Here’s a powerful analysis by the Australian Catholic journalist (and sometime TAC contributor) R.J. Stove, in which he likens the ethos and psychological strategies of the Legionaries of Christ cult to what Stove describes as “Marxist-Leninist gangsterism.” Excerpt:

Nobody knew better than Meyer’s fellow Party minders the absolute contempt – which the cadre member must at all costs internalize – for ordinary human nature. Contrasting this contempt with Kant’s Golden Rule about treating individuals as ends rather than as the means to ends, Meyer writes: “The whole of Communist training … drives towards the acceptance of the revolution as the end to which all things and all persons must be strictly subordinated as means … The good or evil in any situation is determined by whether it helps the revolution or impedes it.” And to bring about this happy outcome, no chance must be lost to keep the rank-and-file as purposelessly busy as possible. In this, as in so much else, those who run the Legionaries of Christ have proven remarkably devoted students of Marxist-Leninist praxis.

UPDATE: I suppose Stove’s essay was too hot for Crisis; the link is down, and the piece is not available on the Crisis website. It is, of course, possible that I have simply overlooked it. I’ve written to the author to ask what happened, and to offer to publish the entire piece on this blog. I’ll let you know what happens. If any of you managed to copy and save the essay, please send it to me at rod (at) amconmag.com.

UPDATE.2: A reader kindly forwards the text. I’ve pasted it in below the jump, but will remove it if the article goes back up on the Crisis site.

UPDATE.3: On second thought, it’s probably safer from a copyright viewpoint just to refer you to the Google cache version.