living out the model and style of a collegiate government. With this, the ship installed and raised new sails; the crew tried out new ways to work in order to sail better, and they prepared themselves to listen to the course God had reserved for them.

I thank God for having given me the opportunity to live these three phases in a meaningful position because I take away much more than I have given. I have acquired new professional skills, cultivated deep friendships, and have grown humanly and spiritually.

The participation of laypeople in the discernment, government, and leadership of Regnum Christi is a good that we should create, care for, and empower.

What do you believe is the greatest achievement in this process so far?

It is too early to appreciate fully how God has accompanied us in these times. A few years from now, perhaps with the next generation, we will be able to assess what we have lived with greater serenity and perspective. The fact is that we now want to be a Regnum Christi that goes out into the world on mission, that thinks about how to love more, and how to evangelize the world better. Thus, I think that arriving at the General Convention to discern our apostolic priorities for 2024-2030 was the greatest achievement in this phase. The most and important thing is that the four vocations experienced this common discernment together, listening to each other, in communion, in the order and ways that we have given ourselves. Surely, this ship would remain safe anchored at port, but it is made to put out to sea, to unfurl its sails, and to take the course that God sets out for us. This is where we are now.

What has been the most difficult? What are the biggest challenges for Regnum Christi?

For me, as a layperson, the most difficult challenge has been to say with my words and show by my actions, in every moment and situation, that lay members in the discernment, government, and leadership of Regnum Christi are an important good that we should create, care for, and empower—not just with words and deeds, but also with the commitment and the community living of a common charism with the other three vocations.

In general, I would say that the greatest challenge for Regnum Christi would be fully living a vocational culture in which we all treasure everyone’s vocation, where we live and admire what each of us is called to be, and hence to give God space so that he may grant us holy marriages, men and women of the Kingdom, enthusiastic young people, joyful children, who will be the seed of new Legionaries, consecrated women, lay consecrated men, and lay members of Regnum Christi in the future.

Finally, I have also witnessed an effort for truth and reconciliation. Regnum Christi’s history has light and shadows. I have felt the pain and shame of the scandal and damage inflicted on victims of abuse. At the same time, I have felt the strength of humility and forgiveness. This has left its mark on all of us, humanly and institutionally. There is still work to be done, and it is a challenge to continue resolutely on this delicate path, but I am aware of the general directors’ unwavering determination to keep travelling down this road of justice and healing.

I have also witnessed an effort for truth and reconciliation. Regnum Christi’s history has light and shadows. I have felt the pain and shame of the scandal and damage inflicted on victims of abuse. At the same time, I have felt the strength of humility and forgiveness

How did you live the First Ordinary General Convention of Regnum Christi?

I lived it in a very different way from the convention that approved the Statutes of the Regnum Christi Federation and the Rule of Life of the Lay Faithful Associated to the Regnum Christi Federation. This first convention of an apostolic character, of discernment, was for me like witnessing a miracle. I felt like a part, a testimony, and a recipient of a huge miracle. In the plenary sessions of the Convention, I was often left immersed and distracted as I saw the immense gift we were receiving from God, then by the hard spiritual and human battles we went through to get to this point. The ship opened its new sails after the storm and placed itself at its captain’s disposal to navigate where he would indicate, with the winds he would provide. God has thus been great to us, and the gift of Regnum Christi is a treasure that we must love and take care of with great gratitude and humility.

Looking backwards and forwards, how do you view the role of the lay member of Regnum Christi? Has anything changed? How do you hope it will be?

As I mentioned before, over 10,000 laypeople participated in the local and territorial process that brought us to the convention that established the Federation. More than 15,000 participated in this process leading up to the first Ordinary General Convention in 2024. In these eleven years of my personal journey, I have noticed that lay members of Regnum Christi are more keenly aware of taking responsibility and living out their vocation. There is still a long way to go. One pending task is to obtain some canonical changes that allow lay members to participate with a deliberative vote alongside the consecrated vocations. We also need to continue to deepen in the formation of the lay vocation and to strengthen their role in the leadership, initiatives, and management of the life of Regnum Christi on all levels. However, I am convinced that the sufficient foundations have been laid in order to live out the gift of Regnum Christi together in an adequate way.

What do you hope for from Regnum Christi in the next six years?

I hope for a Regnum Christi that fights and prays hard to God not to fall into the three temptations that the Convention’s communiqué speaks of: a bunker mentality, nostalgia for the past, and adopting the prevalent criteria of the world. On the other hand, I would like to see Regnum Christi making the four choices the Convention asked us: living in the world from a hope radically rooted in Christ; supporting a charism shared by the four vocations and in communion; to move from pastoral care for those who are comfortable to pastoral care for those on the periphery, at the crossroads; and to loosen a bit the emphasis on manuals and processes to give space and freedom for discernment and adaptation, without ceasing to be who we are.

I give thanks to the Church from the heart: to Pope Benedict XVI, to Pope Francis, to Cardinal De Paolis, and to Cardinal Ghirlanda. They trusted in, and still trust in, the supernatural nature of our charism

You have seen from up close the role the Church has played in this path of Regnum Christi’s renewal; what can you tell us about this? What do you want to say to the Church?

I give thanks to the Church, just like that, simply and from the heart: to Pope Benedict XVI, to Pope Francis, to Cardinal De Paolis, and to Cardinal Ghirlanda. They trusted in, and still trust in, the supernatural nature of our charism and the spiritual family we are. They also recognized beauty amid so many doubts. They accompanied us with firmness and care, and they made us see a path that we were unable to see by ourselves. Regnum Christi owes them much, and I can only thank them.

Regnum Christi has the responsibility to tell its story. We should be visible and humble witnesses to God’s mercy and to how, in communion and with the Church’s guidance, it is possible to experience the grace of God, who makes all things new. The more faithful we are to what we are called to be, the better we will serve and repay the Church for what she has done for us.