Recently, the Legionary Novitiate in Spain moved to a new location. With the move, the priest in charge of forming novices gave an interview. 

In April, Fr. Carlos Zancajo, LC , territorial director of Spain, announced that the novitiate would move from Salamanca to Madrid. Fr. José Félix Medina, LC, is the novice instructor and rector— in other words, he is in charge of Legionaries in this first and most important stage of formation. Fr. José Félix gave an interview about the change and what the novitiate means for Legionaries. 

Are we closing a chapter or opening another? 

Fr. José Félix: We close the geographical chapter of this house in Salamanca, which has welcomed the novices for 60 years, but there is continuity with the first novitiate of the Legionaries of Christ that has been changing headquarters, and now goes to Madrid, to the Reajo del Roble house. 

It is a very important step, because Madrid is located in the geographical center of Spain, where more young people from other parts of Spain can come and meet us. 

On the other hand, we must bear in mind that the novitiate in Salamanca is just too large a building to house only eight novices, since it was built to train more than 200 seminarians: including novices, humanists and formators. Today, the Church recommends that the formation of seminarians in the early stages be done in small communities, and that also implies that the novitiate should take place in a house with a size proportionate to the size of the community. This is something that we have included in our Ratio Institutionis after our renewal process. 

Why do we opt for Madrid? How will the new house help the novices? 

It is important to see it as a home that gives a sense of family, as I said before: a house proportionate to the size of the community. The novitiate in Salamanca for eight or nine people was too big. A house of spirituality with 20 rooms, chapel, library, dining room, sports field… gives us more guarantees of unity and coexistence. In addition, it is in the Sierra, with green areas and mountains, which offers us other possibilities. It is Madrid province, but it is not the city, which allows us to be half an hour away from our apostolate and school works, also facilitating the apostolate and life as part of Regnum Christi in the locality of Madrid. 

The truth is many members of Regnum Christi have a warm attachment to the Reajo del Roble house… What does this suggest? 

This [moving the novitiate] is a way to take care of the property and develop it. They are two buildings; the small building which we will use for groups and visits, so they can spend a few days with us. I was also the founder of Reajo del Roble in 1974, when we had the first Regnum Christi course for young people, attended by, among others, Fr. Ferrán. Reajo del Roble has also been a place of retreats and incorporations for numerous members. 

Fr. Zancajo mentioned in his letter that one of the virtues of the change is the vocations ministry that can be developed here in Madrid. How do you see this? 

All the apostolic activities that we did in Salamanca we can do in this area: catechesis in the surrounding villages, vocational weekends, campus ministry in our schools, ECYD work, work on vocation promotion… Having a smaller house does not mean having less apostolic life. 

It is important to maintain the spirit of recollection and prayer that is proper to the novitiate, and also the apostolate of our charism. We plan to go down to Madrid one day a week to collaborate in the schools, to do vocation work and to support Regnum Christi lay members 

I would like to make an invitation to all Regnum Christi members: come and see us, do not think of us as the hermits on the mountain! We will go to the center of Madrid to all the activities that we can: diaconate ordinations, etc., because we are part of the life of Regnum Christi in the locality of Madrid. 

You come from the reality of a large local church like Salamanca, and now you are inserted in the diocese of Madrid, in a municipality of the Sierra. How does this affect your ecclesial relationship? 

We have all the permissions from the ecclesiastical point of view, of course, both in Salamanca, where Bishop Carlos López says goodbye and has been visiting the novitiate this week, as well as in Madrid, since Card. Carlos Osoro is receiving us in his diocese. I also spoke with the parish priests of Navacerrada and Collado Mediano, which is the area of the province of Madrid to which we belong, to make ourselves available to them and to tell them to count on us in whatever we can to serve the people of God. We want to be a sign of ecclesial communion. It is a sensitivity and a duty of ours. 

Finally, reality helps us to be grateful and look forward, do not you think? 

Certainly the move has an aspect of sadness. I was a novice here in Salamanca, 50 years ago. Many of the Legionaries of Christ have been trained in this novitiate for many years. The bishop, parish priests, other ecclesial realities… the city of Salamanca… we are grateful for the journey we have made together, and we are going to miss them. 

But, on the other hand, Regnum Christi is still present here in a group of lay women. The ways of the Lord are inscrutable, they are the Providence of God, and we make this move confident that is what the Lord wants, and that he will send laborers to his harvest. 

You can read the original on the Regnum Christi site of Spain 

Instituto Cumbres Alpes Querétaro (the Heights-Alps School in Querétaro, Mexico) hosted both the XXIII Anáhuac International Baccalaureate Awards and the XI Robotics League competition at the same time in early May. The local Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro also helped with organize it. More than 3,500 people attended.

The events began with a Mass presided by Fr. Ricardo Sada, LC, territorial director of Mexico. The city mayor, the governor of the state and the bishop of Querétaro were present, along with other authorities and many from the network of Regnum Christi Schools in Mexico.

The Anáhuac International Baccalaureate Awards, according to their website “includes competitions that range from religious projects to scientific, through mathematics and architecture. The primary goal of this academic fair is for students to develop and publicly display projects of professional quality, and  develop skills, a sense of social responsibility and professional ethics.”

Likewise, the website explains that the Robotics League is “incorporated into the curriculum as a cross-training tool that supports and encourages the development of competences in other areas of the students. It is considered, increasingly, as part of the ‘new literacy’ along with reading, writing and arithmetic.”

Leadership that Leaves a Positive Footprint on Society

Fr. Benjamín Clariond, LC, director of the Insituto Cumbres Alpes Querétaro and its associated High School, commented: “In the different competitions we have seen passion, we have seen art, we have seen creativity, we have seen the ability to solve problems, to work in team, to improvise, to think, to structure a discourse. All those skills that prepare us to be able to face the challenges that we are going to have to work in during the 21st century.”

These competitions, Fr Benjamin explained, are about preparing young people “for the world, preparing them for university as well as ensuring that after university they have the tools they will need so that they can do things well and develop their leadership to leave a positive footprint in society.”

Luis Eduardo Álvarez, rector of the Anáhuac University Querétaro, recalling the difficulties and demands involved in preparing this type of event, said, “It is worth the effort to see the satisfaction of the participants and how each of these young people has grown, learned and lived in these days.”

You can see the original in Spanish on the Regnum Christi site. You can also see a photo gallery.

Embed video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aQN0gDtVuQ

This April, Regnum Christi started the Catholic Leadership Institute in Brazil to help lay Catholics know their faith better and grow in their leadership.

The Catholic Leadership Institute (ICL) will initially offer three types of activities: free lectures on current issues; courses on various topics such as the Bible, Catholic leadership, meditation, Christian-inspired business models, gnosis and relativism, life purpose, etc.; and online videos with courses and training material. In addition, the institute will offer spaces for debate, conferences, marriage courses and special events.

More than 140 people – including CEOs and board members of businesses, religious leaders, social leaders, and communications leaders – attended the inauguration that took place on April 3. Dr. Ives Granda Martins gave his testimony at the inauguration, speaking about how his “professional career, marriage, family and formation were always built on the experience of God, who is someone real in our life.”

Fr. Rodrigo Hurtado, LC, director of the Institute, stressed that work will be done so that “all the people who come into contact with the organization will have an authentic experience of Christ and become yeast that transforms society with the testimony of their life and by the concrete apostolic action that God inspires to each one.” He also noted, “The secret of a fulfilling life is not something, but Someone.”

For Fr. Cleomar Ferronato, LC, territorial director of Brazil, the ICL is a concrete response to the needs of the Church in Brazil: “If we believe that the Gospel is the best thing for each individual and for our whole society, then we have to prepare the laity and the priests to understand and witness to the world. As the motto of the Institute says, it was time for Catholics to let our light shine (Cf. Matthew 5:16).”

Fr. Rodrigo went on to explain, “The leadership approach proposed by the Institute is born of the joy of being Catholic, of the discovery of each one’s life purpose and the desire to live it and witness it to the world.” He continued, “A leader is a father or mother of a family, a leader can be an entrepreneur or an official within a company, leaders can be priests, politicians, intellectuals, communicators, etc. If we lived all this with the spirit of the Gospel, with the same conviction and love of Christ, we would certainly set fire to the whole world, as St. Catherine of Siena said.”

You can read the original on SomosRC, the Mexican Regnum Christi site.